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Old 05-01-2020, 10:27 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RossWilliams View Post
Another would be to put in commas or avoid widely misplaced modifiers.
With apologies. I taught math, but the English department chair accused me of being a closet grammarian. Every now and then a misplaced modifier is just too fun to ignore. Happy cooking!
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Old 05-07-2020, 04:51 PM   #22
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Obviously, those participating in an online group such as this are influenced by social media. We are the easiest people to reach these days; as you've demonstrated by bringing up this topic. To reach others without a huge marketing dbudget: some people manage a traveling lifestyle around the festival/RV round-up season and then the RV show season.
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Old 05-07-2020, 06:38 PM   #23
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Posts on online forums greatly influence what products I investigate. (I looked up a couple of products mentioned in this thread.) But reviews I always take with skepticism.

Over the years, I think I've gotten good at evaluating Amazon reviews. There are a lot of stupid negative ones but if there are a dozen mentioning the same issue, (and it's something I care about), it gets crossed off the list.

My wife and I are fans of America's Test Kitchen and their magazines. I'll look up products they recommend but often find the item has terrible reviews regarding quality and longevity.
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Old 05-07-2020, 10:20 PM   #24
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I will often look to social media for purchasing decisions. They’re more informative than advertisements of vendor descriptions.

I use forums like this to see what people are using.

I use YouTube to see products being used in the real world (more or less).

I sometimes do a search for [product A] vs. [product B] and see reviewers compare the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Over time, I come to value the opinions of some. Like the Russos, the Fit RV, Primal Outdoors, The Fast Lane Truck, etc.
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Old 05-08-2020, 04:49 PM   #25
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Not on the subject of cookware, but on social media generally:

The best value social media influencer I’ve encountered to date is Joel Sell on Instagram (Million Mile Sprinter). Anyone looking to crack into this marketing area ought to take a look at what he’s doing: delivering high-quality information in authentic unrehearsed 60-second sound bites. None of this USELESS blah-blah-blah that almost every other influencer delivers.

I sampled a couple of Wendland’s podcasts because I am an avid podcast fan - I listen to a broad range of podcasters. But his baud rate was pathetically low. Literally 90% of his delivery was useless fluff. Each 30-minute delivery includes 27 minutes of absolute crap. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Joel Sell has built a small empire that has grown from his networking and social media presence, largely instagram but also Sprinter Forum. I got to know him online, and then stopped in Philadelphia on my way from Houston to Nova Scotia and got him to do some work for me. At the time, my husband thought I had lost my mind - lining up many hundreds of dollars of work by some guy fifteen hundred miles away because I’d been following him on Insta. Best decision I ever made.

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Old 05-10-2020, 04:06 AM   #26
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Moderator's note:

Several posts were deleted.

They were responding to or quoting posts from another member that were removed. Just doing a little clean up so the topic can move on. Thanks for understanding.
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Old 05-11-2020, 01:51 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanK View Post
Hi again everyone,

...My team and I have made progress in developing cookware for use outdoors...
...we are now working to learn about marketing strategies and how to get the word out when the product is finished.

What I'd really like to know is how you do research to find the right product and where you ultimately purchase your gear! ...
...do you prefer shopping online or in physical stores?

Does social media ever influence your purchase decision...
I like your approach to research It is probably what I would have done if I were your age now.
I didn't respond to your earlier post about cooking, but can say that since our first RV we have cooked on a propane stove installed in our RV unless the cooking was messy in which case we used a single burner backpack stove we already had.

Back in our tent camping days with the family we had a huge nested cook kit which worked great. Now with just the two of us and very limited storage it was too much. It was at Bass Pro Shops 28 years ago that I found a 3 pot nested cook set made by Coleman (a Peak 1) that still serves us well. We added a small kettle for water for coffee. I don't see the nested kit sold now, but can give some dimensions.
The pots are 1 qt, 1 1/2 qt, and 2 1/2 qt.
Their lids are flat and can also be skillets.

Those are 5 1/2", 6 3/4" and 8".
Their builtin handles fold to make everything very compact for travel.

I brought them inside to measure, but have never posted photos to this forum and probably won't now.



Shopping now is different. I do a lot of research online, but mostly at sites I already know. I find social media unreliable. At purchase time I prefer to actually see the product at a bricks and mortar store, but will buy online if I have to.


Good luck with your project. Please keep us posted on your progress.
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Old 05-12-2020, 12:04 PM   #28
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More comments on social media and market influencing, a partial expound on what I said above.

I wish that there was a way to more directly inform product developers of what WE see as gaps in the market, we end-users.

We know that developers haunt forums looking for ideas. It's a secretive process because, of course, market share and profitability are at stake.

In the van realm, MANY market gaps exist because there is no higher-end, better-quality alternative available. It's an unrelenting race to the bottom, with the very same poor-quality hardware being installed in a $10,000 cardboard box trailer all the way up to a $165,000 Mercedes Sprinter-based Class B.

My favorite example is the cheap, leaky plastic toilets produced by manufacturers such as Thetford (see ClassBWarned and RoadtrekLife for examples). I like to tease new Airstream Interstate owners by saying, "Hey, do you realize that you just spent a buck and a half on a rig that has a hundred-dollar flimsy toilet that is likely to come back to haunt you?"

Product reliability is even more important now that we will be forced to live with coronavirus on the timescale of years, probably. Now more than ever, we simply cannot afford break-downs on the road. I look around our van and lament that I cannot upgrade this or that piece of hardware for greater reliability, NOT because I am short of money, but because no suitable upgrade exists in a market flooded with cheap products.

A big prize will go to whichever product developers will learn how to more efficiently mine that data from the buying public.


Now, back to the subject of cookware because apparently we have a semi-captive product developer audience on this thread:

I see almost all of that market as being already saturated. The backpacking people have invested SO much effort developing alternatives that I'm having a difficult time envisioning any new kitchen-related product that would inspire me to crack open my wallet.

The two exceptions are:

A. CUTLERY. Here are our current options:

(1) We have household stainless steel cutlery, most of which has size and weight issues (it's OK for larger RVs, but is a pain in a van).

(2) Plastic backpacking cutlery, which has strength and durability issues.

(3) Disposable cutlery, which has strength and waste-related issues.

(4) Titanium cutlery, the main limitation of which is high cost (the set I would like would only add 13.5 ounces of weight, but would cost me about two hundred bucks - maybe I should just suck up that expense and buy it).

B. SERVEWARE AND DISHES. Many of us are using Corelle because it is light-weight and compact, but it's also catastrophically breakable and IMO, dangerous in a van. But I cannot find an acceptable alternative.

I cannot use plastic, melamine, or metal, because my dishes must be microwaveable. Part of the reason why we spent ten thousand bucks on an off-grid electrical system was because we want the option of using the microwave which is especially valuable on fast cross-continent boondocking trips.

I know of a few vanners who have accumulated some precious pyroceram for themselves - TRUE pyroceram, not the knock-offs - and they swear by it. The use the original pyroceram pie plates from the 1950's as dinner plates in their vans given that they meet the desired criteria of size, weight, and durability. But pyroceram products are generally not for sale. You might score one here or there by luck, but there's a lot of fraud in on-line listings.


In sum, no manufacturer to date has produced a compact, light-weight, durable, reasonably-priced line of cutlery OR dishes with this niche in mind. I have searched ad nauseam and I would buy it if it existed.

Now, how to get THOSE suggestions to the people who are looking to make the next buck by developing new product paradigms? I don't know the answer to that.
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Old 05-12-2020, 01:40 PM   #29
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We bought Smartspace nested cookware from a New Zealand company. We bought it from Amazon. They shipped 5 complete sets by mistake to us from Hong Kong and there was no paper trail as we were just billed for one set. Amazon was not much help and I had to track down the New Zealand company in order to return the duplicate sets. They were a small startup company at the time and were relieved I took the effort.

The sets are top quality with thick walls. The detachable handle weighs 2 lbs. The nesting is compact with the rounded square design that doesn't take up too much space. They work with electric induction cooktops.

SmartSpace Cookware
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Old 05-12-2020, 02:30 PM   #30
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The Smart Space looks like a really nice set, but it's Teflon coated, so I'm assuming they advise against using in open camp fires? I see no statement on their website.
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Old 05-12-2020, 03:02 PM   #31
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The Smart Space looks like a really nice set, but it's Teflon coated, so I'm assuming they advise against using in open camp fires? I see no statement on their website.
I have no answer. BTW I use my cast iron skillet and Dutch oven on charcoal and rarely anything but wiener stabber roasting sticks and the double handled camp cookers on open fires.
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