Are the 4WD mags becoming tiresome?

I gave up buying 4wd mags years ago.

What annoys me is that it seems that all the mags regardless of name, have similar storys and vehicle tests.

I remember that in one month years ago, both 4x4 and overlander came out with the same story written by the same contributor and they just had different pics. That did it for me.

Why spend the money on those magazines if you can borrow them from your local library. Our local library stocks one well known one, and another library close to us stocks three. Lorry.

they really need to feature real people and their stories and trips - had a gut full of the same old rubbish regurgitated time and time again- I agree getting very ordinary. Certainly not renewing sub no matter how many DVD's they offer.

The magazine is thick enough, plenty of pages. I remember thinking how many pages are articles and how many ads but didnt bother counting. Seemed like about 25% articles and the rest adverts. Did not take long to read.

Well then, why not take your digital camera with you next trip and take LOTS of pics of your adventure and send it in to these mags along with a story. I'm sure Pat and his mates would love to have a few freelance journos around the country.They can edit and turn YOUR adventure into a best seller.AAAANND I'm sure that he'd even pay some dosh to help with drinks purchase. If you just want to complain all the time then that's up to you, but, remember.....if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space. Rus.

They're not a good read - but they're effectively free. In fact, what I paid for subs wouldn't've bought me the basic Bushranger air compressor or Staun deflators.

We are subscribers to 4WD Monthly.

I would like the magazine to be a credible source of information on fourby products and services. Inherent to this is independent review and comparison of products and services. This is our main purpose in buying the magazine and I suspect that many others would feel the same.

However I sometimes get the impression that an article was conceived and written by the advertiser. Is the 'Tech Talk' section meant to be a series of advertorials? If so, that is OK by me as long as it is labelled as such.

To take an example, the recent article on the LC 100 suspension titled "I am Ironman" left me quite confused as to what was advertisement and what was independent testing or review. By coincidence, I was interested in a bit of improved clearance for my own vehicle so I was looking (in vain it appears) for a bit of good advice as to what works well for the 100 Series. At least there could have been a para at the end comparing the Ironman solution to others on the market.

By way of feedback to the editor of 4WD Monthly, the incessant referral to cracking suspensions in the magazine makes me wonder if there are existing remedies (products) out there in search of problems to fix.

I would like to see an in-depth article on rust prevention. No weasel words - what works and what doesn't (there are plenty of experts in universities to advise).

Anthony Kilner has a lot to answer for: I don't like his exteme lingo: hunjy, tojo, weapon. This sort of language diminishes his credibility.

I generally like the travel section and the tips and techniques.

I don't think the magazine should carry an advertisement for a known dodgy product or service.

Stopped subscription about a year ago after about 4 years.
I found they were promoting too many "soft" vehicles that most of us Forumites would be embarrased to be associated with. Seems to be too much advertising, and as others have said too much pandering to advertisers and businesses who provide "free" products to be "tested"

The reality is we all buy thiese mags at some time whether we like to admit it or not. I buy them for the travel stories of places I would love to go one day and yep a picture paints a thousand words and most of the photo's appear proffessional.

When I go away I take lots of photo's but somehow when I get home the photo's look different or some I am sure I took...you know....the really good ones have disappeared from the camera and sub-standard ones or ones with the finger on the lens have appeared in their place. As for the stories well I can tell a good story in my own mind of a trip or face to face but by the time I put pen to paper it becomes a boring read to those who were not there. Remember your story is always going to look good to you.

Unfortunateley without the advertisers there are no magazines otherwise each publication would cost $50. I think you just have to read between the lines to work out what is fact and what is advertorial. PLus most of the products are good products in their own right. I mean to say if you bought any off the major brands lights or bull bars I don't think you would be dissapointed or if you had the money to buy a new 4wd then you would be happy with any of the ones tested.

As for real people well our own "Roachie" is a real person and he was featured recently.........doesn't that count.

Anyway that is my 2 bobs worth and I will keep buying the ones that take my fancy.

The best reading around is this forum and in fact the whole web site.

As for the 4wd monthley type magazine in my opinion is one of the major causes for the bad name we 4wd comunity is getting.
As I said this is my opinion It all hinges on how much booze and how big truck can crawl over anything that cant get out of its way then the next month they have a story about keep the tracks open why is every thing getting closed DERR. They say go hard or go home I say go easey and keep it open for the next few generations

They did a cape story a couple of years back titled we did the cape in ten days.
They had photos with wrong names tracks were named wrong. The biggest thing was how much booze could be consummed that night around the fire after driving till about midnight. We all like having a beer but please.

The following season I met many travellers who tried to follow the trip and it was impossible to do so because of time.

All the best
Eric

Whennthe sub runs out I wont be on the re-new list

1 good story in the last 12 months on the family who took a couple of years off to travell Aus with the kids.

They ran a couple of pages when they should have printed more of thier story.

This is the real read - this family and thier trip.

More like it will rejuvinate subscription.

I have posted on this subject before.

I used to buy all the mags and at one stage thought that 4x4 Monthly was good value. But lately their credibilty has suffered especially after an article on the CSR. Roothie and the beer drinking thing also gets my goat. So no more of that mag!

I had no problems writing for and getting paid for articles and photographs I submitted to 4x4 Australia Mag from 1986 to 1996. A number of these articles are also published in my website. The Editor in 1986(cant remember his name) published my articles after some severe editing which changed the face of the whole article. Then Ron Moon came on the scene and we became firm friends and I must have had about 20 or so articles published over the years. Ron looked after me very well. But by 1996 I found that, although I was a freelance writer, the magazine was becoming pushy inasmuch as they were demanding things from me,(wanting it yesterday) especially after the writing had branched out to the Discover Australia series of books published by Random House. I got annoyed and gave the writing away. Am still good friends with Moonie though.

Magazines these days are top heavy with advertorials and there are not enough freelance journalists writing for them. Ron Moon is now under contract to 4x4 Australia with a new editor in command but it would seem that the mag leans towards the product manufacturers giving them a good wrap on whichever product they make. It has done so for a number of years though as I can attest to when I critisized a tyre brand manufacturer and the text was removed from the article.

I do not make a habit of buying mags any more but every now and then, my curiosity will get the better of me and in a weak moment I will buy one to read in the carpark while the missus goes shopping.

I wonder sometimes about the journo's for these magazine. Talking generally, most of them are journo's first and have worked for other magazines, some, nothing to do with 4WD's. John Rooth used to be editor of Two Wheels, and lots of them seem to come from the car mags. Friends of ours recently bought a caravan and got a free DVD with a mag subscription, and John Rooth was involved as well. Much the same type of content as the 4WD Monthly DVD's.

Another thing that interests me is how some of them sort of cover up their background. In the mid 90's, a certain P.C. (now an editor) submitted a story about his holiday and drowning his Landie on the rocks near Rainbow Beach. A few issues ago, he actually made mention of the fact that he once submitted a story to a regional magazine about a trip he did. Funny thing to say that 4X4 Aust was a regional mag; but then again, maybe I'm wrong and it was published in another mag. Maybe they can't mention their oposition.

I think if anyone buys these magazines then they just need to realize that some of the journo's aren't real 4WDers. In saying that, I'm not inferring that any of the names mentioned above aren't.

Andrew

Here in Port Hedland the RSL and the Red Cross shops sell the magazines for 20 cents each . After reading them I donate them back to the shop . Pretty good value at that price .

If 4WD Monthly is full of advertorials that is at odds with the stated position of the magazine. To quote the editor in Volume No 86, the mag is a "defender of all things good and tough in the world of four-wheel driving'. That implies some rigor and independence in its reviews and opionion.

However if what people on this site are saying is right and you have to read everything with the bullshyte detectors switched on, then I reckon the editors are misleading the public unless advertorials are labelled accordingly.

Of course this also means that the much publicised 'Four Wheel Drive of the Year' also needs to be viewed with great suspicion.

Maybe the mag needs a mission statement for all to see.

Magazines used to be the only way to keep up to date and hear the gossop.
But since the internet came along, and the lagtime has diminished to zero, the magazine stuff is a bit less relevant.

Best mag at the moment is a freebie called 4wheelinSA Just have to download it.

Best paper mags are the ones from the late 70's and 80's - they had some great stuff back then, and a new 4wd model was a big thing. And back then, a Simpson trip was a big adventure. The FJ55 and G60 were awesome vehicles that made for some great reading, then the release of the HJ47, the MQ Nissan diesel and HJ60 turned the 4wd market on its head. Then the 4wd Suzukis and Subarus came out - all great stuff. So the mags for me were well worth it.

I'm not likely to get excited by the replacement for the 100series, or 79series, let alone the million softroaders that are out there now. But you never know.

Cheers
Phil

Living in WA I find that the large mags a re full of stories and advertising from the east coast and of little interest, however I will buy them on occations.

What I think is a better option to buy the small localy produced mag Western 4WDriver this still has the advertising and the stories still have bias to the writers prefance but there seems to be little corprate infulance. It also has trips that can be done as day trips, tech talk and it mostly local which is great.

I just know that I wont be subscribing to any of the major mags

I liked their product tests which said that the Hella HID light was a good bet . They did not test it for anything but light output . If they had done a thorough test , they would have discovered that these lights leak like a sieve in creek crossings and Hella says its not covered by warranty and they should not be submersed .

So why is a 4WD magazine saying , that that light is OK for a 4WD .

THEY ARE JUST PATHETIC AND DO NOT CONDUCT MEANINGFUL TESTS .

Well I subscribe to 4WD monthly and owe finding this site to the add in the mag a few years ago.Just read it and filter all you read.

This has been an interesting forum. I thought I was in the minority in getingg sick of 4WD mags. I guess about 6-8 years ago when I first got into 4WDing, I bought quite a few, esp 4x4. However, over the last 4-5 years, they just seem to be full of crap. I must admit, I actually wrote some letters and got them published in the forum section. It was not to hard to work out the formula for publication, use plentry of blokey jargon, massage the ego of the editor/mag and your are in. As other forum people have said, I have got sick of the standard mag trip report which is about how far you can drive in the minimum time, basically ripping the place to pieces. In my opinion, they really encourage the hooray harry type of 4WDer than gives the rest of us a bad name.

I have had a look at the SA 4wd mag and it loks good. Does anyone have other addresses or mags that give a better balanced view? Also, it seems to me that there is a real gap in the marekt for a mag that actually talks about where to go and what to see rather than ripping along a bush track. I now buy Go Camping if anything. Any other ideas welcome

I get to spent 10 minutes reading 4WD Monthly in the chiropractors waiting room which is enough for the bits I want too see.

The best advice I have had is from this website. Thanks to all who helped me save HEAPS in my former ID as "Paj." We have had some great trips following advice from the forum.

Cheers

Pete

yesterday I sent Pat Callinan an e-mail suggesting he take a look at the discussion going on, on this site, thinking it might be a valuable ear to the ground for him, (other companies would pay big bucks for such fly on the wall info) I also added that I sympathised with views that the ads seemed to outweigh the editorial content, but tempered that remark by adding that I appreciated them to a degree as they kept us abreast of products on the market as well as providing them with a substantial income. I raised the point that somebody else on this site made, that we'd like more 1st hand trip reports like the family they briefly featured doing "the big one". His petulant reply this morning started with a tired "Oh that old chestnut" followed by a stream of lame justification and ending with a bizarre: "if custom tourers, tips & techniques,product comparisons, new vehicle tests, hardcore trucks, comps and buch mechanic etc don't keep you interested then I'd suggest a valium might" followed by a suggestion that I put this little exchange up on the site. In other words if you don't like my little mag, you know where to shove it. I will. It's a pity his asre isn't around for me to oblige. btw, I didn't bother to mention the year 12 behaviour and constant references that they like a beer, as I don't mind a scoop or 3 meself. Ah well, it was Monday morning and to be honest, the wealth of knowledge on here leaves em for dead. I've been happy to take the magazine because the freebies that come with subscription pay for it - I'd never buy it on it's own merit. I suppose pointing that out didn't endear me to him.

I gave up buying them because they are no more than advertisements. People put adverts in my letter box, and I 'm not asked to pay for them.

However, this site is excellent, you get first hand-knowledge and experience, trip reports from real people and guidance on many topics.

The other interesting thing is that the crew at Exploreoz have endeavoured to take the advertising thing into a new age. An ad pops up on your topic of interest, smart thinking.

Good luck to Exploreoz, why would you want to pay for a mag when you get it all here, warts and all.

I recently busted overlander either putting in an old (over 3 years old) article it was either that or the guy doing the trip report just got the info out of old mags Not very proffesional

Ahh, that old chestnut. Steve it might interest you to know that we’re running the same advertising / editorial percentage now at 308 pages, as we were at 116 pages about 7 years ago. Go check it if you like. So any addition to our pages has always come at the benefit to both editorial and advertising. And incidentally, we run more editorial than ads. Hence, I find it funny that people all-of-a-sudden feel like they’re getting a raw deal. Sure, I’d love to see less ads, but if more ads mean more editorial pages, I guess I’ll concur.

And regarding the Gough family, I too would love to see more of them in the mag, and I’ve urged them to write more. Hence the two or three part story we got them to do. However, as they’re traveling, they only have so much time to write yarns.

And if the subscription deals are all that keep some people coming back, I’d have to say that maybe those people should read general touring magazines, rather than 4WD mags. If custom tourers, tips & techniques, product comparisons, new vehicle tests, hardcore trucks, comps and bush mechanic etc don’t keep you interested, then I’d suggest a valium might.

Thanks for the feedback though, and feel free to put part or all of this response on Exploroz.

Keep the shiny side up!

Cheers,



Pat Callinan

Editor

Australian 4WD Monthly



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Steve McDonald [mailto:stevemac9@bigpond.com]
Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2005 2:23 PM
To: 4wd@expresspublications.com.au
Subject: Ears burning?



Pat,



Thought you might have a look at the excellent ExplorOz website forum. There's a lively discussion about your magazine. Personally, I agree your edtorial could include a bit more "real life" stuff eg: like the family who did the "big one", which wasn't given it's due space. You guys keep telling us about bumper 276page issues, but it's all ads and reviews that sound like they're being reviewed by the manufacturer. Don't get me wrong, the advertising is good to a degree, in that we're kept abreast of products etc but it's out of whack, mate. I suppose as long as your ad revenue keeps rolling in..........but most of us are only hooked in by the subscription giveaways.....for now.



chers



Steve

my e-mail below followed by the reply above.....next installment follows

"Hah, couldn’t post my reply verbatim now could we? Might have made you look like the dead- bleep you are. Where I come from they call that spineless".

as I posted last night, this was his response to my post 137183.

.....handbags at 5 paces, I know.