They’re way too negative and usually list weird one off problems or shipping issues.

The real action is 3 star reviews. Those people have really given a lot of thought to the review.

Also the reviews with pictures tend to be useful.

> They’re way too negative and usually list weird one off problems or shipping issues.

That's presumably why they said "read" the negative reviews. Obviously you don't then base your decision off negative reviews that turn out to not matter.

This is a useful trick for quickly vetting just about anything that's outside your area of expertise. Often a simple search like "X sucks" or "X is bad" can be very telling. It's a good sign when it's difficult to find well written negative reviews. Of course, there are many misguided negative reviews, but they can still help you make an informed decision.

It's not a completely foolproof solution, because competitors with dirty tactics can write fake negative reviews.

Almost no one write 3 and 4 star reviews out of spite.

I agree, sometimes the complaint is a niche problem resulting from the buyer's false expectation but, generally speaking, I've avoided buying a lot of products.

Recent example, shredders all have great 5 star reviews but only the odd negative will point out the obvious problem that cheap shredders are made cheaply and will break in a short space of time.