My Expectations Were Low but… OMG D: - Bad Sports Team Tech

New Customer Exclusive - Get $25 Off your Purchase of $100 or more: micro.center/z3w
Sign Up for Early Access Offers to Micro Center's New Indianapolis Store: micro.center/vvy
Save 10% and Free Worldwide Shipping at Ridge by using offer code LINUS at The Ridge Wallet: Slim, RFID-blocking Metal Wallets
Have you ever wanted to show your team spirit by buying team-branded tech merch? Well you might want to re-think your game plan, because we caught sports leagues selling trash-tier AliExpress tech at unbelievable mark-ups.
Discuss on the forum: linustechtips.com/topic/15023...
Buy a Logitech G305 Wireless Mouse: geni.us/DeEwO6
Buy a Corsair Harpoon Wireless Mouse: geni.us/dWhV
Buy a Keychron K10 Wireless Keyboard: geni.us/4led2qe
Buy a Redragon K582 SURARA Mechanical Keyboard: geni.us/ULAL5v
Buy Arctis Nova 3 Gaming Headphones: geni.us/BnEAQ8
Buy a Logitech G435 Wireless Headset: geni.us/VlvAY
Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.
► GET MERCH: lttstore.com
► LTX 2023 TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW: lmg.gg/ltx23
► GET EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ON FLOATPLANE: lmg.gg/lttfloatplane
► SPONSORS, AFFILIATES, AND PARTNERS: lmg.gg/partners
► OUR WAN PODCAST GEAR: lmg.gg/wanset
FOLLOW US
---------------------------------------------------
Twitter: / linustech
Facebook: / linustech
Instagram: / linustech
TikTok: / linustech
Twitch: / linustech
MUSIC CREDIT
---------------------------------------------------
Intro: Laszlo - Supernova
Video Link: • [Electro] - Laszlo - S...
iTunes Download Link: itunes.apple.com/us/album/sup...
Artist Link: / laszlomusic
Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High
Video Link: • Sugar High - Approachi...
Listen on Spotify: spoti.fi/UxWkUw
Artist Link: / approachingnirvana
Intro animation by MBarek Abdelwassaa / mbarek_abdel
Monitor And Keyboard by vadimmihalkevich / CC BY 4.0 geni.us/PgGWp
Mechanical RGB Keyboard by BigBrotherECE / CC BY 4.0 geni.us/mj6pHk4
Mouse Gamer free Model By Oscar Creativo / CC BY 4.0 geni.us/Ps3XfE
CHAPTERS
---------------------------------------------------
0:00 Intro
1:06 Kansas City Headphones
4:00 Bengals Mouse Pad
4:35 Raptors Keyboard/Mouse
5:56 Hilarious.
6:53 Tearing apart the mousepad
7:40 Who's running this Store?
8:35 The worst earphones ever
9:09 what the Puck
9:54 Fanatics seems sketchy
11:27 THESE ARE FOR KIDS
12:27 it gets worse
12:52 The company who 'makes' these
14:15 a fricken LAVA LAMP?!
14:43 Better Alternatives
15:28 Rapid-fire of more fun stuff
16:45 My opinion on these practices
18:41 Outro

[@Tech-Tempest]

It's infuriating to see these instant E-Waste products are getting sold for these prices. Just buy a good product that lasts and slap a team sticker on it.

[@Elvewizzy.]

Its even worse when you realize their target audience are parents and grandparents who are not fully aware of the tech ins and outs and simply think that for 100$, they MUST be okay at worst and will buy them for Tommy, who's a massive fan. I'd say its criminal.

[@TheHollowBlade]

I cant stand that these dudes have a monopoly on this kind of crap and i have to assume they have spoken with the execs to get the rights to everything they have, and these guys have to know they are scaming the fuck out of everyone and you can tell they dont give two fucks. I would love to see companies like these completely shut down, shit has zero value to anyone.

[@TwenOalley]

@@Elvewizzy. if only, it seems like so many of the things that people manufacture are pointless wastes of resources and energy

[@bluebandit5586]

Also people like Linus actually reviewing and buying and destroying them which creates more ewaste. Yeah I agree. Totally tone deaf and infuriating

[@Tech-Tempest]

@@bluebandit5586 this is such an awful and tone def take. By informing more people about this, it will create less in the long run. Not everyone that clicks on a KZbin video is tech savvy enough to know the difference

[@lbgstzockt8493]

The fact that bluetooth earbuds can be sold for $2 is downright insane.

[@saricubra2867]

But they sound awful.

[@nathansavage8692]

​@Saricubra it doesn't matter. The consumer doesn't know that until they have already spent $30 on them

[@volvo09]

The cardboard mouse pad / charger was hilarious too. Talk about not caring at all about customers.

[@TheSiprianus]

If you are referring to made in china earbuds, that's just because they don't respect intellectual property rights (the US alone loses hundreds of billions of dollars), government subsidies, and because developed countries are subsidizing them (they still enjoy the 'developing country' status).

[@Jeez001]

Also keep in mind intl shipping from China is cheap for them since agreement with Chinese mail means US postal service has to carry & deliver all mail from China and USPS won’t get single penny from it . And Chiba exploits this deal by allowing Chinese companies to mail items from China to US at a cheaper rate than within China.

[@akilies675]

It's a testament to Linus's expertise that he can identify a product is cheap by listening to the sound it makes when he drops it. Years of experience dropping stuff. 😅

[@zuski4555]

Thank you for covering this!! Anyone who has ever bought or has looked into buying sports merchandise only to run into Fanatics is thankful. They're downright shady with high prices and terrible quality. And they essentially have a monopoly on a lot of licensed sports merchandise. Bigger names in these sports scenes need to bring more attention to this and shame these leagues publicly. It's unbelievable organizations as big as the NHL and NFL have ever worked with a company of such low quality. Let alone for this many years and into the future.

[@4203105]

Or fans could stop buying the crap. If numbers drop the teams will go with somebody else.

[@Ziggyboo7]

@@4203105 i totally agree.

[@huh5950]

At this point you should know basically any tech device that has a non tech related brand slapped on WILL be bad or at best a bad option 85% of the time 💀

[@ForeverHobbit]

idk sometimes they partner with good brands, but usually they talk about it so maybe you are right xD

[@keres993]

The IQ-70, Bud Light-drinking football maniacs will buy any and all Chinese sweatshop trash as long as it has their favorite team's logo on it. American Sports didn't become the abomination it is today through mindful or principled consumer spending.

[@apetogetherstrong6600]

Sometime the tech brand reach out for collab those are probably ok. Tbh if any youtuber, especially tech or gaming realated, show zero effort on their mech tech, I assume they are bad people. Its like they can do some dbrand skin and make fans use their own stuff, not produce more electronic waste

[@qazwsx000xswzaq]

Make it 99% unless there is an authentic tech brand next to it.

[@Tony_Man]

Soulja Boy game consoles come to mind

[@ThePizzaDevourer]

As a big tech nerd and sports fan, thank you for calling attention to this mess. The worst thing is that even if the team cares enough to want to produce good products, they have no control over what the NFL does with their image.

[@Untolddead]

NFL doesn't care because people buy the stuff no matter how poor it is.

[@pistolpete81675]

Former fanatics call center worker...yes they have a monopoly for every sports league and esports also. Call center employees answer for nearly 400 stores. Employees have access to the coupons at most times and while they can see future promotions they are not allowed to say when said promotion will happen. I can not tell you how many products were sent back defective. The worst one I personally took the call on was a signed Shohei Ohtani baseball that wasn't sent with its protector

[@placeholderplaceholder3448]

OH MY GOD, I can imagine the vitriol that caller had, I feel for you, that takes me back to my Quickbooks support days where I had to do illegal bookkeeping to keep MBAs from exploding at me. For context to those who aren't familiar with the baseball scene, Shohei Ohtani is the single biggest player in the entirety of the Japanese baseball league, and overseas, baseball is bigger than football in the US, or soccer in Europe.

[@Tronmakers]

The newer steel series headset now even have magnetic plates on the cups. With those you could swap them out for whichever one of your favorite teams is playing that week

[@akamdapapash]

any model got magnet plates not only the new ones.. even these before 5 years got magnet plates ;)

[@CommodoreFan64]

As someone who is a lifelong tech head, and sports fan, that has family who are sports fans, I thank you for calling this kind of BS out, as I've had to warn my family from picking up this kind of crap in the past as gifts, and tell them just because it's "officially licensed" does not mean it's quality of any kind whatsoever!!

[@KontrolStyle]

hell ya C64 ftw

[@Kholaslittlespot1]

Amiiiiiiiigaaaaaaaaa (I love all commodore!)

[@pabl0sauced0]

Rip all the kids that woke up excited af on Christmas morning only to open insanely marked up dollar store quality crap. The parents then call them ungrateful bc they paid so much not realizing they literally got scammed by the NFL or whatever.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@pabl0sauced0 That's for sure, & I blame the companies producing this crap as much as the parents for not doing their homework, and seeing if a product is worth the money. I'm glad I had parents who where overall smart with their money, and did not fall into this trap when I was growing up in the 80's, and 90's.

[@nickryan3417]

This kind of thing has been going on for so long that the Simpsons repeatedly lampooned it in some of the earliest series.

[@FoxxFire]

I'm a pretty huge sports fan, as well as an equally big tech fan, so this video was right up my alley. Fanatics is a complete disaster. The worst part is that their top executives have relationships with some of the biggest sports media personalities, and in exchange for mentioning the company repeatedly and in a positive light on a sports show, these personalities get whatever gear they want, whenever they might want it. It's a great deal for Fanatics and, frankly, absolutely ridiculous for some of these media people to give them advertising at such low cost (like you said, the bill of materials for these items is so, so low, and the markup so high that Fanatics would need to spend 100 times on advertising compared to what it costs them to send free gear to these people in exchange for them repeatedly mentioning the company name). You would think at such high cost, you are getting a high quality item from something like the NFL shop. But the quality of their stuff is extremely poor. I made the mistake once of buying a $500 "leather" jacket of my favorite team. I've bought better quality "leather" and clothing at the most inexpensive street shop in (South) Korea.

[@diney7085]

When I heard him mention Fanatics, I laughed out loud. You are unironically better off buying a chinese knockoff than any merchandise off their website. it will definitely at least match the quality (and sometimes exceed it), and will definitely be cheaper.

[@dustykh]

And Fanatics just keeps growing. They're allowed to put their names on the OFFICIAL ON ICE JERSEYS of the NHL for the next 10 YEARS.

[@JamesTerrebonne0194]

I bought two $25 Washington Capitals shirts because it wasn't unreasonable and ALL CAPS. One has faded after 2 years and the logo is hardly visible and the other has been barely worn and full of holes. I hate Fanatics.

[@s1mplysalt]

i aint readin all that edit: im joking; i apologize if i didnt make that clear before

[@JamesTerrebonne0194]

@@s1mplysalt then don’t comment? Lol

[@baririzqullah5782]

I love how Tommy Hilfiger set became the standard of 'Shit Products' 😂

[@aaronj3245]

lmao

[@Benefits]

When I saw the video thumbnail I thought this was going to be a video reviewing the headsets and communication equipment that sports teams use to communicate. Like NFL coaches talking to their offensive line coaching team through the headsets they always wear. Or the communication system in quarterback's helmets. I think a LTT video on that stuff would be super interesting.

[@johnettipio]

That is what I was expecting too

[@phyde1885]

Your talking about a Whole Tier NOT "EVEN CLOSE" to this CRAP ! Industry/Communications/Military Grade is WAY above the Pay Grade and beyond 69% of this Audience ! Just go to B&H PHOTO, they have A to Z in ANY Category, that means The Movie Boys TOO !! I have NO Doubt LINUS has Purchased A LOT from them !! When Tiger Direct went Belly-Up,I had to find a NEW Home for my Shopping Goods. B&H filled that spot. I don't like that you can't contact NEWEGG "UNLESS" you have an "EXISTING RMA". HORSE$#!T !! I want a HUMAN REP, NOT waiting forever on RMA responses,that may take FOREVER ! And they do have BIG ticket items.

[@teknoguy2002]

That's the first thing I thought, too, lol.

[@nolesforall5834]

Oh man that would actually be really cool

[@TechDove]

That's what I thought it was too. I was like oh I've always been curious!

[@alter6243]

I’m ashamed to say the company I work for is apart of the deal that created the Tommy Hilfiger gaming kit. The fact it performs better than many of these products makes me feel a little less shame 😂

[@PrograError]

well... money is money...

[@freshhorizonswithjakub]

thats deep man.

"apart from", not "apart of"…

[@hiddendrifts]

@ "apart from" makes no sense and changes the meaning completely. they meant "a part of"

[@oliver-04]

@ ive never seen someone correct someone else while being so wrong

[@Ashurman666]

A certain Aussie once said"The biggest companies make the worst crap."

[@SamsungLC24RG50]

Yeah DankPods

[@GoldenT1K]

All of this stuff in this video need to meet 1 Grit…

[@neurokinetik]

"Starting to think this isn't built very well" "Can you believe nobody bought this?"

[@jeam073]

I was thinking the exact same thing 😅

[@WyattOShea]

Aussie*

[@markboz3366]

I used to have a season for a EPL team. Supported them all my life. It was when I ended up coaching a kids team that my eyes were opened to what sport is really about. I never wanted to coach, and was never any good as a player. I did it because there were too many kids for one coach and he either needed help or some kids would be told they couldn't play. No parents came forward, so I volunteered, I was just an uncle helping my sister out who ended up coaching. The most joy I've had from sport is seeing how happy these kids are when they play. Don't buy this shit, get better stuff cheaper and help out local grass roots sports teams with a small donation if you can to buy new kit or pay to use facilities. Give kids the opportunity to be part of a team, no matter what their background.

[@EclipseShard]

So happy you dolve into this. Fanatics recently just signed a massive deal to produce all the jerseys for the NHL (both real game jerseys and replicas) and most of the fans are pissed/worried about this takeover.

[@zerodono]

I've personally had a solid experience with Fanatics getting jerseys but they weren't Fanatics brand lol.

[@EclipseShard]

@@zerodono I'm confused. You had good experience with fanatics jerseys but they weren't from fanatics?

[@zerodono]

@@EclipseShard I mean I've had good experiences buying official jerseys (that fit lol) from their site, and I haven't seen the apparently rampant poor quality because none of them are branded by Fanatics (after looking again, my Coyotes jersey IS Fanatics branded, but it doesn't seem bad to me). I don't want to discount or dismiss others experience, I just made my comment because this is all news to me.

[@EclipseShard]

@@zerodono honestly sounds like we're kind of the same boat. I have a couple Fanatics Jersey's myself and they have been fine not amazing but totally serviceable. But I did buy them in store so I was able to inspect them and make sure they're okay before I bought them. I would say overall the quality isn't much worse than the old Reebok replica jerseys but definitely not better, I think some of the big concern comes with the Fanatics is relatively smaller of a company and hasn't been doing prosport stuff as long as other brands like Adidas and Nike so the concern is once a scale up production and make jerseys for all the teams that their quality control will further deteriorate

[@hamburgerfatso]

Dolve

[@joekenorer]

"The short answer is no. The long answer is noooooooo." Best joke of the week. I also like that it prefaces the entire episode because there are no spoilers for the subject.

[@TheAVMG]

Laughed soo hard on that one ahaha

[@Thurgosh_OG]

It would be but it really wasn't a joke. Unfortunately, it was advice.

[@TheChemizzle]

I saw it coming and literally said "noooooooooo" in my head when he said "the long answer" Yet I still laughed when he said it >_>

[@overworld7457]

I coincidentialy readed this at the same time as he was saying that...

[@DctrGizmo]

This is the first time I've ever seen a mousepad made out of actual cardboard 🤣

[@PrograError]

that's branded ghetto style.

[@ThatLaloBoy]

$60 for this piece of crap. I want to shake the hand of whoever thought of changing those prices; the margins must be insane

[@murkje]

​@Lalo I have a 60 cent mousepad that's legitimately better than this piece of crap

[@mmpsp693]

You clearly never had a lan party in the 90s, hahaha

[@bbking006]

I used to use a single sheet of paper LOL

[@billlogsdon3879]

I worked for GSI Commerce, originally based in King of Prussia, PA, which owned/ran the Fanatics Online Brand, and actually ran the NFL Shop, NBA Store and other websites - all ran by the same company under license. They also at the time did web stores like The Sports Authority, Sports Chalet, etc. In fact, at one time you could browse all the online sports stores they had and not find a difference in pricing between all of them until an anti-monopoly ruling from New York Superior court put the stop to that, so prices were modified so you could find differences in pricing by shopping around, even though the same merchandise was actually shipping from the same source warehousing. Eventually, the original owner of GSI Commerce sold the online store portion to EBay Enterprise, which then, after quite a loss eventually sold out to Radial, Inc., a company owned by BPost, which is owned by the Belgian government. During all this, the contract for running the actual webstores for Fanatics, NFL Shop, NBA Store, NASCAR Store, etc., ran out, and the original owner of GSI Commerce, having made a bundle selling off the ecommerce company that originally ran all this took back operations of the sporting goods portion which then moved the running of same to his new location in Jacksonville, FL. Note they are still offering the same low quality team merch, jerseys, etc., but apparently are still having the individual teams approve/disapprove which items may actually be sold with that team's logo on them. Again, all sourced by Fanatics. Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware). Hope this explains a little how the same low quality merch can be found in so many online stores... because so many of them are actually being ran and supplied by the same company. How they can continue to do this boils down to one thing, profit. The various leagues only see one thing, how much can be made. Check out Undercover Boss S01E06 for a "cleaned up" view of GSI Commerce operations for a laugh.... Note also Fanatics is deploying various sports betting apps across the nation... another reason why they are worth so much....

[@bxtz9800]

The hockey Puck going "Testing 123" killed me. Then Linus buried me when he dropped it in water 😂

[@SuperLeonBlade]

Rest in peace

[@enginerd80]

At that point I didn't know it was (supposed to be) waterproof, so I thought he was just trying to silence it by dropping it in water 🤣

[@joe_3105]

That's actually James' audio

[@T33K3SS3LCH3N]

It is SO FRUSTRATING, because I am 100% sure that popular teams could easily collab with actual experts in the field and design really good gear that would actually sell and still be highly profitable... It's not that hard to find a fan who could design a good key cap set or a nice headphone based on models or components that are actually good...

[@GrockleTD]

or even just mediocre products would be fine honestly

[@enflamedhuevos]

The Bills should release a controller that makes you throw an interception automatically in Madden. The Josh Allen Edition

[@4203105]

But then you can't have 500% margin.

[@JD-lh2ve]

the issue is the league(s) makes these deals and force them on the teams - same goes with other tech (like the NFL's partnership with Microsoft means they all have to use Microsoft 365)

[@Xander1Sheridan]

@@JD-lh2ve nothing wrong with that. They make deals to make money. The problem is they don't care about anything but the money.

[@Hellstormer2000]

Invite a player from any of the teams and let them experience their own Merch/tech that gets offered. Would be interesting to see that go up the chain ^^

[@FireCulex]

Most can't even tell they're watching a blue tinted screen with crushed blacks and magenta skin tones.

[@TechDove]

Invite an OWNER of a team

[@s4db0i]

15:30 Quinn Hughes took that Canuck hate personally Linus.

[@Probookuser03]

“it’s almost like big corporations don’t care and just slap a label on crap products!” - DankPods

[@nitroxylictv]

"Can you believe no one bought these??" cant be said about these products

[@PhillyDownside]

Man DankPods is the best. Still occasionally rewatch his Reycon videos and love it ever time :D

[@darkmudofhorror8224]

5:15 you know it's bad when you can ACTUALLY SEE IT. It's one thing to be able to feel the difference, but being able to see it in a video is insane

[@SianaGearz]

Odds are the editor aligned the timelines by feel, so you shouldn't read too much into that. That being said, i gladly believe that this mouse isn't well behaved, and a $12 random-brand office product does MUCH better. I have seen the crappy sensors from JINGSENSE (now SiGma Micro), and the way it spins out at barely any move reeks of those.

[@BunnLilah]

Really awesome video! I love that you guys go above and beyond. This could have been a shorter video just laughing at the crap products, but the way you went into full investigative mode on the companies behind this junk is interesting and really informative.

[@utefanivan]

I was hoping this would be about the tech they use to play and broadcast sports. But this was good too. ❤

[@gt261]

You may not be much of a sports fan but bashing Fanatics is more of a good start than you know. Sports fans are so tired of fanatics shoddy products.

[@mapleleafs4lyfe]

Not just fanatics he bashed.... the Canucks too 😂😂

[@blueshky]

Linus likes sports lol. But yes glad he called them out.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@blueshky Indeed he's into Motorcycles, Badminton, and Martial Arts, and even talked about opening a Badminton/exercise/lan/public space facility in the near future.

[@lordcommander3224]

Fanatics is so shitty there’s knock off Fanatic stores and they’re support is often better 😂

[@blueshky]

@@CommodoreFan64 Yup- and in one of his videos of him improving his house, there was a huge hockey net hung up and sticks. Also one of the kiddos was wearing a canucks shirt. Wonder what made him stop being a Canucks fan

[@YouWithoutSin]

Aw man I thought this was going to be a video on the type of tech that’s used for players and coaches during sports games. I would love to see a video on that.

[@D71219ONE]

Yes, this. That would actually be interesting, because most of it is super state of the art.

[@BRoyce69]

If they got behind the scenes at the Rogers Arena (Canucks) that could be insane. Crazy big ask tho

[@Kathlanus]

A few months ago Linus and Luke talked about this on the WAN show. TLDR unlikeley because trade secrets all over the place. But I would love that too

[@stephenponnet462]

​@@Kathlanus if they can get into an intel fab i dont think a sports stadium will be a big deal.

[@DavidMorseMusic]

Unfortunately that stuff can be so proprietary and secretive...

[@triynizzles]

As a sports fan, I was getting hyped to see them test your stuff, coaches, and players use on the sideline like those thick blue Microsoft surface tablet, but just turned out to be regular products with logos on them :(

[@Tacos27182]

Very excited to see more graphs like this come out of your new lab.

[@zahawolfe]

This gave me an idea for a video. It would be really cool if y’all went and saw some of the tech they actually use to host sports games. Different camera tech, servers, or anything else that supports sports, news channels, or other professional industries

[@HSLSENG]

I was hoping that was this video when I clicked

[@Kitteh.B]

Yeah I'd love to see the tech behind those big wireless headsets that the coaches and sportscasters use, like why are they so big and expensive over regular comms headsets? Always been a big question in my head every time I see them.

[@artoro8]

Bruh that might be a little too big for even LTT

[@TylerAllard]

This right here. Review the mics and headsets at least, but I'd also love a tech tour of the modern giant screens and massive networks they use now. Please

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@Kitteh.B Because they need to be more rugged with how they are handled, and if they are not wired, then they need to make sure the signals passing through them are free from as much interference as possible. Nascar is a very good example as they have their own set of channels for radio traffic, and you need special scanners to pick up the audio of the race teams, and drivers.

[@MrFester]

Fanatics has some sketchy business practices. For example I went to buy a jersey off their site for the first time using an American Express card that I've had for twenty years, it was rejected and in an email they wanted me to call them up at 800 number and then the operator wanted me to verify the cc number over the phone along with my identity. 😂

[@stupidshot4PC]

Having worked corporate for one of the largest brick and mortar sports retail companies where fanatics is a part owner, Fanatics runs everything in the industry. Kind of nuts. They even took over our website(it subsequently got worse). With their ownership we did get better access to product, but it also created a nightmare for basically everything else. The markups on basically every product in the industry is marked up like 50% at a minimum. The custom embroidery for basically any clothing product is marked up closer to 95%. Tons of other practices that are strange as well

[@Abe-]

I never thought I would hear Linus say “Indianapolis” so excited to be getting a Micro Center in my town

[@av110386]

Thanks for mentioning a way to opt out, but also this was on the page for doing that: "You will also need to submit a “Request to Opt Out of Sale/Sharing/Targeted Advertising” on each browser on each device you use, and on each Fanatics website you access."

[@av110386]

Now I have to go through every fanatics based website on every device and browser i ever used

[@techno1561]

At least they don't require you to do so via Certified mail.

[@avoidthevo1d]

I demand a full version of "testing, testing, 1,2,3"

[@marius_xp]

With an "under Water" version xD

[@whatthedeuce47d68]

Just saw that response curve using B&K...I used to do some acoustics testing for military headsets using Bruell & Kjaer equipment that filled an IT rack with components, testing those response curves before and after -50C and +50C environment and vibration testing..it's probably mostly software now

[@kyleduddleston4123]

Im so excited for the New Microcenter coming to Indianapolis!!! I live about 45 minutes from there and a few hours away from the next closest one. This is going to make my tech buying so much more fun and easy!

[@nocelebrity6042]

I used to work in a sports fan souvenir store for my local university! It was my job to do digital photography, advertising signage, and describe products that would show on the website. I remember seeing some really impressive high-quality products come through, and being happy to share information about their features because I knew the customers would get years of enjoyment from their purchases. I also remember seeing low-quality products that seemed like an afterthought with so little attention to quality and workmanship, and little to no attention to good descriptions and clear technical specifications on the manufacturer's own packaging. Very rarely, I even had to try to discover the attributes of some products because they would not have labels (like shirts that only had a size tag, no thread content, and no care label, and even those **"100% plastic"** earbuds!). There were times where I wound up thinking some of the same things you said aloud in this video. There were times when I would remind myself that 18-25% of the sales cost was going to the university and/or the NCAA, and another cut went to certain corporate sports brands that seem to dominate the market for apparel. It's so wild to see this come up here on LTT. P.S. - Keyscapers also made sports calculators, and they might have had phone and tablet cases. P.P.S. - The worst computer peripheral product I ever saw was a foam-rubber mouse cover designed to make your mouse look like a sports ball with a team logo on it. It was terrible. The worst general product I ever saw was a clipboard with a fairly sturdy metal clip mounted to a stiffened cardboard back, and the back had already become warped and dog-eared at the corners from its own shrink wrapped packaging.

[@bennyyy]

I thought this video was about actual tech equipment used in sports and then thought how interesting it would be to tour something like an F1 pitwall to learn about how the teams collect live data and how they make sure things are reliable

[@jono6379]

Even the headphones and mics that allow for communication to drivers and crew could be interesting.

[@banovsky]

Linus at the Montreal GP!? Hell yeah! The radios are proprietary, as far as I am aware, example hardware would be from a company like Riedel (Bolero system). Matt Amys on KZbin did a video about F1 driver radios, and those are fully custom pieces. Seeing the McLaren garage and the DeWalt-branded brake cooling fans would be cool too…not to mention seeing him “game” in a proper Formula 1 simulator… ;)

[@PrograError]

too classified mate... ain't no one gonna show it out...

[@CRneu]

most of that tech is highly guarded in terms of how it works. Like the radar systems, tracking systems, etc are all proprietary and the facilities dont own them. You rent the equipment from the companies and they operate it for the facility. The company then provides an API for the broadcast/teams to tap into. I doubt linus could get the clearance from any of the companies on how it works beyond their PR presentations.

[@alex2217]

At 16:24, I straight up laughed out loud at the audacity. Imagine *advertising* 1.5 hours of continuous playing time.

[@gripguy5882]

1.5 hours of playtime and 1.5 hours of charging time. That’s a 1:1 ratio of charging to playtime

[@az5129]

i blinked, and paused just to reread that low play time was real.....e_e

[@ark_knight]

but hey, they didnt lie. that counts for something right? unless they lied.

[@hop-skip-ouch8798]

@@gripguy5882 They mastered efficiency. So maybe they should sell that technology.

[@MajorSkrewup]

and that's on the lowest of volume settings

[@R3dcelt]

Keep up the great work guys, good to have daily videos where you make sure people are not wasting money

[@HeathenHacks]

2:33 First time I've seen something roasting and promoting itself at the same time. Brilliant!

[@cinnabarsin4288]

Fanatics is a blight, like all the other companies of the same ilk, and makes me glad I'm past the point in my life where I feel the need to buy sports merch. It's not tech but look at furniture these days as another example of how pervasive this is - you'll find the exact same, low quality junk across a variety of retail (general big box and dedicated furniture stores) and websites with just a different name and price.

[@TheBorhork]

Your water bottle is a prime example of an excellent balance of quality versus price. I could go into Walmart and get an insulated water bottle for maybe like $5 less, but I'm really not saving that much money for the same function, and that one is bland and uninteresting. At least I get a cool design printed on and print it on really well. I got my first one about a year ago and while I did break the lid, the printing has held up very well despite daily use. I got the April fools one in and I'm very happy with it. It replaced my old one as my daily driver now

[@Junebug89]

I'm definitely keen on getting the April fools one at some point. That and a desk mat (maybe 2) look appealing. Screwdriver would be nice eventually too. And if they ever release those magnetic cable managers, I'm sure I'll grab a couple.

[@TheBorhork]

@@Junebug89 I got one of the desk pads when they put an oddball size 1 on sale because it was perfect for my repurposed manager desk from when I used to work at radio shack, I've picked up a screwdriver from them and overall I'm happy with all of it

[@lordflufffluff]

I would have gotten the water bottle if my workplace allowed unclear water bottles. It seems great for hitting people and I love LTT.

[@thekoz5158]

That Lava Lamp performs better than the actual Cleveland Browns.

[@adnanrahman5883]

this reminds me of that segment when top gear (when it was good) tested out cheap/weird products with car band logos slapped on with an insanely high markup

[@sparklthecat]

Something interesting about Fanatics is that when I bought a F1 Red Bull Racing hoodie from them, I used someone elses computer and I saved at least $40 USD on it, as they got a better discount since they were not checking the store as often and their data was not linked to F1 things so the discounts given to them were much higher

[@LarsBlitzer]

The detail about Fanatics being the only game in town (pun unintended) to get branded tech merch for a huge swath of sports teams is very concerning. Doubly so if they're trying to corner the market for trading cards. The markup is already insane; I can only imagine how much the consumer would get screwed if they had less competition. And the fact that they've somehow gotten licensing for e sports as well is very alarming. You'd think the teams and leagues would vet the quality of the merchandise in that case very strictly.

[@Heksu99]

Fanatics is going to make the Official jerseys for NHL from 24-25 onwards, and with long deal. But their fan products are really cheaply made what I've heard

[@gilgomush]

aye... my mum used to work for fanatics.. makes sense why I kept getting alot of sports team gear for christmas. Love you mum.

[@TechDove]

As a Baltimore Ravens fan, I was so happy when you destroyed that Bengals mouse pad 😂

[@rootbear75]

Seeing tech in other categories from your guys perspective has always been interesting Since Linus rides motorcycles, I would love to see tech for bike riders and/or what Linus uses. There's a lot of techy comm units out there, so I would love to see labs test audio quality of comm systems/speakers with certain helmets to see how good of an audio experience you could get.... Or techy aftermarket mods for bikes. edit: or Collab with another motorcycle focused channel like Fortnine even

[@PrograError]

how bout those with Bluetooth or even the AR ones...

[@Stephen-Jones]

I love how Linus is still rocking a Pebble, and that it is asking to be charged. My Pebble and I are not alone 😁

[@psychonauts0]

He's talked about it on wan show a couple times. It's actually a recent thing. Someone (I believe another KZbinr) gave it to him so he could try out the custom community software for it.

[@evanh123]

@@psychonauts0 ShankMods did.

[@attilavs2]

Am i the only one to notice that linus was cheering to Wii sports baseball while doing NFL callouts, and wearing hockey gear ?

[@am3rgam3r]

OMAO I’ve been saying this for years have someone is finally covering it. Honestly I’m happy it’s you

[@JeffDeWitt]

I couldn't care less about sports, but this was a great episode. Looked like Linus was having fun legitimately bashing this stuff, and I actually laughed out loud at the lava lamp speaker, that was pretty cool. (I do, in fact, have a lava lamp and it's on right now). It will be interesting to see if there is any reaction from then NFL or Fanatics.

[@jemiebridges3197]

Quality lava lamp speakers exist if that caught your fancy.

[@JeffDeWitt]

@@jemiebridges3197 I have a lava lamp and really don't need another little speaker. It IS a neat idea though.

[@R3AL-AIM]

I do enjoy these videos... You always see this stuff at bigbox and discount stores, but never get to truly see how terrible they are. Thanks lol

[@TechySpeaking]

5:20 Let's just appreciate that, when using the Toronto Raptors gear, Linus further chooses to honor the team and Canada by mimicking Kawhi's laugh.

[@bigredjcom]

I really really really hope Micro Center opens a store in either Portland or Seattle! PLEEEAAAASSSEEEE MICRO CENTER!!!!!!!

[@BraveryTheBrony]

I always love these in depth review style videos from you guys. Mainly so those who know nothing about tech can get a good idea on what not to spend their money on.

[@johncolle6534]

Fanatics holds a near monopoly on the sports apparel market that it's absurd. The 4 major sports just went with the cheapest option that makes them the most money. It's infuriating.

[@ksmooththeengineeringdude]

That lava lamp is dope!

[@thegreatlebowski8003]

Ordered something from them to Europe. Took them 2+ weeks to ship an item. For 40 days nothing moved on a shipping page. Only positive thing was a refund. They issued it immediately.

[@EyebelieveTheNarrative]

Yinz gotta love the terrible towel

[@drybonesGCN]

Linus of all people would know about "cringe high pressure sales tactics" lmao

[@rileyhutton]

content 📉

[@onethree6023]

Love these types of videos, keep it up LTT

[@NoobsofFredo]

Yeah, I got one of those car phone holders at the Atlanta United team store a couple of months ago, and it won't even hold my phone while it's in the OtterBox I keep it in. Now it's just a fancy bit of decoration stuck into my A/C vent. Not at all worth the money I payed for it. In fairness, that lava lamp speaker is legit cool.

[@EPICFAIL458]

The scariest part of Fanatics is that they just took over the deal to make OFFICIAL ON ICE NHL jerseys and the quality isn't getting any better

[@OneZombieTrain]

The Wii Sports got a laugh out of me. Whoever's idea that was: Bravo!

[@WhittyWhitts]

“Biggest companies make the worst crap!” - DankPods (Wade Nixon)

[@SalTheSlime.]

Super awesome vid as always! I remember working at a small local computer store and we had a NFL PS2 controller and PS2 headset to make you really feel “in the game” always wondered how awful it was. But if all this stuff is “official” I’m assuming it would have been close to dollar store crap. Or maybe really good. Eh who knows.

[@Smitsva]

man why is Linus still getting better after all these years ?!?!?!

[@liam9069]

i never thought i would see linus waving a terrible towel

[@bullshooter4040]

The sports apparel industry is in complete shambles and there is no going back. Every single league is in cahoots with each other building up the Fanatics monopoly. No surprise that the quality of every single product has plummeted.

[@kuebby]

And yet people are still happily buying this crap, so I don't really have any sympathy.

[@leonro]

@@kuebby Most people buying gifts don't actually care about its quality, just that the person they're gifting it to is into that sports team and that it's expensive enough that they don't need to buy anything else.

[@diney7085]

It's sad how Mitchell and Ness was producing decent-quality products at a reasonable price. Now that Fanatics bought them out, everything is overpriced 2D prints on $5 shirts. At least new era is still making quality hats, but if Fanatics buys them out it's game over.

[@vlfpl]

Sports, tickets, healthcare - it's all the same.

[@CRneu]

@@vlfpl same can be said about most tech stuff in general. For every quality product you see there are hundreds of cheap versions that sell just as well, if not better, than the big brand ones. The issue is that consumers aren't informed, lack critical thinking skills, and the stores are doing no service to help consumers make informed purchases. Amazon hosts blatant scams and does nothing to stop it.

[@SpiderJesus26]

As a hockey fan- I've just been finding old CCM/Lee's/ and even Adida's retro gear at thrift stores and estate sales. Quality is higher, the style is in, and especially---ESPECIALLY anything with textiles, the comfort is so much higher.

[@HKlink]

Reminds me of the time I bought some fancy World of Warcraft headset in 2010 or so. Pretty sure I paid 130€ for them, they had swappable Alliance and Horde covers that would glow in your favorite shade of Warcraft, a removable mic, a much too heavy and chonky plastic frame that felt cheap and big... I "upgraded" from a cheapo Sennheiser PC 131 that cost me 20€, and both the mic and the sound was just worse. Worst part was that the entire adjustment mechanism snapped in half when I dropped them off my desk onto carpet a single time. It came with some fancy voice modulation software that would change your voice to match your character's race and gender, which mostly just did not work very well but a few of them sounded funny... and it was hardcoded to only work with that exact headset and refused to do anything on anything else. I'm gonna keep buying whatever Sennheiser (or now epos??) has as its cheapest headset because the mic is always great the sound is always passable and it weighs nothing so comfort is never an issue.

[@chrisrust7900]

So true. If I bought a LTT screwdriver and it was just a rebranded Harbor Freight tool I would be PISSED.

[@itsTodd]

The consistency of this channel for the amount of subs is great, cheers Linus! ✌🏻

[@DJAlexParker]

non tech but I got some nfl shorts from Primark for only £16 compared to min £30+ from the UK NFL store, yet they're a fully licensed product and great quality. Fanatics have really annoying sales, always a discount so non offer price is high on purpose just so make it look better

[@Olav_Hansen]

12:39 as a professional stuff dropper, you are an authority on how expensive dropped stuff sounds.

[@RainMoneyProductions]

That hockey puck speaker could have some potential if the electronics weren’t from your local dollar store

[@Trillyana]

Fanatics seems to be very hit or miss. I got a long-sleeve t-shirt and a sweatshirt together as a gift one year, and the team name/logo on the shirt started to come off from washing it before too long. It also randomly ended up with a tiny hole in the collarbone area somehow? Meanwhile, the sweatshirt may be the nicest feeling sweatshirt I've ever owned.

[@YDINO69]

If only he knew that it was a real strategy in the NFL even with their unlimited budget, to sometimes claim that your headphones don’t work so that both sides can’t use them

[@bradasskg11]

No it isn’t lmao What are you even talking about?

[@Jehty_]

?

[@RavingDavith]

I love the level of dust on Linus's hockey helmet xD

[@TeamStripesRoss80]

I love that Linus covered the bauer logo on the front of the helmet but not the sides

[@Rukusoru]

like 10 years ago i bought jets headphones from a store for like $30, they were fine quality wise and the padding was like an inch thick so the noise cancellation was great as i couldn't hear anything around me

[@claudiobizama5603]

They were Skullcandy? I remember them making headphones with sports teams

[@Rukusoru]

@@claudiobizama5603 maybe? i dont remember the brand

[@HarveyBird]

Crabrave coming in clutch always

[@random-vids112]

fr

[@michaelbrowning5755]

I love the way he just goes "and the Bengals".

[@Lyander25]

Mandatory disclaimer that frequency response curves arent fully representative of how a thing will sound, though for rough estimates it's serviceable enough.

[@onlyzach1]

I'm a huge sports fan (follow baseball, basketball and football) and even I don't buy this crap. Props to you guys for calling them out on it. Good video as always.

[@KenS1267]

That

[@charlessale409]

Yeah if you like generating landfill while ripping off consumers 🤓

[@ryan_singh]

This is amazing. Thank you for calling it out

[@Sazoji]

fanatics and B&N are like the two major stores for any college merch, even my community college uses it now

[@TechSowa]

Finally someone is bringing this issue up!!! Fanatics is a horrible business!!

[@HeisenbergFam]

Linus looks like 2000s skater-stoner stepbro who giggles to himself like a Disney villain while pouring milk before cereal

[@_DRMR_]

Thank you for the Keychron tip, just ordered my first mechanical keyboard.

[@lilrockstar77]

IM from Cleveland. This is the first time I ever heard anyone say “that’s better than I expected” about anything Browns related.

[@halostnight7557]

i can never get enough of Linus! ❤

[@Michalosnup]

Linus. The only man who can determine price of item based on drop sound.