Blister annual book of gear

That Blister ad with the guy eating it on the bike and the $7,000 bubble is kinda using fear of injury to sell insurance. We all eat shit at times doing sports we love. But show me another sports mag/website that talks about getting maimed as much. And I know Blister is saying they are doing it to help people….but they must profit from it. It’s just a bit weird. And repetitive.

$60 for Gaijin is a bargain. $40 if he’s sober.

PS I cancelled my online subscription to Blister due to the changes. That being said I just got shipping notice for this year’s Buyers Guide. It’s $77CDN to get it delivered to Canada but it’s worth it as I do like to keep a few years copies of the guides by the couch to flip through periodically. It’s informative and I love that they specify rec mount points and tip/tail measurements. So thanks for that.

Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

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Originally Posted by Upinsmoke

^ where is the like button?
Blister lost my support when they stopped doing follow up reviews on skis I was interested in. So many of their reviews are not finished product.

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Exactly my gripe over the past year and half

I've been a blister member for about 3 years and I've unfortunately just canceled my subscription. I initially signed up because I wanted access to the deep dive comparisons and the gear recommendations and the book. I got charged my 60 dollars back in March, assuming that I was getting my copy of the Blister guide, along with all the other things offered I used before.

When I found out today that I wasn't getting the blister guide with my 60 dollar subscription like before, I felt blindsided. I follow the site fairly regularly during the ski season (october-may) and I had no idea that I was losing access to the blister+ perks and now they're behind a $400 paywall.

I lost access to the book and to the gear recommendations (which are what really kickstarted my obsession with skiing), and all I get now are flash reviews and deep dives.

I just graduated from College, and I'm currently struggling to begin my career. I don't have $400 dollars right now to spend on insurance and to get what I used to get for 60 dollars. I don't even know if I'll be able to ski this year! But I was really looking forwards to the blister guide book, I love reading over all of it so I can get a good feeling for where the industry is at so I can help my friends and family find the gear that might work for them.

Blister was one of my favorite tools to stay up until 3 am comparing and contrasting products to be able to navigate this extremely expensive and incomprehensible sport/industry. I love skiing and I loved the tool. It's a shame I can't justify it anymore. I'd be happy to resub if I could get what I used to, even if it was at a slight price increase.


EDIT: You also never explained why you removed features from the 60 dollar tier. You hinted that things cost more money, but why not just increase the price of the subscription? You took my money and took features away. Doesn't feel right. I should have gotten an email saying **NOTICE WE ARE REMOVING FEATURES FROM THIS SUBSCRIPTION**. You just keep going on and on about why insurance is important. I'm 24 and even I know why insurance is important. I'm sure this site full of grumpy old men from the stone ages understand it too.
400 dollars skiing insurance sounds awesome! But I want to know why that insurance took away the things I used to pay for. You were happy to continue to bill me while completely changing the name of my subscription and the contents of it! If you can't understand that, then you're just another out of touch rich guy.

^^^ This whipersnapper gits it

"EDIT: You also never explained why you removed features from the 60 dollar tier. You hinted that things cost more money, but why not just increase the price of the subscription? You took my money and took features away. Doesn't feel right. I should have gotten an email saying **NOTICE WE ARE REMOVING FEATURES FROM THIS SUBSCRIPTION**"

Hi, we actually sent multiple emails to every member - 4 or 5 in total, over the course of this past year - explaining the change - and the reasons for the change. Most recently, you would have received 2 emails prior to your subscription renewal. You're welcome to send me an email or a DM if you somehow never received any of those emails, and I'll help you out.

And if you go through this thread, I spelled out the reasons for the changes - if we wanted to be able to offer coverage to people outside of the US, we had to.

Again, feel free to email or DM me about any of this.

JE!

I think it is rad that you came on in here and responded to these posts (no matter how insane they were).

I think your rollout of membership service updates was clear and frequent and I honestly don’t know how people can claim otherwise.

I’m so confused as to why people are mad that you are offering a service (Blister+) that will help others at no detriment to those who chose not to participate.

I think everyone needs to check themselves and realize how lucky we are that Blister and Ski Essentials and all the other great publications exist and provide for the most part FREE content.

And if you think you can do it better, start your own business and take these guys on! If your superior business model is so great you will crush them and make all the money!

Much Love,
Radskier


PS. No, this is not Luke Koppa’s burner account. I am a real person.

Lotta good posts in this thread. I would just say that perception matters, and my perception now (as a semi-informed consumer) is that Blister is now more of an insurance sales company than a review company. This is disappointing for me, because I used to really respect how Blister handled themselves and their business. I don't agree with how they are doing it now.

The review content they put out is good. I just wish they would get to reviewing more of the skis. In their defense there are, like, a lot of them.

I am pretty sure JFE shared that there was an option to get the guide and all of the digital content that didn’t cost $400?

Complaining about the insurance is stupid. It’s not like Blister is United HealthCare making THOUSANDS a year off of me and my employer every year so I can have the privilege of only having a $50 copay for my yearly checkup.

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Originally Posted by RadSkier_

JE!

I think it is rad that you came on in here and responded to these posts (no matter how insane they were).

I think your rollout of membership service updates was clear and frequent and I honestly don’t know how people can claim otherwise.

I’m so confused as to why people are mad that you are offering a service (Blister+) that will help others at no detriment to those who chose not to participate.

I think everyone needs to check themselves and realize how lucky we are that Blister and Ski Essentials and all the other great publications exist and provide for the most part FREE content.

And if you think you can do it better, start your own business and take these guys on! If your superior business model is so great you will crush them and make all the money!

Much Love,
Radskier


PS. No, this is not Luke Koppa’s burner account. I am a real person.

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Thank you. I'm getting lots of emails and messages from people who've read this thread and are saying similar things, not many people are willing to say it publicly. So again, thanks.

Also, FWIW, I personally think the Blizzard Anomaly 88 is a fantastic ski. I just recommended it to one of my best friends today. I talked about it on our GEAR:30 podcast that we did in Taos... was hoping to get more time on it back in CB before the season ended... but then, we were just on to producing the big buyer's guide. But I definitely should have gone back and gotten a flash review done on it. To be honest, I kind of forgot, because I was getting a lot of comments & questions about the ski from Blister members who'd listened to that podcast, so I felt like I was talking about that ski a bunch. So I messed up on that one.

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Originally Posted by JFE24

Thank you. I'm getting lots of emails and messages from people who've read this thread and are saying similar things, not many people are willing to say it publicly. So again, thanks.

Also, FWIW, I personally think the Blizzard Anomaly 88 is a fantastic ski. I just recommended it to one of my best friends today. I talked about it on our GEAR:30 podcast that we did in Taos... was hoping to get more time on it back in CB before the season ended... but then, we were just on to producing the big buyer's guide. But I definitely should have gone back and gotten a flash review done on it. To be honest, I kind of forgot, because I was getting a lot of comments & questions about the ski from Blister members who'd listened to that podcast, so I felt like I was talking about that ski a bunch. So I messed up on that one.

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RE: Anomaly 88s

All good. This is literally my only complaint. Thanks!

RE: This thread and moaning about Blister+

It’s saved me $4k after getting shoulder surgery this year due to injury. There are probably people complaining in this thread that could benefit from it.

Yeah, if you don’t the money to throw down then it probably seems ridiculous. But, chances are your deductible (if you have insurance) is huge and you’re screwed if you get hurt. It is maybe not worth it if your out of pocket max on your plan is < $1,000? I don’t know a single person with a plan like that…

I don’t think JFE/Blister is trying to be the UHC/Blue Cross Blue Shield of adventure insurance. I pay those leeches thousands of dollars every year so I can pay thousands of dollars if I do end up needing any care at all.

I love the ski industry and I work in it. At the end of the day I’m supporting other folks in the ski industry and getting stoked reading/listening to folks getting stoked about gear/adventures/movies/etcetera.

Plus, the end of the day I get:

- A fat guide to place on my coffee table and read with my friends.
- A bunch of digital content to enjoy.
- Accident insurance so my wife doesn’t get pissed when I drop $$$ on healthcare because I hucked something too big.

YMMV

Taking a break from this place for a while.

I'm gonna partially unmask myself a bit. But forgive me if I protect those brands around me.

Yes, I'm an asshole/provocateur on the TRGz. I think it's fun. But I'm also a venture capitalist. I've raised over 20 million dollars, bought several resorts, and have lost my life savings. I've done it all. That's enough vague background to stop there and say this...

This thread has over 12K views. Blister subscribers are dropping publicly. If there is a table of investors about to enter the next meeting to discuss quarterly earnings, and the loss of subscribers, I'd be terrified as a CEO. However... If I were a lone CEO, with no outside investors, I'd be even more terrified. That would mean that I have nobody to provide me any feedback.

Enter us.

Blister's business model has flipped upside down. It's now an insurance model, not a gear/review model.

Maybe this flip will make Blister a billion-dollar company. Who knows? That would be rad.

But, my 2018 ACL reconstruction surgery in JP by JP's National Ski Team Lead Surgeon, who was also JP's National Soccer Team Surgeon, did my surgery for US$130 after surgery/insurance. My custom DonJoy Carbon Fiber knee brace was free. My rehab cost 7$/day. (Yes, JP Insurance.)

Point being? Insurance is a race to the bottom. You're competing against other very well established organizations that can formulate plans that outsell you.

This isn't your market. You built your audience around gear reviews, and you mistakenly grabbed an outside investor/partner to sell insurance. Then you made compromises and your audience is confused about your product.

Blister did send a bunch of emails about the change. Probably a lot of people didn't read them. I read mine. Forgot about it. This atrocious thread reminded me to order the catalog manually. I did. And now it is here, and again, I love it.

We hit our insurance deductible every year because my wife has well controlled RA and the drug prices are absolute madness. So I'm not sure how much accident insurance would be helpful. Really. I still don't know.

My wife had a very serious bike accident two years ago that has been a nightmare getting insurance to pay for dental reconstruction. United HC stops paying after 1 year, Wellmark 2 years. Depends on policy fine print. She changed jobs and we had to switch to my insurance for a year before going back to Wellmark. Her reconstruction is going to take more than two years. Medical insurance will fight tooth and nail not to pay anything dental even when they have to because it was an accident. Every bill is a battle because you have to trace the entire procedure trail back to the accident. They never pay the first claim. Just last week, we got $6k for a procedure this spring after securing multiple letters from doctors and sending them a huge package certified mail, again. She is having posts put in for 2 implants next week, one day before her 2 years is up. That is one month earlier than her doctors minimum after the bone graft surgery. But he thinks it will be okay. We need insurance to pay, and this still isn't a guarantee they will.

There is nowhere that I can see that Blister plus covers dental reconstruction, or when the limit of coverage from an incident ends. Very few details given on the website. Do they pay for orthodonics and if so when does that end? My wife had to wait a year to even start orthodonics.

Moral...wear a full face. Get insurance. Get accident insurance. They probably still won't pay.

So, it is hard for me to get too pissed about Blister selling accident insurance, even if it is just one more thing to spin my head and not be able to make sense out of. It is Jonathan's business, young healthy people definitely can use it.

I blew my knee in 2016. We had good Wellmark, it cost me $60 because our deductible was met. I wouldn't have benefited. Her original oral surgery from this accident, which involved an entire team of doctors overseen by the head of oral surgery at the University of Iowa for several hours, and three days in the hospital, was paid for by insurance because it was October and again our deductible had been met.

If you have an uncovered event bring you to your deductible, then have an accident, you get little value from Blister plus right? They cover the second event too but you may well have met your dedication by then. I realize this is why it is relatively affordable but also something for folk to think about.

I'm pissed about the whole fucking insurance system, and anybody who ever has to deal with a complex recovery will be too.

But I do go to Blister to read about 88 mm skis. And anybody that knows me, knows most of my days since the Brahma was invented have been on Brahmas. So I appreciate the anomaly talk.

It does seem like insurance is part of the gear equation, but strange bedfellows at the same time.

Could my position be anymore unclear? That is where the opaque finish of insurance leaves me.

I have zero dog in this fight re: insurance sales or not, but speaking as a (probably all too common) idiot who doesn't actually check my online subscription renewals and auto pays often enough , and also ignores emails because I get too damn many, I had no idea that my subscription was now $59.99 for just the Deep dive and flash review access.

I went back through my email and I was warned, so that's on me for not realizing that and Im not even slightly upset about not knowing, as it's my fault. But the value really isn't there for me for $60 so it's probably not something I would renew next year.

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Originally Posted by gaijin

I'm gonna partially unmask myself a bit. But forgive me if I protect those brands around me.

Yes, I'm an asshole/provocateur on the TRGz. I think it's fun. But I'm also a venture capitalist. I've raised over 20 million dollars, bought several resorts, and have lost my life savings. I've done it all. That's enough vague background to stop there and say this...

This thread has over 12K views. Blister subscribers are dropping publicly. If there is a table of investors about to enter the next meeting to discuss quarterly earnings, and the loss of subscribers, I'd be terrified as a CEO. However... If I were a lone CEO, with no outside investors, I'd be even more terrified. That would mean that I have nobody to provide me any feedback.

Enter us.

Blister's business model has flipped upside down. It's now an insurance model, not a gear/review model.

Maybe this flip will make Blister a billion-dollar company. Who knows? That would be rad.

But, my 2018 ACL reconstruction surgery in JP by JP's National Ski Team Lead Surgeon, who was also JP's National Soccer Team Surgeon, did my surgery for US$130 after surgery/insurance. My custom DonJoy Carbon Fiber knee brace was free. My rehab cost 7$/day. (Yes, JP Insurance.)

Point being? Insurance is a race to the bottom. You're competing against other very well established organizations that can formulate plans that outsell you.

This isn't your market. You built your audience around gear reviews, and you mistakenly grabbed an outside investor/partner to sell insurance. Then you made compromises and your audience is confused about your product.

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Not entirely sure how your experience as a venture capitalist and/or C-suite guy is relevant to this conversation. I am sorry to hear about your financial hardships, I hope you're doing okay.

Blister is still reviewing gear. They post tons of ski/mtb reviews. I have this year's (2024-2025) winter guide next to me right now. Only legitimate (in my opinion) criticism I have seen in this thread are delays on reviews for some skis and that the new pricing model has taken some folks by surprise.

Not all of us are lucky enough to live in Japan or a different country with a healthcare system where you can receive quality care for affordable prices. How much would it have been if you did not have insurance in Japan? Not sure if you're a local or not, but getting injured in a foreign country can be a bank-breaking experience.

Just because the insurance program doesn't fit your needs doesn't mean it's bad. Your argument makes no sense. Lots of pathos, but no egos or logos.

For the record, I enjoy your posts and am making my argument in good spirits. Perhaps I'm doing Blister too much of a public service. But, I feel the need to stick my neck out for a product that has saved me thousands of dollars.

I can understand the complaining about the changing pricing structure and loss of the physical guide with the $60 tier... but you got like 5 emails saying the pricing was going to change, come on

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Originally Posted by MoeSnow

Just because the insurance program doesn't fit your needs doesn't mean it's bad.

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Also, the last few pages just can be summed up in the above. I have supplemental insurance through my insurance broker... and it saved my ass. I can understand not wanting or needing the insurance, but the capitulating and hand wringing over it just feels like false outrage. Ya'll know you can hide instagram ads right?

I don't disagree on some of the posts here, nitpicking nonsense, but it is a review website. I think it is fair for us to review their insurance and it's applicability and point out that that it is sometimes hard to do depending on someone's situation.

Also, because there is no option to be a full Blister member without B+, even if it isn't cost effective for an individual. Blister may need this to make this work, as JE has made clear, but as individuals we have to look out for our own interests.

Also, I'm not dropping my basic membership as long as they keep making excellent podcasts. I know they are 'free'. Worth $5 a month to me easily.

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Originally Posted by JFE24

"EDIT: You also never explained why you removed features from the 60 dollar tier. You hinted that things cost more money, but why not just increase the price of the subscription? You took my money and took features away. Doesn't feel right. I should have gotten an email saying **NOTICE WE ARE REMOVING FEATURES FROM THIS SUBSCRIPTION**"

Hi, we actually sent multiple emails to every member - 4 or 5 in total, over the course of this past year - explaining the change - and the reasons for the change. Most recently, you would have received 2 emails prior to your subscription renewal. You're welcome to send me an email or a DM if you somehow never received any of those emails, and I'll help you out.

And if you go through this thread, I spelled out the reasons for the changes - if we wanted to be able to offer coverage to people outside of the US, we had to.

Again, feel free to email or DM me about any of this.

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Guess it's a skill issue on my part then. Sorry Jonathan I had a few too many last night.

Since this is the Blister public suggestion thread can you please send David Golay some riding clothes that aren't black, dark blue or dark green? Maybe something with electric, bright or safety in the color name?

I get that the Print edidtyion extra cost was a bit of surprise and bummer. I always wondered how they survive financially. I only signed up as a member a few years ago to keep them afloat. SO i consumed free content for probably 10 years. So I’m grudgingly ok with paying the extra cost for print guide.

As far as the insurance, it is a good thing to offer as a bundle, given how bad the US insurance scene is. And it is probably necessary for the whole thing to make any kind of profit. But at this point, it would be nice to hear a little less about it.

I get that the Print edidtyion extra cost was a bit of surprise and bummer. I always wondered how they survive financially. I only signed up as a member a few years ago to keep them afloat. SO i consumed free content for probably 10 years. So I’m grudgingly ok with paying the extra cost for print guide.

As far as the insurance, it is a good thing to offer as a bundle, given how bad the US insurance scene is. And it is probably necessary for the whole thing to make any kind of profit. But at this point, it would be nice to hear a little less about it.

I don't think people are complaining that the insurance is bad, just that it's not the reason they got involved with the Blister subscription. I signed up for the benefits it originally offered: deep dives, the printed guide, personalized recommendations, and discounts. Now that most of those are locked behind a subscription tier that's four times more expensive, or not included due to the introduction of insurance, I'm mildly annoyed. Insurance wasn’t what the Blister subscription was about for the past decade or so.

If Netflix suddenly charged $80/month but included free car washes, you’d probably think, “OK, that’s a nice offering, but it’s not why I got Netflix,” and maybe you don't even have a car.

All that said, I’m still a (basic) member, and I still love the Blister crew and have had a blast at their summits. But I’m frustrated that I lost benefits for a new offering that doesn’t relate to what I originally signed up for. I’m glad they’re making the industry safer, but I wish I hadn’t been caught in the crossfire as a non-industry gear nerd.

Haaa love the the Netflix analogy. Put me in the camp of being excited for Disney+ to start offering free dental cleanings for the kids.

It’s generally good business advice to keep your main thing your main thing. In my business I’m approached directly by side businesses all the time to offer joint marketing efforts to our customer base with revenue sharing models. If it lines up with our core purpose, mission, and vision - we may consider it. It rarely does, especially when you really drill down.

I don’t know blister’s purpose or their guiding principles (not to be confused with whatever they choose to market). Given their current business model I’m not sure they do either. But I don’t know that.

A word of advice, though: keep your main thing your main thing. At the very least this is a marketing and branding debacle - what more proof do you need than the confusion of your core customer base? I’d worry that this speaks to a far bigger issue though. At best you’re just becoming Spot Insurance’s outsourced sales and marketing arm, not a “partner.” I don’t see them spending time and effort and dollars and customer base to sell Blister.

ETA: I’d love to see you guys approach Spot and offer to share a percentage of revenue for every Blister membership they sell. Tell them they can make it an add on for every policy they sell. They would laugh and laugh. And then they’d say no.

You know why?

Because they’re an insurance company. Not an outdoor focused content company.

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Originally Posted by eSock

I don't think people are complaining that the insurance is bad, just that it's not the reason they got involved with the Blister subscription. I signed up for the benefits it originally offered: deep dives, the printed guide, personalized recommendations, and discounts. Now that most of those are locked behind a subscription tier that's four times more expensive, or not included due to the introduction of insurance, I'm mildly annoyed. Insurance wasn’t what the Blister subscription was about for the past decade or so.

If Netflix suddenly charged $80/month but included free car washes, you’d probably think, “OK, that’s a nice offering, but it’s not why I got Netflix,” and maybe you don't even have a car.

All that said, I’m still a (basic) member, and I still love the Blister crew and have had a blast at their summits. But I’m frustrated that I lost benefits for a new offering that doesn’t relate to what I originally signed up for. I’m glad they’re making the industry safer, but I wish I hadn’t been caught in the crossfire as a non-industry gear nerd.

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^ this

Am I the only one who wishes they would go skiing or have reviewers in the other hemisphere during the summer, instead of posting bike content?