Thoughts on Ben Heck?

[Pasky]

Just curious what real world engineers (and the EEVblog community) think of Ben Heck.  Having spoken with a few I know online, they seem to lean towards disliking him for not really displaying much work, doing a lot of things off camera, and basically taking the spotlight away from others who they feel deserve more recognition.

  I'm indifferent as I don't watch him.  I just remember him for his "portable" PS3/Xbox 360, haven't kept up with anything else he's done, but saw him on some youtube links after watching Dave's videos.  Curious how others feel is all.  Thoughts?

[sleemanj]

Just curious what real world engineers think of Ben Heck.

I'm not a real world engineer. but FWIW, I don't much like his style.

Reminds me too much of marketing, jazzing it up for the camera, buzzwords, fancy video overlays, that kinda thing... which makes my skin crawl.

Horses for courses though, he gets views, so I guess he's doing something right, at least for the unwashed masses.

[Pasky]

Ah, sorry I didn't mean to leave anyone out.  I re-worded my comment.

  Looking at some of the stuff on his site, it's rather sloppy, with wires exposed on the exterior of things and generous use of hot glue everywhere.  Pretty bad design choice in my opinion as you could just easily snag those.

[Skimask]

Ah, sorry I didn't mean to leave anyone out.  I re-worded my comment.

  Looking at some of the stuff on his site, it's rather sloppy, with wires exposed on the exterior of things and generous use of hot glue everywhere.  Pretty bad design choice in my opinion as you could just easily snag those.

On the other hand, the stuff he builds up isn't going into outer space or being used in life/death situations...

I watch the show for comedic relief.

[Rory]

I think he's the poster boy for the Maker movement.

[miguelvp]

To be honest I was expecting just crickets in this thread.

My take on Ben Heck, he has his role in the new resurgence in the electronics world. Heck, I can always use a better glue gun

Kidding aside, he is doing a great job, just tell him not to get drunk while people are recording hangouts. Then again, that was funny!

[EEVblog]

Reminds me too much of marketing, jazzing it up for the camera, buzzwords, fancy video overlays, that kinda thing...

That's exactly what the BHS is going for, like it or not.
You have to remember that it's a big budget production, paid for, overseen, and run by Element 14.
I'm not sure how much freedom Ben actually has in the final product, but it's certainly not just his show.
BTW, you'd be shocked at how much Element 14 pay to get each episode edited and produced. Let's just say that one episode costs more than I've spent on the entire 5 years of my blog for all my camera gear, software and PC's etc

[EEVblog]

  Looking at some of the stuff on his site, it's rather sloppy, with wires exposed on the exterior of things and generous use of hot glue everywhere.  Pretty bad design choice in my opinion as you could just easily snag those.

They are just hacks, so no surprise.
Ben has maybe a week to complete the entire build and shoot the video etc, it's a very tough ask. I think he does very well given the time constraints.

[EEVblog]

He seems to attract some audience. these days no one will appeal to everyone.

That's never been that case!
His videos seem to be about as popular as mine at a base level number of views, and then any video that involves gaming etc, the view count gets a huge boost. Probably getting linked on gaming forums and/or keyword seo for the likes of PS4/XBOX etc.
You have to remember how huge the gaming community is. Youtube's #1 channel is a gaming channel, just some dude playing games. 4 billion views.

[rdl]

Seems like I watched a couple of his shows a year or two ago. Slick and superficial... Yeah, that's what I remember. Not much substance and I wasn't very impressed. I'll have to watch a more recent one to see if they've gotten any better.

[miguelvp]

To be honest I was expecting just crickets in this thread.

My take on Ben Heck, he has his role in the new resurgence in the electronics world. Heck, I can always use a better glue gun

Kidding aside, he is doing a great job, just tell him not to get drunk while people are recording hangouts. Then again, that was funny!

Yeah, quoting myself, but even if no one asked for the video I'll share it.

He is a normal human being (yeah Dave you are not because we all know you don't drink  )



Remember folks, once in the Internet, it stays in the Internet (Forever!)

[Bored@Work]

Just curious what real world engineers (and the EEVblog community) think of Ben Heck.  Having spoken with a few I know online, they seem to lean towards disliking him for not really displaying much work, doing a lot of things off camera

I don't like his show, but I guess he can live with that . It has the touch of some cooking shows where they mysteriously show you the final cake and leaving out important preparation steps. And it is advertising. I should get paid to watch it.

and basically taking the spotlight away from others who they feel deserve more recognition.

That is the problem of those others.

[Stonent]

The Ben Heck Shoh... Or at least Show sounds like Shoh when he says it.  Must be Wisconsin or Minnesota or thereabouts.

I watch his show from time to time.. BUT FIRST... Here's today's Ben News!

 

[steve30]

Its generally not my cup of tea, but I watch it occasionally as he does some interesting stuff.

[electronics man]

I used to like his shows, now I realise there's not much electronics, he just shows what he is doing he doesn't really teach any real theory, I think his content is just a bit empty of content.

[EEVblog]

Perhaps my point would be better made If I said. On YT everything is catering to a niche.

Yep, and that's why very few youtube channels, regardless of how good they might be, or how well produced, would ultimately not make the cut on mainstream TV.
One possible exception I could think of would be a few of the many excellent science based channels that are so popular these days.

[TMM]

Seems odd that Element 14 are targeting that end of the market though, but what do I know?

I always thought this too. Other than selling Raspberry Pi boards they don't really cater for the hacker/maker.

[robrenz]

He gets more views than my channel

Yes, a shameless plug

[Rigby]

I think the Ben Heck hate is really misplaced.  Before he got the element14 gig he didn't do a video blog, I don't think, and his hacks were far fewer, longer between them, and of higher quality and design.

My main gripe with his stuff is that he seems to have everything he needs on hand or available from a friend.  no one else in the world has access to the stuff he has access to like that, so it really, really limits my ability to "draw a line" between my own abilities and his.  If I can draw a line between myself and you, then I have a path --a plan-- to get my own abilities up to yours.  If I can't draw that line, then I don't know how the hell you got to where you are and your skillset is unattainable to me.  For someone making videos meant to inspire people to "make" then having an unattainable set of resources is not exactly a good place to be.

All of that said, I'm 100% confident that Ben is indeed a good person and I believe that he's doing what he sees to be good work.  I think that's awesome.  Power to him, and a healthy "WELL DONE" to Element14 for working with him to, or letting him, produce the videos he produces.  I'm not watching but I know that there are lots of folks who are inspired to "make" more because of him.

[ajb]

He does some neat stuff occasionally, but I much prefer the style and substance of the other Ben on Youtube (that would be Krasnow, the guy who made a scanning electron microscope, sputtering chamber, ruby laser, and  astronaut ice cream in his garage).  There's a guy who really makes me want to get off my ass and make something.  He also does a good job of explaining the overall why and how of his projects without getting mired in esoteric technical jargon (which would be an easy trap to fall into with many of his projects).

He gets more views than my channel

Yes, a shameless plug

Your channel is way more interesting than Ben Heck's!

Even if it does make me insanely jealous 

[jancumps]

I like watching his channel. it's in my area of interest, and I find it entertaining.
 

[Rigby]

He gets more views than my channel

Yes, a shameless plug

I am AMAZED at the first video.  That is some very fine work you're doing, there.  Your Kelvin probes are freaking impressive.  Wow.

[beatle]

He gets more views than my channel

Yes, a shameless plug

Not from me he doesn't!  I have had many a pleasant hour watching your awesome videos of skillful work.

[EEVblog]

I always thought this too. Other than selling Raspberry Pi boards they don't really cater for the hacker/maker.

Element 14 needed to tick the social media boxes and spend their million dollar budget. Probably wasn't hard for him to pop up on their radar at the time, although I'm not sure if anyone else was approached (I wasn't really, not for a complete show like this).
They wanted to do stuff with Jeri, and she started to do a few videos, but it was a raw deal and she had other interests. Maybe she put them onto Ben?
They didn't care what TBHS was really about, or who it appealed to, marketing just had to tick their box they had created a youtube show that was electronics related. They succeeded. It gets great numbers that they can surely boast about to corporate.

[EEVblog]

My main gripe with his stuff is that he seems to have everything he needs on hand or available from a friend.  no one else in the world has access to the stuff he has access to like that, so it really, really limits my ability to "draw a line" between my own abilities and his.

They would have given him a decent lab budget, and likely the gear and space is devoted to him doing this full time.

All of that said, I'm 100% confident that Ben is indeed a good person and I believe that he's doing what he sees to be good work.  I think that's awesome.  Power to him, and a healthy "WELL DONE" to Element14 for working with him to, or letting him, produce the videos he produces.  I'm not watching but I know that there are lots of folks who are inspired to "make" more because of him.

For sure, anyone producing content gets a big  in my book.
It doesn't matter what type of content you produce, there will always be those who don't like it, that is 100% guaranteed.
His numbers show it's very successful and he seems to have fun doing it. Huge win for him