I just Googled "Best Mandolin". Amazing results...

[Seter]

A trick I've learned for googling instrument related things is to add "forum" into the search terms, then I get results from mandolincafe, classical guitar forums, electric guitar forums etc where you can read real people's honest discussions of whatever topic rather than ads, clickbait "reviews" etc.

[mandroid]

"Best" is , after all, an Opinion ....

[Al Trujillo]

Dang it! I wish I had seen that article before I bought my Weber. J/K....

[pops1]

My guess is the one that sells the most must be the best and the cheapest ones sell the most. Of course that is the best for Amazon, and I doubt they have ever sold a a-hem 'good' mandolin.

[Zach Wilson]

I'm always on the lookout for "Z" named products. Too bad the Z ZTDM is currently unavailable. I could've owned one of the "best" 😉

[Mark Wilson]

Sometimes I search 'mandolin' on Amazon and sort 'High to Low' price. They occasionally have some decent custom built boxes. Gibson, Weber etc.

[fscotte]

I'm surprised Amazon hasn't just started building their own brand of high quality lute like instruments with 8 strings, and put everyone else out of business.

[MikeEdgerton]

We are all missing the obvious. My new brand of custom made mandolins will carry the brand name "The Best". That way I'll come out on top of any search for the best mandolin.

Many years ago, way before the Internet was a gleam in anyone's eye, purchasing agents used to specify "best way" or "cheapest way" in the shipping instructions for their purchases. That of course lead to a slew of trucking companies named Best Way and Cheapest Way.

[Mark Wilson]

We are all missing the obvious. My new brand of custom made mandolins will carry the brand name "The Best". That way I'll come out on top of any search for the best mandolin.

'The Best' is a tough market. You'll have to sell for $300 or less to compete

Might want to start out with "Best For $2000" and work up

[jdchapman]

"...A fantastic sound that will take you to good old days."

That's a promise I want kept.

I would like to hire this person to write all copy.

Conrats to the OP on the clickbait title to this thread.

[Sevelos]

I just found this video - "10 best mandolins". It is so stupid that it is funny, e.g., a bouzouki that is "actually a mandolin" but unfortunately has a "slower action".
https://youtu.be/lL-hVQBjxCQ

[MikeZito]

I will vouch for the Kentucky KM-270 series . . . but other than that, maybe this could pass as a list of 'Best Mandolins for Beginners On A Strict Budget' . . . .

[PH-Mando]

What a joke. I laughed at the part about traditional chords not "translating" well on a particular model. Good thing they warned us about the model with the "higher string travel." Why did Gibson, Weber, and Collins not make either list? However, the designer of the f-style may have have been a consultant for "The Loar" brand!!!!!

[Michael H Geimer]

Pretty sure that article was written by an AI, not a human.