Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I ordered this bar tape twice from Amazon and was disappointed. Finally I contacted Brooks and they sent me bar tape that was the real deal. The stuff that Amazon was sending me is stiff, smooth, and waterproof (see second picture); it feels like vinyl. Each of the two strips is actually three pieces glued together (you can see the obvious flap in the first picture where the piece is "fused" together). This is definitely not the Brooks quality I expected. I returned it hoping it to get some pieces that are a continuous piece or are fused better. But Amazon (a different seller mind you) sent me the same crap. I got the second set of bar tape that is still fused together but the seams are a lot more subtle. Still not really impressed by how it feels. Brooks said that it is really difficult to get pieces at the right length and that they have to fuse pieces in order to be efficient and environmentally conscious in order to prevent such wastage. I appreciate that. So Brooks sent me a third set of bar tape because I was unhappy. This bar tape directly from Brooks is way better than what I received from Amazon! It feels nice to grip, it looks like real leather (it has wrinkles and blemishes just like you would expect from real natural leather unlike the perfectly patterned stuff I got from Amazon). You can compare the two qualities in the third picture. They are obviously different. The last picture is just to show that the real leather from Brooks isn't slick but absorbs a bit of water like a real hide should.