It sounds counter intuitive, but I spend much less time on the Internet since I retired, even though all my time is free time, that is, I can do whatever I like, as long as Joyce is happy. I keep myself busy around the house with many tasks, plus we camp more often, not to mention my time spent backpacking.
One thing I am seeing more and more on the Internet are Top Ten Lists for all kinds of consumer goods. Given a good portion of my readers are backpackers, this begs the question, “Can you trust these reviews?” The short, quick answer is, “No.” If it is, “No,” then where can one find good quality trusted reviews?
Most of these top 10 lists include links to each product where you can purchase the item, and if you do, the owner of the top ten list website earns a commission. I’m not adverse to this kind of advertising, as I use this kind of ad here. But too often, these lists are just created to generate income, not to present objective reviews of the products. So, buyer beware!
SectionHiker.com
If you are a backpacker, you are probably familiar with SectionHiker.com, which is probably one of the most popular backpacking gear sites on the Web. I want to point out, because many might think I am singling out Section Hiker as a site to avoid. On the contrary, the site is very good. Section Hiker is owned by a fellow named Philip Werner who apparently quit his day job and now runs his website as his full time job when he is not backpacking. I have never met or communicated with Philip, but he knows what he is doing when it comes to backpacking. In addition he has many “how-to” articles.
If I were to criticize Philip’s site, and we must recognize none of us are perfect, it is he reviews so many products that he cannot provide long-term evaluations of durability on each and every one of the products he reviews. On the flip side of this coin, we need to be cognizant of the fact that a knowledgeable and expert user can tell pretty quickly if a product has obvious flaws or difficult to use features. Philip would fall into that category.
Does he use links to products? Yes. Does he earn commissions on these links? Yes and No. Looking at one of his Top Ten Lists, I found that only 3 out of 10 links earned affiliate income, the other 7 were just links to the manufacturer’s websites that would not earn him a commission. In this day and age “click-bait,” I find this impressive.
Are the choices in Section Hiker’s Top Ten Lists good products I would buy? Absolutely. Several of the lists have products I have owned for many years, even a couple of decades. His Top Ten List for sleeping bags has a couple Western Mountaineering bags, one of which I purchased twenty years or so ago. His Top Ten List for quilts has two quilts I use; one I bought in 2008 and the other in 2012. And at this time these are the only sleeping bag/quilts I own.
His Top Ten List for hiking shoes includes a shoe I first bought in 2008, a shoe made by Salomon and which I did a Ten Year Review a couple years ago. One thing about shoes is most models are discontinued each year, but this Salomon shoe is my favorite for all these years and apparently Philip thinks it is still one of the ten best shoes you can buy.
Where Can You Find Trustworthy Reviews?
One place the public seems to focus on is user reviews on websites selling an item. Places like Amazon, REI, Backcountry, etc. all have these kinds of reviews — you know, XX number of reviews with an average of X.X out of 5.
The problem with relying on these kinds of reviews is that there can be a lot of fraudulent reviews, or many of the users have zero expertise, or they left a review the day they received the product because the selling sent an email requesting a review.
An excellent example of incompetent reviews is the outdoor stove I bought a few years ago, a Camp Chef Somerset II stove for our patio. At the time, the reviews for this (now discontinued stove) were not stellar and most of the negative reviews complained that the screw heads stripped out during assembly. I bought one anyway.
When I got the stove, the instruction manual said to use a #1 Phillips screw driver for assembly. The average person only has #2 screwdrivers, even though #0 thru #4 are fairly common. Using a #1 size screwdriver, the assembly was quick and flawless. Do you want to trust the opinion of someone who doesn’t even read the instructions or who doesn’t have the ability to assemble a product, which is sold as “some assembly required?”
Hopefully, when buying a piece of backpacking gear, a person will have enough knowledge and experience to determine if a product fits their basic needs, and the only unknown would be how durable a product is. This is usually the case for me, and I look for reviews of people who have used an item a lot and over a good period of time, providing feedback on real-world durability.
But everyone isn’t expert, especially someone who is new to backpacking and really needs guidance on how an item is supposed to work, under what conditions it is best fitted, and how long it can be expected to last. The other challenge for folks just starting out is that top end quality gear is expensive and may not fit the needs of an individual. For example my favorite sleeping bag and my favorite quilt today would cost over $1,000 for both. My custom made backpack, which is almost 10 years old cost me over $1,200 in 2010. A pair of Salomon XA Pro 3D Trail Runners retail for $130, but often can be found on sale. Often Section Hiker has a good selection of “best” gear and often with fairly inexpensive items from REI Co-op.
Another advantage of Philip’s “best lists” is many of the products have already been reviewed by him and he includes a link to these reviews.
What follows are three websites, in addition to Section Hiker, whose reviews you can trust. Keep in mind that they really don’t do a lot of product reviews like Philip, but when they do, they are good.
Andrew Skurka
Andrew has quite a robust hiking resume. I have never met him, but we have exchanged a few emails over the years, and he really knows his stuff. Three years ago I review his book, The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide, which is an excellent resource for beginners and experienced hikers alike. His website also has plenty of gear reviews and how-to articles. Here is the link: Andrew Skurka
Paul Magnanti
Paul is a friend of mine, having met online. He has spent time visiting us at our home, and we have hiked together. Paul has hiked the three big long trails in the US, plus several difficult and remote trails in the US and Canada. His forte is using and reviewing inexpensive, non-brand name gear that works. A real down-to-earth guy you can trust. He has also written a book for the beginning backpacker. I haven’t read it, so I can’t recommend it, which reminds me that I should order it. You can order it on his website. Here’s the link to Paul’s site: Pmags
Dave Chenault
I don’t know Dave at all, although we have communicated a few times on an online backpacking forum. Dave makes a lot of his own gear, studying how a piece of gear should function and then determining the best method to construct it. He doesn’t review gear very often, but when he does it is in depth and well worth reading. His site, unlike the others I have recommended, is not primarily about backpacking, but a wide breadth of his outdoor interests, social issues, and how he integrates and separates his interests with his family life. For me, it is one of the more enjoyable websites out there. Dave is also interested in pushing his skills, knowledge, and experience to its limits, creating the annual Bob Marshall Wilderness Open – an event only for people who really know what the hell they are doing in difficult backcountry excursions. You can read about the Open and much, much more at Bedrock and Paradox.
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