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Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you wanted to purchase an outdoor product but were unsure about which one would best suit your needs? Even worse, have you ever bought a product only to discover later that it wasn’t the right fit for you? We can relate, which is precisely why Jake and I founded TrekSumo.

At TrekSumo, our mission is straightforward: to provide the world’s most comprehensive outdoor gear reviews. We firmly believe that the most reliable gear reviews are rooted in unbiased, independent testing of each product. Our reviews come complete with ratings, accolades, and expert insights, all designed to assist you in choosing the perfect products tailored to your specific requirements, budget, and interests.

You can rely on our reviews because (not only do Jake and I have many years of hiking, trekking, running, and cycling experience) we are committed to producing impartial and, where appropriate, side-by-side comparative reviews founded on thorough hands-on testing.

Here’s our approach:

1. We select gear based on a strict set of requirements.
2. We ask ourselves what you, the customer, would most want to know about a product.
3. We purchase all the products we review ourselves, just like any consumer would. Inherent in the review process is complete objectivity and independence in our evaluations. We do not accept free evaluation units or receive payment for endorsements from manufacturers.
4. Our testing is comprehensive and, where appropriate, side-by-side to give you the comparisons necessary to make an informed purchasing decision. All our tests are carried out in the real world and we examine performance, user-friendliness, and reliability.
5. We rank the products, provide explanations for our rankings, and recognize the best ones with awards.
6. After we conclude our testing and reviews, we retain many of the products as a reference set for future evaluations (or our own hikes and expeditions) and sell the rest.

How We Keep the Site Running:

TrekSumo is a free service that relies entirely on support from our readers. We conduct our product selections and reviews with utmost objectivity and independence. Our revenue is generated through either ad clicks or when you click on our affiliate links and make purchases of the products we have reviewed. This funding allows us to continue our testing efforts.

Should you click on a retailer’s link on our website and make a purchase, the retailer will contribute a portion of the sale to help maintain our site. This doesn’t incur any additional cost for you, and it’s a straightforward way to contribute to the funding of our gear reviews. We appreciate your support of our work!

Independent Product Selection:

Our review process kicks off with the selection phase. We thoroughly assess hundreds of products to identify the top contenders in each category. Subsequently, we personally purchase these leading contenders to subject them to in-depth, hands-on comparative testing.

Rigorous Testing

In our pursuit of fairness and accuracy, we establish a comprehensive set of objective tests tailored to each product category. These tests serve as a vital tool in quantifying the significant distinctions between competing products.

We subject each and every product to meticulous testing protocols that highlight crucial performance variations. Our approach encompasses extensive real-world field tests, meticulously crafted by seasoned experts. These tests involve putting products to the test in challenging conditions to assess how they stack up against their rivals. Additionally, we integrate these field assessments with in-house laboratory testing, providing us with quantifiable data that informs our comparative analyses and performance ratings.

We are specialists in our respective domains, encompassing backpacking, camping, backcountry skiing, cycling, hiking, trail running… well, pretty much any kind of running. We have a discerning eye for detail and an unrelenting commitment to uncovering excellence. Between us, Jake and I have hiked various locations around the world, skied to the limits of the globe, and cut our teeth with over 20 combined military service (if you know anything of the Armed Forces you’ll understand why we place a premium on quality and functionality).