About
Gear reviews you can actually trust.
ActiveGearDen tests outdoor and fitness gear by buying it ourselves and using it until it earns — or loses — our recommendation.
Why we exist
Most gear review sites accept free samples from the brands they cover. That's the industry norm, and it creates an obvious incentive problem: a reviewer who gets to keep the product, or who depends on a brand's continued goodwill for future samples, has a reason to go easy on flaws. ActiveGearDen was built to remove that incentive entirely — we buy every product we review at full retail price, through the same channels our readers use.
What we cover
We currently publish 27 review guides across footwear, apparel, camp, snow, paddle, fitness, travel, and climbing gear — covering more than 190 individually tested products. Every guide is written after real-world use, not from a spec sheet or press release.
- Footwear — hiking boots, running shoes, trail runners, water shoes
- Apparel — rain jackets, base layers, down jackets, hiking pants, sun hats
- Camp — backpacking tents, stoves, chairs, pocket knives
- Snow — ski jackets, winter boots
- Paddle — inflatable kayaks, life jackets & PFDs, fishing rods
- Fitness — home gym equipment
- Travel — travel backpacks, hiking backpacks, polarized sunglasses
- Climb — climbing shoes
How we test
Gear gets tested by using it in the conditions it was designed for, for weeks or months at a time — not a single afternoon. Hiking boots log real trail miles. Rain jackets get worn in actual rain. Tents get pitched in wind. For the full breakdown of our testing periods and methodology by category, see How We Test.
Who's behind it
Reviews on ActiveGearDen are written by our Review Editor, Alex Mercer, who has over a decade of experience testing outdoor gear across every category on this site.
How we make money
When you buy something through a link on ActiveGearDen, we may earn a commission from Amazon Associates or another affiliate program. That commission never influences which products we recommend or how we rank them — it's the same commission rate regardless of which product a reader chooses. Full details are in our Affiliate Disclosure.
Questions, corrections, or a product you think we should test? Get in touch.