Who writes this
The text on River Gear Guide is written under the name Rudy Banks. That is a pen name, and we say so openly: it is the name the site's editors use, not a person with a fishing career behind him. Rudy has no résumé to quote, no favorite river and no season of use to report. What he does is read specification sheets carefully, count the seams, compare what a maker claims with what it confirms, and say it in plain language. (He sounds like a man who owns a lot of flannel. He is a byline.)
How products are picked
The site covers what can be bought on Amazon US in a defined set of categories: fly rods, reels, lines, backing, rod and reel kits, waders, wading boots, jackets, belts, staffs, wader socks, repair kits, packs and vests. A product is listed in a table when it is a real product of a named brand in one of those categories. Variants in color or size count as one product.
Lists such as the best-of pages follow a written rule applied to the data, and the rule is printed on the page. If a rule produces too few products to be useful, the list is not published. We do not give out editorial rankings, and no maker or seller can pay to be included or moved up.
Where the data comes from
- Maker pages. Specifications come first from the manufacturer's own website.
- Amazon listings. Where a maker is silent, we use the Amazon listing, and we mark the value as taken from the listing. Product details and photos are retrieved through Amazon's product data service.
- Buyer reviews. When we summarize them, it is in general terms ("buyers often mention a snug fit"), with no quotes and no star scores.
- Public sources such as government agencies for rules that vary by state, and reputable references for brand history. Sources are listed at the bottom of the pages that use them.
What the marks under each value mean
Every value in a table carries a small mark.
- maker means the value is stated on the manufacturer's own page.
- claimed means it is a manufacturer's claim, for example a waterproof or breathability rating, a layer count or an insulation level, with no independent lab or standard named.
- listing means the value comes from the Amazon listing and the maker has not confirmed it.
- — (a dash) means we could not confirm the value anywhere, so we do not guess.
What we do not do
We do not publish prices. We do not show star ratings. We do not run tests, and we do not describe any product as if we had used it. We do not take paid placements or review samples. We do not claim a waterproof rating is true because the box says so.
How current is it
Availability on Amazon US is checked every week. A product that disappears is removed from the tables, and a brand with no available products switches to a page that says so and shows alternatives. Because the checks run weekly, a product can sell out between two checks, so the Check price button is the final word on whether you can buy it today. How we earn money from the site is explained on the disclosure page, and how your visit is handled is on the privacy page.
Related
Questions people ask
Who is Rudy Banks?
Rudy Banks is a pen name. The guides and the home page are written by the site's editors under that name, and Rudy is not a real person with a fishing résumé. He reads specifications and summarizes them. He does not claim to have used any product.
Do you test the gear?
No. Nothing on this site comes from our own use of a product. Values come from manufacturers' pages and Amazon listings, and buyer reviews are summarized only in general terms when we have read them.
Why are there no prices?
Prices on Amazon change often, and a price printed here would be stale quickly. Each table row has a Check price button that goes to the Amazon page, where the current price is shown.
How often is the information updated?
Availability is checked every week. Product specifications are updated when we re-read the sources, and every page shows the date it was last updated.
I found a mistake. What should I do?
Tell us through the contact page. Corrections are welcome, and a fix with a source goes in faster than one without.