About
01.11
Independent Gear Test was formed to compile information needed to know about your favorite gear. We have started from nothing, and hope to be your source for knowledge about information and products that you are interested in. I felt that alot of the gear reviews around the ski world especially were flawed. How much can a ski magazine tester learn from using a ski or boot for a few runs, or can you trust professional athletes opinion about the gear that they represent? How much money did companies give to skiing magazine in order to achieve positive feedback. I remember a time when I was an APA rep for Dynastar and it was my job to hook people up with proform on Dynastar, which got top rankings at the time for their skis. The only problem with that was if you skied on more than 1,000 feet of metal rail your edges would fall out. I don’t remember that showing up in any company review.
Growing up I had whatever gear I found in the lost and found bin or acquired somehow from a sale or my mom found at a thrift store. My first pair of skis my mom won on the radio ‘Rossignol Cuts’ These days I have come to realize I am wanting top of the line gear. I want gear thats style and function stands up to the test of time. I do not want disposable gear. I think of everything gear related I buy as an investment, If my gear still looks fresh after 100 ski days, I can keep using it, or sell it for a fair price and get some new gear. If its beat, I have lost a lot of money on my investment. If I beat up all of my gear, maybe I should rethink how I am treating it.
I also want to blossom into a source of information beyond ski gear. Living an active lifestyle takes a lot of practice. I am learning things everyday, how to ski longer, how to stay healthy, how to spend my money, and how to take life to the fullest. If we can categorize this information we will have built a database that anyone can learn from
Independent Gear Test wants you to join us and help everyone involved grow positively. We will be looking for intelligent gear reviews of products we all know little about, not after you got the stuff in the mail and looked at yourself in the mirror for 20 minutes then wrote a review, but a compilation of real life reviews and updates from throughout the products life span. Or maybe even an idea for a cheap healthy food to eat up at the mountain to help keep you in your gear on the mountain longer.
Jon Fay
independentgeartest@gmail.com
