Gear is personal. No product here will be the perfect option for every person. But we believe the REI Co-op Editors’ Choice Awards celebrate the gear that’s the best for most folks. Here’s how we know.
How are REI Co-op Editors’ Choice Award recipients determined? The REI editorial team continuously updates the Expert Advice gear guide library with the best gear available at the co-op. Tested gear guides feature testimonies from REI Co-op Members and staff who have lived experience using certain outdoor gear: They wear test boots up mountain summits and train for road races in different hydration vests. Only gear featured in our Tested gear guides is eligible for an Editors’ Choice Award.
We choose gear to test based on user needs, product newness and seasonality, and then send samples to volunteer gear testers around the U.S. who evaluate everything from how a product performs in certain weather or trail conditions to features like a tent vestibule’s spaciousness or the cushion in a pair of recovery trainers. At the end of the round-robin review period, we ask our testers to rate each product on a set of criteria. We always have at least two people test each item—often in very different settings—so that we can understand how the product performs across various terrain types, weather conditions and more. Testers provide both numerical scores (more on this below) and written feedback, helping us weigh personal preferences and individual experiences against objective performance metrics.
Then we scrutinize the data, average the scores, and add the highest-scoring equipment and apparel to our Gear Guides. We recognize the best of the best—items with an aggregate score of 95 or above—with an REI Co-op Editors’ Choice Award. Only gear featured in our Tested gear guides is eligible for this award.
How are products scored for the tested gear guides and Editors' Choice Awards? We ask for feedback on a 1–10 scale, with 1 being least favorable and 10 being the most. Gear testers score a number of characteristics including durability, ease of use, packability and comfort, though this varies by activity and product. (Each gear guide has its own “How We Tested” section that explains the criteria for that specific category.) We then average those scores and multiply by 10 to get a numeric score between 1–100. We consider gear that scores 80 and above for inclusion in the gear guides, and gear that scores 95 and above is eligible for an Editors’ Choice Award.
What products are considered? We test gear for a variety of outdoor activities, including camping, backpacking, hiking, running, cycling and snowsports. We consider activity-specific product categories—like trekking poles for hiking or sleeping pads for backpacking—and select items available at REI to test based on factors like product release dates, inventory and seasonality. For some gear guides, we may test as many as 15 different products. We don’t test or include items that the co-op does not stock. Each piece of gear is tested by at least two different volunteers.
Who takes part in gear testing? REI Co-op Members and staff test gear for our tested gear guides, and those products become eligible for Editors’ Choice Awards. Currently, there are more than 150 volunteer gear testers registered, from 29 states across every U.S. region. We then match testers based on activity preference, experience or familiarity with certain gear, specific trips they're taking, and seasonal needs. We aim to include testers of different skill levels and are committed to increasing diversity among our gear testers, including representation of BIPOC communities, women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities across a range of ages and body types.
When are award winners announced? Awards are given on a rolling basis throughout the year, and we’ll announce the awards on Expert Advice when there are new winners. We encourage you to come back seasonally to check out our latest award winners.
Do awards carry over each year? If a brand releases an updated version of an award-winning product, its REI Co-op Editors’ Choice Award carries over to the newest version of the product, unless we deem the updates significant enough to warrant another field test. An example of a minor update would be a new colorway. A significant update is anything that could affect a product’s performance. If so, the new product will undergo extensive field testing to evaluate it.