At Wilderness Times, we take the accuracy of our product reviews and informational content extremely seriously.
If you have reason to believe that we have made an error, please contact us via our contact form or by email at [email protected].
Fact Checking
With any piece of content that we create, we always ensure that it is factual and true. We do this by having a solid editorial system in place.
Every article is edited, fact-checked and approved by an editor before it is published, and the reviewer is named on the article. Articles written by our managing editor, Matt Blake, are self-edited and carry his byline.
The editor is responsible for copy editing, fact checking, error checking, and ensuring that our content is accurate, true, and unbiased.
Our goal is to remain as unbiased as possible.
Our Testing And Review Process
We love to test and review gear. Some of what we cover is gear we already own and love, some we buy at retail prices (just like you), and some is sent to us by the manufacturer. When a manufacturer has sent us a product, we say so in the review, and it never affects the rating.
We can't get our hands on everything. When we have tested a product ourselves, the review says so. When we haven't, we don't describe it as tested.
Again, our goal is to remain as unbiased as possible.
So whether we have the product on hand or not, what we do is simple – we research.
A LOT.
We spend hours upon hours researching, reading, and thinking about different products for a single article, drawing from various sources: personal experience, manufacturer specifications, customer reviews, YouTube videos, and a whole lot more.
We take tedious notes, and compare even the tiniest of details. Everything goes into a spreadsheet for analysis from the dimensions of the product to cost comparisons, user ratings, etc:
What we analyze depends on the product, but we rate every product that we consider.
We then cut through all the noise and narrow down our choices to just a few that would be an excellent fit for our audience. This is where we deliver the most value since doing this on your own would take a lot of free time and coffee.
After that, we start writing. Using mountains of information we've collected, we go through multiple rounds of editing and revisions. This is to make sure we only mention the most relevant information.
To summarize: we do what you'd do if you were buying camping or hiking gear. We just spend A LOT more time on each review than the average customer.
In a way, you can see us as your research service – we research outdoor gear for you and deliver only the most relevant results in an easy-to-read format.
For tents, our full scoring method is in How We Test and Review Tents.
How We Use AI
We use AI tools on Wilderness Times, and we think you should know exactly where.
What AI does
- Writes the descriptive text in our product overviews, working from each product's specifications, its scores, and owner feedback.
- Helps with research, finding outdated products, and first drafts on some of our guides and roundups.
What AI never does
- Set a tent's score. Scores come from our seven criteria and are approved by an editor.
- Claim experience it doesn't have. If a page says a product was tested hands-on, a person tested it.
- Publish on its own. Nothing goes live without a human editor.
Who checks it
Matt Blake edits and approves every article and review.
That includes checking specifications against the manufacturer, removing anything that can't be supported, and correcting errors when readers point them out.
Why we use it
Wilderness Times is a small, independent site. AI lets us keep 350+ tent reviews consistent and up to date as models change, which would not be possible by hand.
The judgment calls, the testing and the final word stay with a person.
Spotted a mistake? Tell us, and we'll fix it.
Corrections
If you have reason to believe that we have made an error, please contact us via our contact form or by email at [email protected].