Draft:GearLab

GearLab is the brand name of a family of three consumer-product review websites founded in 2011 by big wall rock climber Chris McNamara and software developer RJ Spurrier. The GearLab websites provide product reviews and buying guides about gear for outdoor activities, parenting, and consumer electronics. The company is headquartered in the Lake Tahoe area, with its main office and testing facility located in Zephyr Cove, Nevada.

History
The precursor to GearLab's reviews were lists of recommended rock climbing equipment for climbing Yosemite big walls like El Capitan. Those original gear lists were authored by McNamara and published on the SuperTopo climbing website. McNamara is an accomplished Yosemite big wall rock climber and authored a climbing guidebook with Yosemite big wall climbing route information. McNamara would go on to author or co-author 15 climbing guidebooks which were published by SuperTopo.

McNamara's recommended gear list articles proved to be popular content on the SuperTopo website. In 2009, McNamara and Spurrier developed a new web publishing system to present side by side comparison reviews of climbing gear and outdoor products organized by category, inspired by how Consumer Reports provided rankings and ratings of products in categories such as  cars and  home appliances. Within 3 years, the SuperTopo gear review section covered more than 80 popular outdoor gear categories and more than 600 products, including a wide range of climbing, camping, hiking, and  backpacking gear. In 2011, the gear review section of the SuperTopo website was spun off into its own website, OutdoorGearLab, to serve the mainstream audience of people enthusiastic about outdoor activities.

Since launching in 2011, OutdoorGearLab has expanded to cover additional outdoor activities such as running, fitness, winter sports, mountain biking, and travel. Web traffic to GearLab grew and the site won acclaim from outdoor media publications. By 2013, OutdoorGearLab covered more than 200 categories and had published more than 2,000 product reviews.

In 2013, the second GearLab website was launched, BabyGearLab, which focused on reviews of baby-related products such as car seats, strollers, baby bottles, and other products related to the care and support of babies and toddlers. The BabyGearLab reviews were led by board-certified pediatrician, Dr. Juliet Spurrier, who acted as the founding Editor for GearLab's baby product reviews.

The third GearLab website, TechGearLab, was launched in 2016 and focuses on consumer electronics products including kitchen appliances, tools, mobile phone accessories, and computer electronics like printers and Wi-Fi routers.

The GearLab sites have reviewed more than 10,000 products across more than 800 product categories since launching in 2011. According to third-party web analytics provider SimilarWeb, the sites received 6.8 million visits a month as of May 2024.