How to Evaluate Gear

At Blister Summit 2026, we had professional athletes & product developers talk with Jonathan about their own approaches and best tips for how to evaluate gear. You'll hear from Chris Rubens (Atomic); Lauren Samuels (Salomon); Shane Chappell (Burton); and Will Ritter (Spark R&D). Note: We Want to Hear From You! Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on GEAR:30. You can email those to us here. RELATED LINKS: DraftKings.com - code Blister Order our 26/27 Winter Buyer’s Guide BLISTER+: Get Yourself Covered: Enter Our Free Weekly Gear Giveaways CHECK OUT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELS: Blister Studios (our new channel) Blister Review (our original channel) TOPICS & TIMES: Blister Summit 2027: Save the Date (1:41) Winter Buyer’s Guide Update (2:20) BLISTER+ News (3:02) Panelists’ Experience Testing Gear (5:07) Process of Testing (12:45) The Value of Breaking Things (17:13) Rubens’ Approach to Testing (19:45) Declaring it ‘Done’ & Releasing to the Public (22:31) Consensus on Testing Results / Lack Thereof (25:36) Best Tips for How to Test Gear (27:25) Audience Questions (40:08) CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS: The Blister Vault Blister Cinematic CRAFTED Bikes & Big Ideas Blister Podcast