Who is behind the review you just read? Me.

Iron Mako Media is one person. I own it, I run it, and I am the author of record for every site in it. When a portfolio site says “by Mike M.” on its About page, that is me, and when its footer says “owned and operated by Iron Mako Media,” the link brings you here.

I built the network around narrow gear categories because narrow is honest. A site about waterfowl decoys can be run by someone who actually cares about waterfowl decoys; a site about everything cannot. So there are thirty small sites rather than one big one, each with a clear scope, and this hub ties them together so you can see the whole thing at once.

I am not going to list credentials here, because the point of the network is that you should not have to take my word for anything. Each recommendation says whether it was tested or researched. Each site discloses how it earns. And this page tells you exactly how to reach me if something is wrong.

These are the standards the portfolio sites are held to. They are short because they need to be kept, not admired.

1. Commissions never set a score. A product is recommended because it is the right answer for the reader, not because it pays more. If a better product pays nothing, it is still the pick.
2. Say what was tested and what was researched. Every recommendation carries a plain label: hands-on, or researched. A site never implies it used something it did not.
3. Say what you would not buy. A review that only says nice things is an advertisement. The sites say what is wrong with a product, and when the answer is “skip it,” they say that.
4. Disclose on the page, not in a footer. The affiliate disclosure sits near the links it applies to, on every page that has them, in words a reader will actually read.
5. Stay in the niche. Each site covers its own category and nothing else. No site pads its coverage to catch traffic it has no business advising on.
6. Date it and fix it. Pages carry a last-updated date. When something is wrong, it gets corrected on the page, with a note if the correction changed the advice.
7. Name the owner and link back here. Every site says who runs it and links to this hub. The sites do not link to each other.

If you find a page on any site that breaks one of these, I want to hear about it. See corrections and contact below.

Every guide on a portfolio site starts with the question a real buyer has. Not “what are the ten best coolers” but “what cooler holds ice for a three-day float trip and fits behind a truck seat.” The question decides what matters, and what matters decides which products are even worth considering.

From there the process is the same on every site:

• Scope the category. What are the real sub-types, what do they cost to get wrong, and what do people who own them complain about after a year?
• Build the shortlist from evidence. Published specifications, safety and certification standards where they exist, and long-term owner reports across many sources. Marketing copy does not count as evidence.
• Test what can be tested. Where I can use the gear myself, I do, and the page describes that use. Where I cannot, the page says the pick is researched. See hands-on testing.
• Write the trade-offs. Every pick has a weakness. The page names it, so a reader can decide whether it matters to them.
• Revisit. Categories change. Pages are dated and revisited, and a pick that no longer holds up is replaced or removed.

Nothing in that list involves the commission rate, because the commission rate is not information about the product.

05 · Hands-on testing where possible

Tested when I can. Researched when I can’t. Labeled either way.

“Hands-on where possible” is a precise phrase, and I mean it precisely. One person cannot personally use every product in thirty categories, and any site that claims otherwise is lying to you. So the sites do two things:

When a pick is hands-on, the page says so and describes the use: how long, in what conditions, what broke, what surprised me. That description is the evidence. A hands-on label with no description is not worth anything.

When a pick is researched, the page says that instead. A researched pick is built from specifications, safety and certification standards, and long-term owner reports collected across many sources. It is still a real recommendation. It just carries a different level of confidence, and you deserve to know which one you are reading.

The label is on the recommendation itself, not buried on an About page. If a portfolio site page does not say which it is, that is a bug, and I would like to know about it.

What an affiliate link is

An affiliate link is an ordinary product link with a tracking code attached. If you click it and buy something, the retailer knows the sale came from the site, and pays the site a commission. The price you pay is the same as if you had gone to the retailer directly.

What an affiliate disclosure is

An affiliate disclosure is a statement, placed where readers will see it, that a site may earn a commission from the links on the page. Under the Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guides, that disclosure has to be clear and close to the links it applies to, not hidden on a separate page. That is the standard the portfolio sites follow.

The disclosure

Every site owned and operated by Iron Mako Media earns commissions on qualifying purchases made through links on the site. Sites that participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program display the required line: as an Amazon Associate, the site earns from qualifying purchases. Other retailer and network programs are disclosed on the pages that use them.

Commissions never set a score, decide a pick, or keep a product on a page that should have been removed. The order of products on a page is not for sale.

This hub carries no affiliate links. There are no product links, no prices and no advertising on ironmakomedia.com. The only outbound links on this site go to the live portfolio sites and to the FTC guidance linked above.

This disclosure was last reviewed on September 19, 2026. If the way the sites earn ever changes, it is updated here first.

A network this size will have mistakes in it. A spec that changed, a product that was discontinued, a claim that turned out wrong. I would rather hear about it from you than have it sit there.

Email mike@blackironathletics.com with the site, the page and what is wrong, or use the contact form. Corrections are made on the page itself. If the correction changed a recommendation, the page says what was corrected and when.

The same address works for affiliate program verification, ownership questions and anything else. I read every message. There is no phone number and no office; the network is run online.