Most bloggers disclose the source of the gear reviewed (bought, donated, whatever) and any relationship they have to the manufacturer (such as the Gossamer Gear Ambassadors). I believe this is an FCC requirement, not 100% followed, but usually. What I don't trust are gear reviews on retailer sites (I've had several reviews deleted by REI, and I won't even try on amazon.) I also found out the hard way that if Backpacker Mag recommends something, avoid it!

The trusted reviewers and article writers who once were mainstays on BPL (such as Will Rietveld, Chris Townsend, and Alan Dixon) have long since parted company with BPL and have their own blogs. There are a number of regular bloggers that I've found reliable and have a lot of good material: Sectionhiker, PMags, Andrew Skurka are three that I follow regularly. For stove info, Hikin' Jim's Adventures in Stoving (which sometimes goes a long time with nothing new). For the ultralight crowd, Hikelighter, Adventure Alan and Ultralight Insights.

You will find that most of us have our own individual preferences in gear, which makes it a bit hard to be objective. None of us has the financial capacity to try all sorts of different models. That's why I suggested to the OP that he do mockups out of cheap tarps or plastic.