Mark,
With regards letters, we are responsible for what we print and would only print a lett if we could prove the allegation to be true. If someone writes a letter to us stating that their reel has broken and that the company who makes it has refused to swap it for a new one, how do we know this is true? And to be honest it is more a matter for Tradign Standards anyway. If we received lots of letters saying the same thing then we'd look into it.
When it come sto reviewing tackle you'd find it hard to find someone who wants to go out and test the stuff that is no good! I for one am not going to waste my valuable fishing time using soemthing that is going to stop me catching, especially on the waters that i fish.
Wolfman,
Obviously i don't review products from the company that i work for, but i wouldn't then give a competitors product a lower mark just because they are a rival. On that basis tackle items would be getting a worse review than they deserved as most reviewers are associated with one firm or another. Even to the extent of being bunged a few free reels, knowing the owners of some companies personally, etc.
If a competitors product was really good, rather than mark it down in a review, I'd rather try and improve the product that the company I'm a consultant for makes, after all that is what they pay me for.
I've got no problem with working for an angling magazine and also being a consultant, one pays me for my writing/photography skills, and the other for what i do in my own time when it comes to catching big fish on a regular basis and also havign input on fishign tackle design.