Last updated: July 2, 2026
How We Keep the Lights On (And Why You Can Trust Us)
Let’s cut to the chase: running this site takes money. We’ve got hosting bills, fuel for a truck towing a 33-foot travel trailer, and an unhealthy habit of buying new gear to test at sites with no hookups. Here’s how we fund it, and why it doesn’t change what we tell you.
We’re Campers First
Before Nomadic Tendency was a website, we were a family trying to figure out what gear actually works on public land. That hasn’t changed. A huge chunk of what we review comes straight out of our own pockets, because we’re out there anyway — camping recreationally and working from remote sites — and we want to share what we learn.
Not everything on this site has a dollar sign attached to it. Plenty of our guides exist simply because we made the mistakes first and figured you’d want to skip them.
Affiliate Links
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
When you click certain product links and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra — the price is the same whether you use our link or find the product yourself.
Here’s the important part: affiliate relationships don’t influence what we say. If something’s garbage, we’ll tell you. If something works but has trade-offs, we’ll spell those out. Our “Skip It” verdicts stay published, because our credibility matters more than a quick payout.
Links to Amazon are marked, and every monetized article carries a disclosure at the top — before the first affiliate link, not buried at the bottom. Product prices and availability shown on this site are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change.
Field-Tested or Clearly Labeled
Every gear recommendation traces back to real use in the field — at dispersed sites, in real weather, with real consequences when things fail. Where we haven’t personally tested something, we say so plainly in the article.
Sponsored Content & Provided Products
If a manufacturer ever sends us gear to test or pays us to create content, we’ll tell you at the top of the article. Sponsorship doesn’t buy a positive review: we keep full control over what we say, and if a sponsored product doesn’t measure up, we’ll either say so honestly or decline to publish. No exceptions.
The Bottom Line
We built Nomadic Tendency to be the resource we wished existed when we started boondocking: honest, practical, and written by people who actually live it. Every monetization decision comes back to one question: does this help or hurt our readers?
Your trust keeps this whole thing running. We don’t take that lightly.