Yeah, "ad copy" was my first instinct. As in, "ad copy ... and paste ... from supplied materials;" it happens.

But seriously, before piling on, I confess that I don't have any hard facts about the "recommendation," so it's just a question mark. (As noted earlier, the product does have some merit IMHO; I'd be glad to have one in a pinch.)

I haven't done business with REI, but my understanding is that they're a pretty solid outfit. I think if the approval was fuzzy, they'd have the class to correct it in the event they'd been "had."

And, just for perspective, it's a $10-15 item. I regularly buy stuff to test if it looks promising. If it fails, cross it off the list. That's the cost of education. No problem.