I actually bought the Krugers from SWFA.
So, how do you get a review binocular? Well Frank and I have review histories here and other forums. We've taken some time developing that. Speaking for myself, I never started doing reviews with the idea of getting free binoculars. I can't imagine Frank did either. I started because I did not like what I could find. In the case with Maven, I called them and talked to one of the owners for some time. At the point of the first call, I did ask about review sample. Nobody without a review history is going to get a review sample. In my case I told him about my review history, and told him who I was at BF and various forums. He was not what I'd call cool to the idea at the outset, but if I had no history to point him at, the review thing would never have happened. The second of the owners e-mailed me granting the review idea. They had spent some time looking at reviews I had done. I then decided to buy the thing to avoid the free sample stuff. I'd return if I didn't like it.
Leupold is the only outfit to have ever contacted me first. My Oregon connection was part of it, my review history, which they knew all about at first contact, was the larger part of the contact.
So I guess what you need to do is start reviewing binoculars like Frank and I did. Each with your own inimitable style. Take your time, ignore brand labels, evaluate fairly, as you see the term, form your opinion, be prepared to defend it consistently (because you will make somebody mad...guaranteed), stick you your guns, be able to modify the opinion based on experience and reflection, and admit to mistakes. You will make them.
Over the past 12 years or so, I've commented on dozens of bins I've either owned or tried as loaners (not from companies, from individuals) on CN and BF, but I don't think I've actually arranged those comments in some type of format like you and Frank do on BF and Optics Talk.
I once compared 20 bins side by side in my backyard. Steve (mooreorless) took a photo of the table with all the bins on display. I used to be a test maniac. Got that from reading BVD and also from John Cota, a guy who sold me a lot of used bins at good prices. He would buy a bin, test it, and then usually sell it a few weeks to a month later. Like Frank, he'd often buy more than one sample to test. For example, he had five Canon 10x30 IS bins, so he could find the one with the best stability.
Steve gave me a cutout square from his 1951 AF resolution chart, and I used my Nikon 8-16x40 XL Zoom as a booster, which I think is also what Henry uses. I kept a book with all the results, but it was ruined in a flood in the cellar (sewer backed up, so it wasn't something I wanted to dry out). But I didn't really care about posting results, I was just doing it for me, so I could compare the bins. In some cases, I had more than one sample of the same bin. That was an eyeopener because I found that sample variation runs rampart at all price points. The most consistent series of bins I tested was the SEs, but even those had some variation.
I had some money back then and could afford to own a half dozen or more good bins at a time, and I would sell some and buy others year over year. Now I can't afford to do that, so if I started reviewing bins in-depth, it's going to take quite a while to build up a backlog I can use to show companies. OTOH, I've written close to a thousand articles over the past 22 years, so I could show them those. Many are online. A review is a type of writing, however, I've read some reviewers, even some who have their own Websites and have easy access to many bins, but who can't write a proper English sentence. Their writing is sloppy as if they were writing an email or posting to a forum, without checking grammar or spelling or punctuation. It sometimes bugs me.
Thanks for the tips. I understand about developing a style, but if Frank starts off one more review with "a big brown truck pulled up in front of my house today," I think I'm going to pull my hair out.