But I will need some help with the reviews.
This is a problem IMO. With any sort of review, or collection of reviews, part of it's intrinsic value to a reader is consistency. Meaning, you read a few of them and you get to know the perspective of the author thus can somewhat reliably base your decisions off of that perspective.
Similarly, trust is a huge issue with reviews. By and large your average reader is going to trust the opinions of a regular reviewer rather than some one-off piece by a passer-by. Accountability comes into play here as well. By doing it yourself or hiring someone to do it regularly for you you're essentially betting the farm on the quality of your content. This is a good thing, it builds trust within your readership.
To be perfectly blunt you're never going to get quality content for free. Sure there's a distant possibility of bringing someone on-board who understands and shares the same enthusiasm and vision of the site as you and has the drive and time to create quality content. But those people are few and far between.
The only sure-fire way to generate quality content is to pay for it with your own blood, sweat and toil or cold hard cash.
All in my opinion of course, but please, for the love of $diety, don't create another HC where everybody gives their gear a glowing review simply because it's what they spent their money on.