Hmm i think a friendly "hey i saw that you didnt list the filter i designed, its not hugely available at the moment but would you like a sample to bench mark it agaisnt the others you have installed and give feedback? " could have shown you in a better light
my view is if youve designed a product it makes you a manufactuer member, you cant exactly point out flaws in other products unless asked however if you want to comment on pumps as such, go ahead as a regular forum member!
Look at ray stafford he's a merchent member, he isnt going to go around saying how useless pts, hps or plumbase can be is he
however he can turn around and say how useless a toyota prius is!