How We Put Our Reviews Together
We want you to know exactly how our reviews are made, so you can weigh them accordingly.
We test products hands-on wherever we can. Where we are not able to get a product in hand, we build the review from published sources and what owners report instead. Every figure in our reviews comes from our own use or a published source, and where a figure is not available we say so rather than estimate it.
What Each Review Is Built From
1. Hands-on testing, where we can
When we have the product, we set it up, use it the way you would day to day, and note how it handles, what works and what gets in the way.
2. The manufacturer's published specifications
Capacities, power ratings, dimensions, operating ranges, materials and warranty terms, taken from the manufacturer and the retail listing. These are quoted with their units so you can check them against the listing yourself.
3. The listing and its aggregate rating
The current price and the product's overall customer rating at the time we last checked. Both change often; each review shows the date its figures were recorded.
4. Recurring themes in owner feedback
What buyers repeatedly praise and repeatedly complain about. We report these as themes. We do not publish invented percentages, and we do not quote a review count we have not verified.
5. Comparison against named alternatives
Every review names competing products and compares them on specification and list price, like for like.
How We Score
Our ratings are an editorial judgement of the evidence above, weighted across:
- Performance: how the product performs in use and what its specification supports, relative to the category
- Build Quality: materials, construction and warranty terms
- Value: price against features and named competitors
- Ease of Use: setup, operation and maintenance
- Features: what the product offers against alternatives at its price
A score is an editorial judgement rather than a laboratory measurement, and we do not present it as one.
What This Means For You
Where we have used a product, the review can tell you how it feels and handles day to day. Where we have not, it is reliable on what the product is specified to do, how it compares, what it costs and what owners consistently report. Owner feedback is also the best guide we have to how a product holds up over months of use.
Corrections
If a specification here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it. See our editorial guidelines for how we handle accuracy and corrections.