How We Choose Products

What We Actually Do

Let's be upfront: we don't run a testing lab with white coats and clipboards. Here's what we actually do to curate our recommendations:

1. Analyze Real Customer Reviews

We dig through thousands of verified customer reviews from Amazon and other retailers. These reviews represent real-world use by thousands of people—far more comprehensive than any single person could test.

We look for patterns: What do people consistently love? What problems keep coming up? Does the product hold up over time?

2. Compare Specifications

We compare technical specifications across products to identify meaningful differences. Some specs are marketing fluff; others matter a lot for your use case. We try to highlight what actually impacts your experience.

3. Consider Price and Value

The most expensive option isn't always the best. We look for products that deliver genuine value at their price point, whether that's the best budget option or a premium pick worth the extra investment.

4. Monitor for Changes

Products get updated. Prices change. New competitors enter the market. We periodically revisit our recommendations to keep them current.

How We Assign Categories

Best Overall

The product that provides the best combination of performance, features, reliability, and value based on customer feedback. This is what we'd recommend to most people.

Best Value

The product that delivers the most bang for your buck. Often delivers excellent performance at a significant discount compared to premium options.

Premium Pick

For those who want the best regardless of price. These products typically have premium materials, features, or brand reputation.

Budget Pick

The best affordable option. We only include budget picks when they actually deliver acceptable performance—we won't recommend junk just because it's cheap.

What We Don't Do

• Accept payment for reviews: No brand can pay us to feature their product.
• Let commissions influence rankings: We recommend products based on quality, not affiliate commission rates.
• Claim false expertise: We're not pretending to be engineers or scientists.
• Make up statistics: When we cite numbers, they come from actual customer reviews and product data.

Our Limitations

We want to be transparent about what we can't do:

• We haven't personally tested every product we recommend
• Customer reviews can be biased or manipulated (we try to filter for verified purchases)
• Specifications don't always tell the full story
• Your needs might differ from the average reviewer

That said, aggregating thousands of real customer experiences provides valuable signal that individual "expert" testing often misses. We believe our approach offers genuine value, even with these limitations.

Questions?

If you have questions about how we evaluated a particular category or why we made specific recommendations, please reach out. We're happy to explain our reasoning.