How we test
Every score on this site is the weighted average of five criteria. We publish the weights, we publish the measurements, we say whether a review came from our own bench or from research, and we never adjust a final number by hand to make it feel right.
The rubric
Each criterion is scored 0–10 and carries a fixed weight. The overall score is computed from those numbers in code, which is why the breakdown on a review always adds up to the headline figure.
Core performance
3×Whatever the product exists to do, measured rather than described. Brew temperature stability, typing noise in decibels, panel uniformity — a number we can reproduce.
Value
3×Performance per pound against everything else we have tested in the category, not against the manufacturer's RRP.
Build quality
2×Materials, tolerances, and what has degraded by the end of the test period. We note every part that felt cheap.
Ease of use
2×Setup, daily operation, cleaning and maintenance. How long before it stopped being annoying.
Category-specific criterion
2×Steam power on an espresso machine, software on a keyboard. Named explicitly on every review so you can see what it covers.
Hands-on reviews and research reviews
Not every review on this site comes from a unit we had on the bench, so each one says which it is.
A hands-on review reports our own measurements. It shows how many hours we spent with the product and how many rivals we ran against it, and the methodology paragraph describes the instruments we used.
A research review is a synthesis of the manufacturer’s published specifications, independent measurements from labs and reviewers who did have the unit, and recurring themes in owner reports. Those reviews say plainly at the top of the testing section that we have not handled the product, and they list every source we read so you can check any figure yourself. We do not publish a number in a research review that we cannot point at a source for.
The rubric below applies to both. A research review is scored on the same five criteria with the same weights, and it carries the same requirement to name real downsides.
Where the money comes from
This site is funded by affiliate commission. If you buy something through one of our links, the retailer pays us a percentage and you pay exactly the same price you would have paid anyway.
That creates an obvious conflict of interest, so here is how we handle it:
- Scores are set before links are added. The scoring criteria live in the review’s source file and are filled in during testing. Affiliate links are generated automatically from a product code at build time.
- Commission rate never influences placement. We do not know, and do not look up, which products pay more before deciding a ranking.
- Every review lists who should not buy it. A review with no downsides is an advert. If we could not find a real flaw, we had not tested it for long enough.
- We do not accept payment for reviews, sponsored placements, or edits to published scores.
Read the full affiliate disclosure.
Why we don’t show prices
You will not find a price anywhere on this site. Two reasons. The practical one is that prices on Amazon change constantly, and a cached number from three weeks ago is worse than no number at all.
The other is that Amazon’s Associates terms only permit displaying pricing obtained live through their Product Advertising API. Rather than show you a figure we would have to caveat into uselessness, we send you to check the current price yourself.
What we buy and what we keep
We buy test units at retail wherever possible. When a manufacturer supplies a unit on loan, the review says so at the top. Loaned units are returned; purchased units are kept for long-term follow-ups, which is how we can report on what breaks after six months.