Editorial Standards
How We Test
Anyone can rank the top ten sellers on a retail site and call it a review. Here is what we do instead, what we will not do, and how we make money — so you can judge our recommendations for yourself.
We start from the job, not the catalogue
Every guide begins with the task a reader is actually trying to finish — sealing a driveway before the first frost, keeping a fridge running through an outage, stripping algae off siding. The shortlist comes from what that job demands, not from what is selling well on Amazon this week.
We shortlist on specifications that predict failure
For each category we identify the specification that actually decides longevity — motor type on a pressure washer, battery chemistry on a power station, solids content on a sealer — and use it to cut the field. Products that fail that test do not make the shortlist regardless of price or reviews.
We test on real surfaces and real loads
Testing happens on actual driveways, decks, sidings, panels and circuits, not on a bench. Where a product's whole value is longevity, we say so and revisit rather than pretending a week of use settles it. Every guide states exactly what was tested and on what.
We run each product long enough to find the flaw
Short sessions flatter almost everything. We run machines to the point where heat, fatigue, or a fiddly design starts to matter, because that is where the differences between two similar-looking products appear.
We publish the trade-offs
Every product in every guide gets a cons list, and it is never padded with fake weaknesses. If we cannot find a real drawback we say the product has none we found, and if a product is unsuitable for the reader most likely to buy it, that goes in the verdict.
How we handle money
We earn commission on some links. When you buy through a link in one of our guides we may receive a share of the sale at no additional cost to you, as a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. That commission is identical across the products in a guide, so it cannot influence which product we rank first.
We do not sell coverage. No manufacturer can pay to appear in a guide, to move up a ranking, or to have a criticism removed. We do not run sponsored reviews, and no brand sees a guide before it is published.
Star ratings and review counts belong to the retailer. Where we show a star rating and a number of reviews, those are the figures from the retailer's own listing, shown to give a sense of how the wider market has received a product. They are not our score. Our verdict is the written one.
When we get it wrong
Products change, specifications get revised mid-generation, and sometimes we simply miss something. If a guide is wrong, tell us and we will correct it and note the change. Guides are revisited when a product is discontinued or replaced, when a new model changes the ranking, or when readers report a failure pattern we did not see.
Corrections and questions go to our contact page.
Who does the testing
Alex Rivers, Home Improvement Editor
Alex has spent over a decade working on residential and light commercial property maintenance, and now tests every tool, coating and machine that appears in these guides personally.