How we review, and how we label it
Every post here carries one of three labels. The label tells you how close we got to the product.
The three labels
- Tested
- We owned it and used it for a stated length of time. Only a Tested post may describe how something wore, held up or felt in use, and only a Tested post may show our own photographs of it.
- Handled
- We saw it and held it, in a shop or borrowed, without living with it. We can tell you about the build. We cannot tell you how it lasts.
- Researched
- Every guide today
- We never touched it. We compared specifications, prices, manufacturer guidance and documented owner reports. No first-person physical claim appears in a Researched post.
Today every post on this site is Researched. We are saying that plainly rather than burying it. As a post earns a higher label the label changes, and the date changes with it.
What a Researched post may and may not say
May say
- compared
- verified
- cross-checked
- measured against published dimensions
- confirmed on the manufacturer's own page
May not say
- tested
- tried
- wore
- installed
- ran
- used
- a star rating
It may say compared, verified, cross-checked, measured against published dimensions, confirmed on the manufacturer's own page. It may quote what a maker says about its own product, including the parts the marketing skips.
It may not say tested, tried, wore, installed, ran or used. It may not carry a star rating, because a rating implies a score and we have scored nothing. It may not show a photograph presented as ours. The product photographs in our reviews are the makers' own images, credited under each one; we did not take them.
What you see on a post
- The short answer. The pick and the reason, in a sentence you can stop at.
- Picks at a glance. Every pick on one row: the product, its price tier and a way to check the price.
- The comparison table. The same picks side by side, on the facts the post compares.
- The review. One block per pick: what it does, a real drawback, and who it is for.
The evidence level sits in the fine print at the end of every post, above the byline: what we did, what we did not do, and the date we last checked. On every post today, Researched.
The rules that hold at every label
Every review names a real downside. A post where nothing has a drawback is a post nobody thought about, and we do not publish those.
We never invent a product, a price or a rating. We check every item is real and currently for sale, and we date that check on the post.
We use price tiers rather than dollar amounts. A printed price is wrong within a week, and Amazon's terms are strict about displaying them.
We do not accept payment for inclusion, for placement or for a better verdict.
Corrections
When we get something wrong we fix it on the post and date the fix. We do not quietly edit and move on. If you spot one, tell us.
Who wrote this
Bobby and Nikki Wiltgen. Married ten years, together sixteen. We run weddings, events, restaurants and short-stay rentals, and we are raising three kids. More about us.