How We Test

We use it before we talk about it

Nothing gets reviewed off a briefing deck or a spec sheet. The product comes to us, it goes on a desk or a bench or in a bag, and it stays in use for a couple of weeks before a camera comes out.

The same tests every time

Each category has a fixed set of tests we run on everything in it, so a result from March still means something in November. Where a number matters, we measure it ourselves rather than repeating the one on the box.

Scores

Scores run from 0 to 10 in tenths. They are set after testing and before any conversation about money, and we publish the reasoning next to the number so you can disagree with us properly.

Paid work and disclosure

Brands and PR teams pay us to review products and to produce content. We are open about that, because the alternative is pretending otherwise. Every paid piece is labelled as paid, in the first screen of the video and at the top of the written version. A fee covers our time, our testing and our production. It does not buy a score, it does not buy approval over the edit, and we do not send copy for sign off.

What a brand can and cannot ask for

Can: a factual correction, a firmware update we missed, an embargo date, a reshoot if we genuinely set something up wrong. Cannot: the score, the conclusion, or the removal of a criticism that happens to be accurate.