How we test and review

What we review

Equipment, chemistry-adjacent application gear, monitoring technology and field-service software — the things members spend real money on and cannot easily evaluate before buying. We do not review products we have not used, and we do not publish a review built only from a spec sheet.

How products are obtained

We buy what we can. Where a manufacturer supplies a unit, that is stated at the top of the review, in the label system, not in small print at the bottom. Supplied units are returned or disposed of after testing; we do not keep them and we do not resell them.

How testing works

Every product in a category is assessed against the same published criteria, in the same conditions, by the same reviewer where possible. The criteria are written and published before testing begins, so nobody can reverse-engineer a scoring rubric that flatters a favourite. Where a product is tested in the field rather than on a bench, the protocol and the raw data are published alongside the conclusion.

Editorial scores and member ratings are separate

You will see two numbers and they never mix. The editorial assessment is one reviewer’s judgement against published criteria, signed by name. The member rating is an aggregate of ratings from members who have used the product in the field.

Only the member rating is published as a machine-readable aggregate rating. An editorial score is one person’s opinion and marking it up as an aggregate would misrepresent it to search engines and to anyone reading a rich result.

Comparisons

Head-to-head comparisons use identical criteria across every product in the set. If a product cannot be assessed on a criterion, that cell says so rather than being scored zero or quietly dropped.

Corrections and right of reply

Manufacturers may contest a factual error and we will correct it, dated and in place. They may not contest a conclusion. A disputed conclusion gets a linked response, not a rewrite.

Affiliate links

If we ever use them, they will be disclosed on the page and they will never affect which products are reviewed, how they score, or the order they appear in.