How We Test

What we actually do

We do not run a lab. Unless a review says otherwise in its “What we checked” note, a score comes from three sources: the manufacturer’s own specifications and documentation, publicly available independent sources such as standards bodies and teardown reports, and aggregated reports from owners. Where a reviewer has used the product, the review says so and for how long. Where they have not, the review does not claim hands-on testing.

The 0–10 score

Each product is scored on five criteria. Every criterion is worth 2 points and the score is the sum, shown to one decimal.

1. Claim accuracy (0–2): do the headline claims hold up against the specs, independent sources and owner reports?
2. Build durability (0–2): materials, warranty length, known failure points and how owners describe the product after months of use.
3. Price competitiveness (0–2): what you get for the money against the two or three closest alternatives at the time of writing.
4. Usability (0–2): setup, controls, app quality where relevant, and how much of the product you can use without reading the manual.
5. Owner satisfaction (0–2): the balance of owner reports over time, with more weight on long-term reports than on first impressions.

A worked example

A pair of headphones with accurate battery claims (2.0), a hinge owners describe as fragile (1.0), a price in line with rivals (1.5), a clumsy app (1.2) and mostly positive long-term reports (1.8) scores 7.5 out of 10. The review then explains each of those numbers in prose, so you can disagree with one and still use the rest.

Star ratings

When a review shows a star rating out of 5, it is an owner rating, not our editorial opinion, and the review names the source and the number of ratings behind it. We normalise each source to a 5-point scale and round to one decimal. If we cannot name a source, we do not show stars.

Brands cannot pay for a score

No brand, retailer or network can pay to be reviewed, to change a score or to appear in a guide. Affiliate commissions come from retailers after you buy, and the commission rate has no effect on what we recommend. See our funding.

Update cadence

Reviews that appear in a guide or on the home page are rechecked at least every 90 days for price, availability and new owner reports. The “Updated” date on a page changes only when the content changes, not when we simply recheck it.

Corrections

If you think a fact is wrong, email info@top10gadgets.shop with the page URL and the source. We correct errors in the text, update the date and note what changed at the bottom of the page when the change affects the score.