How our Product Reviews team test our products
WITH the amount of ads we're bombarded with these days, it can make shopping online and finding the right product a little overwhelming.
You fancy buying one of the best air fryers, so you search around a few websites and quickly realise there are dozens of brands telling you their product is the best.
So how do you choose between the good and the garbage, the duds and the deals?
That's where we come in; our Product Reviews section is all about testing what's trending and helping you make a great purchase.
No one likes feeling like they've made a bad choice, so it's our mission to help you get the most bang for your buck.
Our rating system
We're keeping things simple in Product Reviews: every product we test is rated out of five: one being low, five being high.
If something gets five out of five for us, you can be sure it's something you're going to love.
But there's a bit more to it than that; in each of our round-ups, be it the best air conditioners or the best mattresses, we've aimed to split our picks out into some extra categories to help you make an informed decision.
These aren't the same for every piece because we don't rate the best suitcases the same as the best nail lamps, but there will be some categories you see across our content. These include:
- Best overall: this one does what it says on the tin; whatever we award this to, you can bet it's a combination of excellent performance that justifies its price tag.
- Best budget: if you don't want to spend top dollar but you still want quality, our budget picks will be among the more affordable product options in the category. They won't scrimp on performance, though!
- Best premium: if budget is no limit for you, then the best premium products should have all the bells and whistles you're looking for.
Pros and cons
We give pros and cons to all the products we test so you get the full picture.
Even if we love something, such as in our Oura Ring review, we still drill down to find any little flaws you might need to know about.
Sometimes we have a product or two in our round-ups that we can't find an obvious fault with, but we'll look hard before we give that assessment.
How do we choose the products we test?
In our Product Reviews section, we try to be as useful as possible. That means we put a lot of effort into finding the products that people want to know about, whether that's something trending on TikTok or something that people are searching for on Google.
If something's appearing in your social feeds, we'll try and get hold of it so you can see if it's worth your money or not.
Naturally, when the weather gets hot, we'll start testing out things to help keep you cool, whether that's the best cooling mattresses or the best dehumidifiers.
Likewise, when it gets cold, we'll be testing out the best thermal socks and the best heated throws so you know which ones to swerve and which ones to put on your Christmas list.
If you've seen something pop up and you want to find out if it's worth your time, you can always get in contact with us.
How to contact us:
You can contact our Sun Shopping team about our reviews at [email protected].
How long we spend testing products
Thoroughly testing out products is at the core of what we do in our Product Reviews section.
But, because we try out such a wide range of products, there's not a one-size-fits-all approach to testing.
For each item we test we try and work out if its features work as they should, if it is of a decent build quality and if it represents value for money.
We've outlined some specific examples below:
How we test mattresses
It's fair to say that mattresses are having a moment. There's been an explosion in the number of online mattress sellers over the last few years, all of which claim to be the 'best reviewed' or the 'most awarded'.
Because buying a mattress is one of the more expensive purchases you're likely to make for your home, we've put a lot of time into testing out the latest models for sale.
We do this by giving the mattresses to our writers and testers for a period of months before they reach a verdict; it can take time to work out whether a mattress is performing as it should, so we tend to take things slow.
On top of that, our mattress content is updated regularly with the latest updates from our testers, so if something's changed, we'll add it to our reviews and round-ups when we hear about it.
How we test kitchen appliances
We're big fans of kitchen appliances (one of our most popular pieces is our round-up of the best air fryers!) and so we take our reviews seriously.
For kitchen appliances, we usually hand out gadgets to writers with experience in food journalism who are passionate cooks in their own right.
Similarly to mattresses, we like our testers to have the gadgets for as long as possible, allowing them to properly kick the tyres before giving their verdict.
We don't tend to feature larger appliances such as ovens and fridges, but we love testing out smaller things, like the best beer dispensers and the best cheap microwaves.
How we test fitness apparel and equipment
There are few things more prone to big claims than fitness equipment.
There is no end of products that promise to help you lose weight, improve your performance, or get you focused.
That's why, when we test things, we hand over the gadgets to sports fanatics and personal trainers to really put fitness gear through its paces.
When we did our dryrobe review, for instance, we had it tested by two amateurs who wore it out in all weathers for a variety of occasions.
How we test cosmetics
We love getting our hands on the latest beauty products and with so many launches happening, we're constantly testing the latest skincare, makeup and hair care.
We aim to test cosmetics on a variety of individuals with different skin types and hair types, including beauty experts and professionals, to get a balanced perspective on the efficacy of a particular product.
It can take weeks to assess the benefits of skincare products, especially as they’re designed to deliver long-term results, so our reviewers test skincare for at least a week or more, with some swapping their entire routines out for months, to truly give a rounded judgement.
We also try make-up, hair care, fragrance, nail kits and more, and while some of them may produce immediate results, we always make sure our testers trial each product a few times in different situations to see whether the results deliver each time.
How we update our content
Over time we try and update all the reviews and round-ups we write.
We do this for a couple of reasons: for starters, we like our articles to reflect the latest prices a product is being sold for.
So, if the Oodie has gone down in price for a winter sale, we update our Oodie review so you can see where you can buy one the cheapest and if you're getting great value.
We also update our round-ups to reflect new products that we hadn't tested when we wrote the original piece to help you get the full picture.
Finally, we'll sometimes add lookback segments in our reviews to see how an item is performing after a year (or longer) of use if we've continued to use it after the piece was published.
Why you can trust us
When you read one of our reviews, you can be sure you're getting our honest opinion on the product.
We don't take money or sponsorship to write individual reviews of products.
We may include sponsored inclusions in some of our round-ups and we ensure all inclusions are clearly marked as sponsored with the phrase (AD).
In our round-ups, we don't include anything we rate lower than 3/5. If we grade an item lower than this, we don't think it's worth your time.
Affiliate disclosure
Some of the links in our articles are affiliate links. That means that if a reader follows a link to a retailer and buys a product, we'll take a commission on the sale.
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