How We Choose

Every site in the Janet Media Group portfolio covers a different category, from bath towels to roof racks to sunscreen, but they all choose products the same way. This page lays out that shared method so you can see how a pick was made, and judge for yourself whether it fits you.

The Method in Six Steps

1. Define who the product is for, and what they need it to do.
2. Shortlist from what is actually on sale, not from press releases.
3. Compare on published specifications and the factors that matter in that category.
4. Check safety standards and recall status wherever they apply.
5. Explain the trade-offs, including who should skip the pick.
6. State plainly what was, and was not, tested hands-on.

1. Start With Who It Is For

There is rarely a single best product, only the best product for a particular person and situation. So a pick starts with the reader: a family with small children at the lake, a runner with curly hair, a small apartment balcony rather than a big backyard deck. Naming who a product is for is what makes it possible to say who it is not for.

2. Shortlist What Is Actually Sold

The shortlist comes from products a reader can actually buy, drawn from the category as it exists on store shelves and in retailer listings, not from whichever brand sent the most enthusiastic announcement. Discontinued models and items that are hard to find are dropped or clearly labeled.

3. Compare on What Matters

Every category has a handful of factors that actually decide whether a product works: absorbency and weight for a bath towel, load rating and fit for a roof rack, capacity and cooling zones for a wine fridge. Our sites compare products on those factors, using published specifications and manuals, and they say where the numbers come from. Marketing language is not a specification.

4. Check Safety and Recalls

Where safety applies, it comes before everything else. For strollers, car seats, bunk beds and other children's products, our sites check for recalls using the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall database and point to the relevant safety standards. For sunscreen, they refer to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's sunscreen guidance. A product under an open recall is not recommended.

5. Explain the Trade-Offs

Every product gives something up. A lighter stroller may have smaller wheels; a cheaper ice cream maker may need its bowl frozen overnight. A useful pick tells you what you gain, what you give up and who should look elsewhere. If a page cannot name a single weakness in the product it recommends, it has not looked hard enough.

6. Say What Was Tested

Finally, each page states what its recommendation rests on. If a site used a product, it says so specifically. If it did not, it says that too, and lists the sources it relied on instead. It is the step that makes the rest of the method checkable, and it is the one we care about most.

What "Hands-On Where Possible" Means

"Hands-on where possible" means our sites use and test products when they can, and are honest when they cannot. It is a policy, not a boast. It is not a claim that every product has been tested, and it is never used to imply that.

In practice, it works like this:

• When a product has been used: the page says what was used, for how long or in what conditions, and what was found, and the claim covers that product only.
• When a product has not been used: the page says so plainly, then shows what the pick is based on: manufacturer specifications and manuals, published safety standards and recall notices, and independent testing from a named, linked outlet.
• Photos: a photo presented as evidence of use is an original photo taken during that use. Stock photography is never passed off as proof of testing.

More on where our facts come from is in our sourcing rules, and the rules that sit above this method are in our editorial standards.

Weighing What Other Shoppers Say

Customer reviews can be useful, but not all of them are trustworthy. The Federal Trade Commission's guide, How To Evaluate Online Reviews, is a good reference, and our sites weigh other people's reviews with its advice in mind:

1. Look at a variety of sources, not a single star rating.
2. Watch for a burst of reviews posted over a short period of time.
3. Check whether a reviewer has written other reviews, or created an account just to review one product.
4. Consider the source: who the reviewer is, and what the site hosting the review is.
5. Remember that fake reviews are not always positive; some are written to harm a competitor.
6. Notice labels that say a reviewer received a free product or other incentive, and weigh those reviews accordingly.

The FTC also cautions that it can be nearly impossible to tell a real review from a fake one just by looking. That is one more reason our sites build picks on specifications, safety data and their own use where possible, rather than on a pile of star ratings.

How the sites make money from their picks is explained separately, in our affiliate disclosure.