Doing the Research
A listing can carry reviews written about a different product
Review counts feel like evidence because they are large. Several mechanisms allow the reviews under a product to describe something…
Doing the Research
Reading reviews, spotting sponsored coverage and testing claims yourself.
20 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 2 of 2
Doing the Research
The footnote is where the conditions of every claim are kept
Marketing states the result and the small print states what produced it. The two are written by different people for different…
Doing the Research
Trade suppliers describe the same products in a different language
Professional catalogues are written for buyers who must specify rather than be persuaded. They routinely publish the figures…
Doing the Research
Recall registers are public and almost nobody reads them
Safety notices are published by national authorities in searchable form. They describe faults in specific batches of specific…
Doing the Research
What a video review can show you, and what the camera cannot
Video is uniquely good at some kinds of product evidence and structurally incapable of others. Knowing which is which turns an hour…
Doing the Research
The questions worth asking a seller before you commit
A specific question does two things: it retrieves information a listing omitted, and it reveals how much the seller actually knows…
Doing the Research
Model numbers encode a variant, and the variant is the product
The name on the front of the box is a marketing decision. The string on the rating label identifies what you actually own, and it…
Doing the Research
Products get revised quietly and keep the same name
A model that has been on sale for a while is often not the model that was reviewed. Revisions happen for good reasons and are…