How we test · The criteria behind every score
One scale. Five criteria. Shown in the open.
A score you can't inspect is just a vibe with a decimal point. Here's exactly what our numbers weigh, how the scale reads, and what a score does — and doesn't — claim.
The rubric
What a score weighs
| Criterion | Weight | The question we're answering |
|---|---|---|
| Does the job | 30% | Does it handle the work its class exists for — without bogging, stalling or excuses? |
| Build quality | 25% | Will it survive a decade of drops, dust and being loaned to your brother-in-law? |
| Ergonomics | 20% | Weight, balance, grip, controls. A tool that's unpleasant to hold doesn't get used. |
| Value | 15% | Is the price fair for what you get — counting batteries, blades and the platform around it? |
| Living with it | 10% | Runtime, noise, storage, blade/bit changes — the everyday friction nobody puts on the box. |
Weights are fixed across a category so scores compare fairly within a table.
The scale
How to read a score
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8.0–10
Recommended. Buy it with confidence — it does its job well at a fair price. Differences above 9 are taste, not quality.
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6.0–7.9
Fine, with caveats. Works, but something real holds it back — value, weight, durability. Read the cons before buying; it might still be right for you.
-
< 6.0
Skip it. The money is better spent elsewhere, or the tool fails at the job its class exists to do. We'll always say which.
The process
Four steps, in order
- Define the class, pull the real specs
We draw the class boundaries first, then take the numbers — weight, voltage, capacities, what ships in the box — straight from manufacturer documentation, not from memory or a retail listing.
- Synthesize the hands-on record
We don't bench-test units ourselves. We read the people who do — established expert reviewers with real test benches — and cross-check them against long-term owner feedback, where the dead batteries and wobbly chucks actually show up.
- Score inside the class
Everything runs through the fixed rubric above, same weights for every tool in a table. A 12V drill is scored against what a 12V drill should be — not against a job-site hammer drill.
- Revisit as the market moves
Models get replaced and street prices drift. When a price shift breaks a value score or a successor redraws the class, the verdict gets re-run — not left to age.
What a score is
Our informed judgment from three inputs — manufacturer specs, published expert testing, and long-term owner consensus — applied through the rubric above and checked against the class. It's an opinion with a method, not a lab measurement, and we won't dress it up as one.
What we don't do
No sponsored reviews. No pay-for-placement. No scores softened to keep a brand happy. And no pretending we bench-tested a unit we didn't — when a finding comes from someone else's testing, we say so. If any of that changes, this page will say so in the first sentence. It won't.