How we test at T3T3 tests a wide range of products, from kayaks to kick scooters, mattresses to laptops, but the one thing that links them all is our approach to testingWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
How we test at T3T3 tests a wide range of products, from kayaks to kick scooters, mattresses to laptops, but the one thing that links them all is our approach to testingWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
T3 tests a wide range of products, from kayaks to kick scooters, mattresses to laptops, but the one thing that links them all is our approach to testing
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Jump to category:Audio-visualTransportFitnessGarden livingHome livingOutdoorsBeauty and StyleTechWellness
Jump to category:Audio-visualTransportFitnessGarden livingHome livingOutdoorsBeauty and StyleTechWellness
At T3, our mission is to help you make the right buying decision and, to do that, you need all of the information. We curate ourbuying guideswith the products that best fit that category, we provide versus articles to help you decide between popular models and we writein-depth reviewsto give you the full lowdown on the points that matter.
T3’s editors and writersare experts in their fields and have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover. This means that when it comes to reviewing products, they have usually already reviewed the previous version and all its competition.
All of our tests are done in a real-world environment – not in a lab. This means we are using the product in the same way as you are and can give you the feedback that matters to you, not just a series of numbers.
iPhones being prepared for testing(Image credit: Future)
iPhones being prepared for testing
iPhones being prepared for testing
(Image credit: Future)
How we decide what to review
We aim to review all new and relevant products that we maintain buying guides for. We may also review related products as well as older models if they are sell on sale and are a genuine buying choice for our readers.
Our testing process
In each review, we look at how the product sits among its competition, how it compares to previous models, as well as how much it justifies its price tag. In addition to providing an honest verdict to help you choose if it’s right for you, we also provide alternative models in our ‘also consider’ section, should you want to spend more or less, or just get an alternative product with a different set of features.
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(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
How we score products
We rate our reviews on a scale of one to five stars. One star is considered a poor product, two stars is below average, three stars is a good product, and four stars is an excellent product. We reserve five-star ratings for truly exceptional performance. We don’t give out half stars.
In ourbuying guides, the top product is awarded the T3 Best Buy award, while other products in the list receive the T3 Approved award. Five-star reviews receive our Platinum award.
In addition to this overview of how we test products, you can find further information on how specific products are reviewed within the buying guides and in the reviews themselves.
If you have any questions about our review process, please emailteam@t3.com.
T3’s Active Editor, Matt Kollat, testing the Asics Gel Nimbus 21(Image credit: Future)
T3’s Active Editor, Matt Kollat, testing the Asics Gel Nimbus 21
T3’s Active Editor, Matt Kollat, testing the Asics Gel Nimbus 21
(Image credit: Future)
How we ensure consistency in our testing
As evident in the sections below, our editors and writers have specific beats and are experts in their fields. Each product is reviewed for a similar amount of time to allow the writer to get to know the product, and the same testing procedures are followed.
Where we haven’t been allowed sufficient time with a product, the review will be marked as an ‘early verdict’ and not be given a score. We will then endeavor to revisit that product at a later date before rating it.
(Image credit: Amazon)
(Image credit: Amazon)
How we test: audio-visual
Sound and vision kit – which T3 considers as products you live with and enrichen your daily life – are a staple of the T3 test bench, from the biggest and best TVs, to the most adept active noise-cancelling headphones. In charge of all this is Tech EditorMike Lowe. Mike and his team assess and contextualise all the latest A/V gear to help you make the right buying decision for your needs.
Our top audio-visual buying guides
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
How we test: transport
When it comes to getting around, whether it’s in a car, bike, or on an electric scooter, our Active Editor,Matt Kollat, alongside our expert product reviewers, are well placed to recommend the best products available. So, if you’re looking for the smoothest rolling suitcase to impress your business class buddies or a dash cam that’s constantly recording the road ahead, we’ve tested the best products to spend your money on and make travelling the world a breeze.
We review all of these products in the real world which helps us get a real sense of how well they perform under the pressures and strains of travel. So, for example, when we’re reviewing electric scooters we’ll use them for several weeks to commute, or, if we’re reviewing a dash cam we’ll install it in our car and test it under every condition possible.
Our top transport buying guides
(Image credit: Matt Kollat/T3)
(Image credit: Matt Kollat/T3)
How we test: fitness
T3 is dedicated to improving people’s health and fitness, so much so that we dedicated a whole vertical to the subject. In the Fitness vertical, you’ll find reviews and curated buying guides of the best running and workout shoes and gear, home gym equipment – anything from treadmills and exercise bikes to dumbbells and resistance bands – supplements, bikes and cycling accessories, massage guns and more.
Active editorMatt Kollatand his team of writers take testing products related to health improvement and management with utmost seriousness. Every product we test goes through a rigorous review process that includes various workouts, threshold tests, feature analysis and even market research to see how they compare to their competitors. Rest assured: we won’t recommend any fitness products that don’t deliver the performance they promise on the box.
Products are always tested in the environment they were designed for. We’ll take road bikes, running shoes and multisport watches out on the road and test fitness machines in our own homes. We see no point in reviewing these in a sterile environment – after all, most products won’t be used in a laboratory.
Finally, in most of our reviews and buying guides, we’ll offer at least a few alternatives to all the products we test to give you a broader perspective of the available options. Some products that go through our hands are expensive and sometimes even unavailable to the public at the time of writing; on these occasions, we’ll recommend cheaper products readily available to everyone to buy.
Our top fitness buying guides
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
How we test: garden living
T3 has serious pedigree in buying, building, testing and rating the very best garden living technology and products. From the best barbecues and smokers on the market, which are perfect for eating and entertaining outdoors, to top-rated cordless and robot lawn mowers for keeping sward looking sharp, and onto strimmers, sprinklers, pressure washers and much more, T3 is a global authority on reviewing garden living gear.
T3 tests garden living products in a real garden living environment. Home EditorBeth Girdler-Maslen, along with a host of other freelance gardening experts, test garden living products for T3.com in their own gardens: building BBQs on their own patios, operating water sprinklers on their own lawns, and testing pressure washers on their own drives, for example. That’s because we aim for authoritative, real-world reviews that tell people the truth about what it’s actually like to own a product.
When testing garden living products our experts take extra care to evaluate a product in terms of what it actually delivers and not just what its maker says it will on its box or product description. If a product is hard to put together, we will find out and tell you, while if a product doesn’t deliver the performance or features advertised, we’ll find out and let you know.
We take numerous pictures of each garden living product, as well as create videos showing it in operation, too, so that our readers not just have a written description of how the product performs, but visual and even audible proof too. That’s because our mission here at T3.com is to surface products that spark joy and make people’s lives better, so they can go into each product purchase with as much information as possible as to how it will help them live a better life.
Our top garden living buying guides
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
How we test: home living
There’s no shortage of great ‘stuff’ to put in your home, but Home EditorBeth Girdler-Maslenand her team are largely focused on kitchen gadgetry and clean machines from vacuums of all kinds to carpet cleaners and hard floor specialists.
Just to be clear: testing appliances and vacuum cleaners in a lab is unbelievably costly and tedious.Dyson’s vacuum-testing lab cost £2 million, involves using robot arms to suck up specific types of manufactured dust from unbelievably costly red Axminster carpet, and it is not even all that big. So we test in a real-world environment, doing things that normal people will actually do with their home tech. So vacs are tested in real houses and apartments, on carpets and hard floors. We do some specific tests – rice crispies and sugar feature heavily – but mainly it’s about racking up some hours of vacuuming day-to-day dust and spills.
We honestly couldn’t care less what manufacturers claim for their products, beyond using it to assess how they are positioning them in terms of marketing. We’re all about what results products give. However, we do consider style and great design to be important elements of any product review – just so long as there is some substance behind them.
When it comes to large appliances – ovens, fridge freezers – we are looking into lab testing the longevity and temperature control of a larger range of appliances. However, at present we use a mixture of online reviews from long-term users, using our finely honed bullshit detectors to side-step fake reviews, and occasional testing at home of products from brands we consider leaders in their fields.
Our top home living buying guides
(Image credit: Jamie Carter)
(Image credit: Jamie Carter)
How we test: outdoors
T3 has a wealth of buying guides for those who want to get better acquainted with the great outdoors. This is an area where it pays to do your research before you buy, because having the wrong bit of kit can turn a fun adventure into an uncomfortable nightmare before you can say ‘non-waterproof boots’. Active editorMatt Kollat, along with a team of intrepid reviewers, put products through their paces in the environments for which they were intended to be used – so on ski slopes, in the sea, and up mountains. We also check how they perform in variable conditions, to make sure they won’t let you down when the going gets tough.
We pick our testers based on the things they’re really into, so they have an in-depth understanding of what’s on the market and what you should be looking for in your purchase. Reviewer photos and videos of the product in use help you form a better idea of the build quality outside of those glossy press pics, and we also check outside reviews from other customers, to make sure we haven’t missed anything. We’ll also compare product specs with competitor products to make sure you’re getting good value for your money, or where you might be making compromises.
Our top outdoor buying guides
(Image credit: Sebastian Coman Travel / Unsplash)
(Image credit: Sebastian Coman Travel / Unsplash)
How we test: beauty and style
Whether you’re looking for recommendations for the best beauty and grooming products or the best-smelling perfume, you can be safe in the knowledge that T3 has tested the top products from the biggest brands around. From hairdryers that can dry your locks and leave your hair looking healthy, to beard trimmers that will cut down facial fuzz in a matter of seconds, we’ve reviewed, rated, and ranked them all to find the best products to spend your money on and leave you looking your best.
T3 tests beauty and grooming products in a real-world environment – meaning we use them regularly in our own bathrooms and bedrooms to get a real sense of how they perform in the hands of normal people. T3’s Home Editor,Beth Girdler-Maslen, along with a number of freelance beauty and grooming experts, put their own faces, hair, and bodies on the line: using IPL hair removal machines to zap their legs, body groomers to remove hair in the most delicate areas, electric toothbrushes to get their teeth sparkling white, and electric shavers to make sure they’re looking presentable in the morning. Our authoritative reviews tell people what it’s actually like to own a product.
Our top beauty and style buying guides
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
How we test: tech
T3 is built upon covering and reviewing tech – when launched over 25 years ago, T3 stood for ‘Tomorrow’s Technology Today’ (bit of trivia for you there) – so it’s as much a core pillar of the website today as it was back in the magazine’s early days.
Technology is key to peoples’ daily lives, so as much as we get all excited about a product’s specs – which we’ll point out and contextualise for easy understanding of what the latest acronym or jargon means – it’s the actual living with a device where our core testing happens. Over days, weeks or even longer we’ll live with products as if they’re our own, getting a real-world sense of the things that matter, such as battery life, rather than simply setting up tests that don’t reflect real use.
T3 does also go deeper when it’s necessary: we’ll benchmark gaming laptops to get a fuller understanding of how much more a given choice can give over another, because every frame-per-second matters to those who are paying out big bucks for the best that’s on offer.
Having seen and reviewed a huge breadth of technology products it’s the contextual aspect that Tech editorMike Loweand his team of experts can then deliver with authority, suggesting the best phone, tablet, laptop, or whatever product it may be, that suits your needs.
Our top tech buying guides
(Image credit: Simba)
(Image credit: Simba)
How we test: wellness
T3’s Wellness channel includes guides to everything you need to get an amazing night’s sleep. Channel editorBeth Girdler-Maslen, and a core team of regular reviewers, have all tried out a wide range of products to build up a good understanding of the current market, how different brands compare, and where to look to get the best bang for your buck.
We’ll access products based on a range of key criteria. For example, for mattresses, we’ll consider how supportive it is, whether it’s breathable or traps body heat, how comfy it is to sleep on in a range of positions, and its ability to isolate motion.
We’ll also look at the build quality, finishes, fabrics and packaging. Specs and info from the brand around how ethically and sustainably the product has been produced also feed into our decision-making, along with any certifications to do with allergies and the like.
To review sleep accessories, we’ll test the product for a decent amount of time – so for duvets and pillows, a couple of weeks, and for mattresses, at least a month – before writing up our thoughts, and where possible we’ll update reviews with longer-term thoughts at a later date. Finally, we also look at what other reviewers have said, to account for differences in personal taste, and to make sure we’re not missing anything big.
Our top wellness buying guides
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