Test Lab · Trust
Unit Source Policy
Every tested unit carries a permanent label saying how we got it.
The four labels
Purchased - bought at retail with our own money, like any customer. This is our default and our preference, because it means we received the same unit and the same support experience you would.
Loaned - supplied by the brand or a retailer for testing and returned afterwards. The loan period and return date are stated. A loan grants no approval rights of any kind.
Gifted - supplied and not returned. Stated permanently on the review. A gifted unit gets exactly the same protocol and the same willingness to publish a bad result.
Not tested - we have not had this unit on the bench. Pages covering these products carry no rating, no ranking position and no “Tested” badge. Products in our test queue sit in this category until the protocol is complete.
What a supplier can and cannot ask for
A brand may:
- Supply a unit and the accessories that ship with it.
- Provide firmware notes, manuals and technical clarification.
- Point out a factual error after publication.
A brand may not:
- See results before publication.
- Request changes to a score, a ranking or a conclusion.
- Attach conditions to the loan of a unit.
- Require that a review is published at all.
If a supplier attempts to attach conditions, we return the unit and say so on the relevant page.
Retail versus review samples
Where a brand offers a hand-picked press sample, we prefer to buy a retail unit instead. Where we cannot, and where we have reason to believe the sample may differ from retail stock, we say so on the review.
Regional versions
We state the country the unit was sold in. We do not assume that an EU version behaves identically to its US counterpart, and we do not transfer results between regional variants without retesting.