Review processHow a recommendation gets made

Seven steps before anything gets recommended

We’re fully transparent about what goes into our product reviews, buying guides and round-ups, including the things we deliberately don’t do. Here is the whole process, so you can decide for yourself whether to trust what we write.

7-step research processNo paid placementsHuman editors only

7Research steps per pick

0Paid placements, ever

0AI-written articles

2014Refining this since

The process

What happens before a product makes the list

Not every product needs every step. It depends on what we’re recommending and how deep the review goes. But this is the full sequence our editors work through.

Product understanding

Read the manufacturer’s specifications thoroughly, start to finish.
Identify the key features, functionality and technical specs.
Work out the intended purpose and who the product is actually for.

Does this product genuinely make sense for our audience?

Market analysis

Research the market segment the product sits in.
Pull up competing products and compare features, pricing, reviews, pros and cons.
Identify the trends and innovations moving that category.

User feedback

Find existing reviews from reputable sources: consumer review sites, forums, social media, and our own readers.
Analyze the common pros and cons to anticipate real strengths and weaknesses.

Do the pros truly outweigh the cons?

Manufacturer information

Go to the manufacturer’s own site for anything the spec sheet missed.
Look at press releases, demos and promotional material for insight into how the product was developed and positioned.

Historical context

If it’s an updated model, look at what came before it.
Compare against its predecessors to see how the features actually evolved.

Is the newest version really better, and worth the price?

Industry news and trends

Monitor industry news, blogs and trade publications for launches, mergers, acquisitions and regulatory changes.
Understand how the wider category might affect the product’s performance or standing.

Legal and ethical considerations

Where relevant, check privacy concerns, safety issues and environmental impact.
Investigate any past controversies or recalls tied to the product or the manufacturer.

How a guide comes together

Structured, not padded

That process shapes what our guides look like. We don’t pad a list out to hit a number, and we don’t cut one short either.

A gift guide gets as many picks as it genuinely needs, once it’s organized around who you’re actually shopping for, what you want to spend, and what’s worth paying attention to right now. That structure is why some of our guides have grown: more useful options, not more filler.

What stays constant is that every single product in there went through the seven steps above. Nothing is in a guide because it was easy to add.

01Sorted by who it’s for, so you can skip straight to your person

02Split across budget levels, from the small stuff to the splurge

03Weighted toward what’s actually good and current, not what’s easiest to link

•And every pick, in every tier, through the same seven steps

Where we draw the line

Two things we will not do

Plenty of sites say they’re independent. These are the two specific pressures that test it.

We’ve said no

We don’t take money in exchange for a favorable review

We’ve been offered large sums over the years to slip a product into a review or round-up and say nice things about it. That goes against how we work. In the long run we’d lose our readers’ trust, and without that trust there’s no site.

No copying

We don’t add products just because every other site has

How annoying is it seeing the same 10 products on every review site? A big name calling something “the best” isn’t a reason for it to appear here. Often those products are sponsored placements, paid for site by site. We see it constantly with colognes and perfumes. It only goes on Brostrick if it meets the criteria above.

Testing

What “tested” honestly means here

“Researched always. Tested when we can.

Our editors test the products they recommend when they can, but in the spirit of full disclosure that isn’t always the case, and we’d rather tell you than imply otherwise.

When you see a stand-alone product review, it has most likely been tested, used and reviewed. When you see a round-up such as a gift guide, most of those products have not been individually tested, but every one has still been through the seven-step research process above.

Real editors, never AI

Every article is written and reviewed by a person. More on the team

More than one place to buy

Where we can, we list one or two retailers beyond Amazon so you can compare.

No ads, no data selling

No advertising outside affiliate links, and we never sell your data. How we make money

That’s a wrap.

So there you have it. Our review and research process is extensive, and we’d rather show you exactly what goes into a recommendation than ask you to take our word for it. That transparency is the whole point.

If you ever think we’ve got something wrong, or a product no longer deserves its spot, we genuinely want to hear it.

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Brostrick, LLC
167 Madison Ave (Suite 205) #1108
New York, NY 10016 · USA

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