How We Review
MyGadgetDad is a research-led site, not a hands-on testing lab. I do not buy, borrow or bench-test every product I write about, and I will never pretend otherwise. What I do instead is read the evidence carefully — manufacturer specifications, independent published test results, UK owner reviews and the running-cost maths — and turn it into a plain-English recommendation for a UK home.
How products are selected
A product only appears in a guide if it is currently sold in the UK, has a clear published specification, and has enough independent coverage or verified owner feedback to judge it fairly. I start from the job the reader is trying to do — heat a cold room, cut standby waste, keep the freezer running through a power cut — and work backwards to the models that plausibly do it. Products with thin evidence, or that exist only as unbranded marketplace listings, are left out.
What sources are checked
- Manufacturer specification sheets and official UK product pages.
- Independent published test results and technical write-ups, where they exist.
- Verified UK owner reviews, read for repeated faults rather than star ratings.
- UK energy pricing and standing-charge data for any running-cost calculation.
- Retailer listings, to confirm a model is genuinely available here.
How specifications, prices and availability are treated
Capacity, output, battery life, coverage and efficiency figures are manufacturer claims unless a guide names an independent source. They are reported as such, not as results I have measured. Prices move constantly, so guides avoid quoting a fixed price as fact — check the retailer link for the current figure. If a model is discontinued or no longer sold in the UK, it is removed rather than quietly left in place.
How recommendations are updated
Guides are revisited when a named model is replaced by a new generation, when a significant fault pattern shows up in owner feedback, or when the underlying cost assumptions change — an energy price cap change, for example. Each guide shows the date it was last reviewed. If a guide has no visible date, treat it as unverified and check the retailer page before buying.
Corrections
If something here is wrong — a spec, a price assumption, a model that no longer exists — I want to know. Send the guide URL and what needs correcting via the contact page. Substantive corrections are made to the guide itself, not buried in a footnote.
Affiliate disclosure
Some retailer links on this site are affiliate links. If you buy through one, I may earn a commission — at no extra cost to you. Commercial relationships do not determine which products are recommended, the order they appear in, or what is said about them. A product is not included because a programme pays more, and no retailer or brand gets to review a guide before it is published. Full detail is on the affiliate disclosure page.
Who writes this
Every guide is written by Patrick Clarke. More about Patrick.