How We Test and Score
How we test and score products is the same wherever you shop, whether in the UK, mainland Europe or the United States. This page explains how we reach a score, where our information comes from, and where the limits of our process lie.
Our Method
The honest version first
We do not run our own laboratory tests. We do not own a bench full of wattmeters, thermal cameras and load testers, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we do is read the evidence carefully, check it against the manufacturer’s own figures and the live retail listing, and turn it into a clear, repeatable score.
That means our value to you is not “we plugged it in once and here is our hot take”. It is the opposite: we gather independent testing from people who do own that equipment, cross-check it against the official specifications and the current Amazon listing, and weigh it all against real-world use.
When the published evidence disagrees with a manufacturer’s claim, we tell you. When we cannot verify something, we say so rather than guess.
We think being upfront about this makes our scores more trustworthy, not less. You can see what sits behind a number.
What hands-on means here
We do buy or source some of the products we write about and live with them: through an airport, across a hospital shift, over a working week. Those units give us our notes on size in a bag, warmth in the hand, how the cables behave and what wears thin after a month.
That is real-world use, not measurement, so it never stands in for a lab figure. Where one of us has used a product first hand, the review says so and names the person. Where we have not, the review says that too, and every number on the page is credited to the independent source it came from.
Evidence Hierarchy
Where our information comes from
We work from a clear hierarchy of evidence. Higher tiers carry more weight, and a claim only earns a place in a review once it holds up across the sources we can check.
Manufacturer specifications
The official product page is our baseline for wattage, port layout, dimensions, weight, voltage range and warranty. These are the figures the maker is willing to stand behind.
Verified retail listings
We confirm the exact model, current configuration and availability against the live Amazon listing before any product appears in a review. If we cannot link a product cleanly, it does not go in.
Independent testing
For real-world performance, charging speed under load, efficiency and heat, we rely on outlets and labs that test hardware hands-on, such as iMore, How-To Geek, ChargerLab, Digital Camera World and Windows Central. This list is illustrative, not fixed: we add or change sources as the right evidence appears.
Our own judgement
Where published evidence is thin, we say so plainly and fall back on documented reasoning, never on invented figures.
If a performance figure cannot be traced to a named, checkable source, it does not appear as a fact in our reviews.
Charger Scoring
How we score GaN chargers
You can see these scores applied across a whole category in our best GaN charger roundup. We score every GaN charger against four criteria. Each is marked out of ten, in half-point steps, and the four marks are averaged to produce the overall score. No criterion is weighted more heavily than another, so the overall figure is a simple, transparent average.
A worked example
The figures below are illustrative, used only to show the method. Take a hypothetical two-port GaN charger rated at 65W total, weighing 112g, with folding UK prongs, wide-voltage support and one USB-C plus one USB-A port.
Portable Charger Scoring
How we score portable chargers
Portable chargers use the same four criteria and the same averaging method, adapted to what matters when the battery, rather than the wall outlet, is the source of power. The worked results sit in our best power banks roundup.
A worked example
Illustrative figures only. Take a hypothetical 20,000mAh portable charger (around 74Wh) with 30W USB-C output, weighing 350g, one USB-C and one USB-A port, and no built-in cable.
Score Bands
How the four scores combine
The overall score is always the straight average of the four criterion marks, rounded to the nearest half point. We never set a separate top-line number by feel, so the overall figure can always be checked against the four parts. The bands below show what a score signals at a glance.
Commitments
What we do not do
Being clear about our limits is part of being trustworthy.
We do not run first-party laboratory tests
We use some of this kit in normal life and report what that is like, but performance figures always come from named, independent sources, never from claims we cannot back up.
We do not accept payment to change a score
SmartGadgetKit earns commission when you buy through some of our links, at no extra cost to you, but that never alters a rating or a recommendation. Our affiliate disclosure explains this in full.
We do not list a product we cannot verify
If we cannot confirm the model and link it to a live retail listing, it stays out of the review.
We do not invent specifications
Where evidence is missing, we say so rather than fill the gap with a plausible-sounding number.
Who We Are
Who writes and reviews
SmartGadgetKit is written by people with complementary backgrounds: one technical, one everyday. That combination is deliberate, because the best charger on paper is not always the easiest one to live with. There is more on who we are and how the site is funded on our about page. Journalists will find press and media information on a page of its own.
Alisdair is a network engineer with nine years in the field, which means he reads a spec sheet the way most people read a menu. He handles the technical side of every review: making sense of wattage and Power Delivery profiles, checking manufacturer claims against independent testing, and deciding how each criterion is scored. If a number does not add up, Alisdair is the one who notices.
Darleene is a nurse who lives the way most of our readers do: long days, a bag full of devices that all need charging, and no patience for jargon. She brings the everyday lens to every review, asking whether a charger is easy to use, light enough to carry and worth the money for a normal person rather than a spec enthusiast. If it would not pass muster on a busy shift or a family holiday, she will say so.
Behind every score
Two perspectives on every product. One technical, one everyday. That is how we keep our reviews honest.
