How we test
Every piece of gear is scored the same way as everything else in its category, so reviews can be compared. Here is exactly how.
How a review comes together
- Measured in use, not read off the box. Each criterion below says what is looked at, and most are judged in normal flying: real flight time per battery, stabilised footage from real flights.
- The disclosures come first. A review can't be published until it says how the gear was obtained, whether it has affiliate links, when it was tested and what the verdict is.
- You can see it flying. Every product's page lists the flights shot with it, and the photos in a review come from its testing, with location data removed.
- Old reviews stay up. A published review is never deleted. When gear is re-tested or replaced, the old review stays as a record, with a note pointing to the newer one.
Scores
Each criterion is scored from 0 to 10 in half points. The overall score is the plain average of the criteria that were scored, rounded to one decimal place. There are no weights and no hand-picked overall number.
Scores compare fairly within a category, not across them: a 9 for a filter and a 9 for a drone measure different things.
Drone
- Camera
- Sharpness, colour, dynamic range and stabilised footage in real flights.
- Flight time
- Real flight time per battery in normal flying, compared with the claimed figure.
- Ease of use
- How quickly it can be set up and used well, and how clear its controls are.
- Value
- What it delivers for what it costs, compared with the alternatives at the time.
- Portability
- Size and weight in a bag, and how quickly it is ready to fly.
Battery
- Real-world flight time
- Flight time measured in normal flying, not the figure on the box.
- Charge time
- Time from empty to full with the recommended charger.
- Build
- How solid it feels and how well it holds up to normal travel and use.
- Value
- What it delivers for what it costs, compared with the alternatives at the time.
Filter
- Image quality
- Sharpness and colour cast compared with no filter.
- Build
- How solid it feels and how well it holds up to normal travel and use.
- Ease of use
- How quickly it can be set up and used well, and how clear its controls are.
- Value
- What it delivers for what it costs, compared with the alternatives at the time.
Controller
- Build
- How solid it feels and how well it holds up to normal travel and use.
- Ease of use
- How quickly it can be set up and used well, and how clear its controls are.
- Value
- What it delivers for what it costs, compared with the alternatives at the time.
App
- Ease of use
- How quickly it can be set up and used well, and how clear its controls are.
- Features
- What it can do that matters for flying and editing.
- Reliability
- Crashes, lost connections and bugs during testing.
- Value
- What it delivers for what it costs, compared with the alternatives at the time.
Accessory
- Build
- How solid it feels and how well it holds up to normal travel and use.
- Ease of use
- How quickly it can be set up and used well, and how clear its controls are.
- Value
- What it delivers for what it costs, compared with the alternatives at the time.
Software
- Ease of use
- How quickly it can be set up and used well, and how clear its controls are.
- Features
- What it can do that matters for flying and editing.
- Reliability
- Crashes, lost work and bugs during testing.
- Value
- What it delivers for what it costs, compared with the alternatives at the time.
What every review tells you
A review can't be published without these, shown in the “About this review” box near the top:
- How the gear was obtained: bought with my own money; borrowed from a friend or shop; given to me by the maker or a seller, to keep; loaned for testing by the maker or a seller.
- Whether there are affiliate links. If there are, each one is marked “(affiliate link)”. A commission never changes a score or a verdict.
- When it was tested. Gear and firmware change, so the date matters.
- A link back to this page.
When gear changes
Old reviews are never deleted or quietly rewritten. When newer gear replaces something, it gets its own review, and the old one stays up with a note pointing to the newer one. Retired gear keeps its page, its reviews and the flights shot with it. See my kit for the full history.
Sample reviews used while building the site are labelled “Placeholder” and their scores are marked as samples.