Consumerlabs, consumer reports, rtings, and which.co.uk seem to be the only standardized independent review bodies I'm aware of.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiftung_Warentest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Consumer_Researc...
I'm subscribed to the former but I found that at least some of my circle of friends and family don't like their reviews because they don't focus on things like "coolness" or aesthetics. Instead they take into account things like safety, labeling and other things.
It’s hard
I'd be interested to know more about this, but I haven't found much discussion of it when I search. My google fu may be weak today.
Try Kagi.
It is not exactly cut and dried, but it was found that consumer reports was testing to get a specific result. And due to the trust that people put in consumer reports that result killed the market for the samurai in the US.
By good methodology I think the best is the person who has a fleet of the things and a deep understanding of how they break, the next best is to take the thing apart and apply some industry specific analysis to it, then test it to destruction to see how it breaks. Ether one is beyond the grasp of the average joe, who only wants to buy one of the things and have it work. And almost no reviewers do this which is why the ones that do are so valuable.
For example, the only thing I care about with toilets are that they don’t break and they always flush and clear. Literally nothing else matters, but to test that you gotta poop in them and that’s hard to reproduce scientifically. So weird substitutes like golf balls and whatnot are used instead.
It’s also an integral problem with new car reviews, because you can’t review the durability of a new car, it’s an unknown. Substitutes end up dinging a car for a body panel alignment as much as a transmission replacement.
https://www.consumerreports.org/toilets/what-happens-when-co...
Nah, just bring in some large dogs. You'll never be without mighty turds to dispose of.
Beyond that, entire rolls of toilet paper, socks, makeup cassettes, cigarettes, toy cars, bleach wipes, pads, tampons (with and without plastic applicators) and other nonfecal items are the things you should be testing your toilet with, since those are what will go down your pipe in production.
My FIL is the type to insist on buying whichever toilet can suck down the most golf balls. Pooping at his house means never having to sheepishly ask for a plunger. His is like an airplane toilet.
I haven't heard of that. Could you tell us what you're referring to?
> and they have specific review methodology you need to understand and interpret
I've ready many Consumer Reports reviews; I don't know what this comment refers to. The style of the graphics in their tables?
Their methodology is simply scientific method.
And since the testing is known and not realistic, manufacturers can build for the test.
https://seclists.org/politech/2000/Mar/73
You have to understand their methodology because they may be ascribing “points” to things you don’t care about at all - especially if you’re looking for longevity.
The link is a random Internet person's post from 2000 about a single 1995 Consumer Reports review.
> You have to understand their methodology because they may be ascribing “points” to things you don’t care about at all - especially if you’re looking for longevity.
Every review everywhere, unless I hire the reviewer personally, will examine factors I am more and factors I am less interested in. They can't simultaneously, precisely serve everyone's varied interests (ok, I guess they could try some social media feed-type algorithm).
> the “scientific method” has nothing to do with actually using the toilet to eliminate human waste.
That's confusing. The scientific method is to actually do it and report what happens, not talk theoretically or speculatively about it from our basements like the rest of the Internet. CR generally does that (the scientific method) in extensive labs, staffed with experienced scientists and engineers. If you read their toilet reviews, that's what they do - put something in and flush. CR's core product is science, applied to consumer products.
> especially if you’re looking for longevity.
CR looks at longevity for many products, including extensive surveys of product owners.