Our testing and scoring process is built on objective, consistent, and repeatable testing that reveals product performance. In addition, we also use subjective assessment for product areas that cannot be objectively tested.
We take our combination of objective data-driven tests and expert subjective assessment to create fair and honest product reviews.
Our work is focused on 7 core product categories. We have chosen to focus on these product categories as they represent expensive and complex products that every modern home needs. Being able to understand how these products perform and compare can help our readers make more informed and better purchasing decisions.
Each product category we test has its own customized testing and scoring process (though there is some overlap between similar categories, IE. vacuums and robot vacuums). The links below will take you to the specific category testing and scoring pages for a more detailed explanation.
- Vacuums Cleaners (all types except cordless, wet dry, and robots)
- Cordless Vacuums
- Robot Vacuums
- Wet Dry Mops
- Air Purifiers
- Sofas
- Water Filters
In addition to our core product testing categories, we also have a generic score system for products that do not fall into the above categories. You can see that testing and scoring system here.
Scoring System Versions
Over the years we have improved and refined our testing and scoring systems. We are currently creating reviews using scoring system version 1.1.
Below you can see the specific versions of our current and retired systems.
Version 1.1 – July 2023 to Present – This is our current scoring system. It is built upon expanded objective testing, expanded objective data, and more exact and refined subjective assessment. Each of our 7 core testing categories has a specific and customized testing and scoring system. See the links above for a detailed explanation on each product category.
Version 1.0, August 2018 to July 2023 – During the first 2 weeks of August 2018, we made scoring changes to virtually every product on Modern Castle. We made these changes as part of our 1.0 scoring system roll out. This scoring system replaced our 0.9 legacy scoring system. This scoring system is designed to be more intuitive to understand and offer additional clarity on product performance differences.
Version 0.9, October 2017 to July 2018 – This was our legacy scoring system. It was based on a 100% scale, however, the scoring factors varied from product to product. As a result, we found it to be more complex to maintain and more confusing for users.
What scoring version do our reviews use?
Content published before July 23, 2023, will be scoring system version 1.0, unless otherwise noted. For the most popular products we will be updating those older reviews to scoring system version 1.1. Our new standard scoring box will always indicate the version of the scoring system.
Migrating Our Scores
Beginning in July 2023 we started the process of moving our reviews from scoring system 1.0 to 1.1. In order to make it easier to see the relative performance difference between products we re-scored all products. These updated scores will be present on the top level category pages, allowing readers to quickly see performance differences between products.
The aim of these updates was to find a quick way for our legacy scores to be similar to our 1.1 scoring system so that genuine comparison would be possible.
With time, we plan to re-test the most popular products with system 1.1.