How We Evaluate Products

The deal-breakers

Every listing is scored against the same fixed attributes, shown as pills on each product card. These are the questions that decide whether a product can outlive its manufacturer's interest in it:

• Local Control. Marked "Local Control" or "Cloud Only" on every listing.
• Open API. Marked "Open API" or "Closed API" on every listing.
• Cloud Dependency. One of: No Cloud Needed, Cloud Optional, Cloud Required.

A product that fails a deal-breaker isn't silently dropped — it's listed with the failure visible, so you can decide whether it matters for your setup.

Longevity signals

Beyond the deal-breakers, each listing weighs:

• Warranty terms — length, what it actually covers, and whether the maker honors it without a fight.
• Known failure modes — what breaks first on this product, sourced from long-term owner reports rather than launch reviews.
• Support track record — how long the manufacturer kept past products updated, and what happened to customers when a product line was discontinued.
• Repairability — replaceable batteries, published spare parts, firmware you can reflash, standard connectors.

Where the information comes from

Listings are researched from manufacturer documentation, warranty policies, long-term owner reports, and community knowledge — not hands-on lab testing of every unit. When a claim can't be verified, it's either qualified in the listing or left out. If you spot something wrong, corrections are taken seriously: see the about page.

Affiliate links don't move rankings

Some listings carry affiliate links and some don't. Whether a product has one has no effect on whether it's listed, how it's described, or which deal-breakers it's flagged with.