The minimum before we score anything
Nothing is scored until it has been in daily use for at least one working week. A first impression is a first impression; wobble, sag, squeaks and controller quirks turn up on day four, not day one.
Everything is set up the way a reader would set it up: on the floor it came to, with the tools in the box, following the instructions supplied.
What we measure
Measurements are taken with ordinary tools — a tape, a spirit level, a kitchen scale, a phone-based sound meter held at one metre — and reported as approximations, because that is what they are.
- Stability: lateral deflection at the top of the desk at full standing height, with the load stated.
- Motor and mechanism noise: measured at 1 m, in a quiet room, and always reported alongside the room's baseline.
- Adjustment range: the actual travel, not the marketing range, with the seat or surface height measured from the floor.
- Assembly: elapsed time for one person, and every step that needed a second pair of hands.
- Load: what the manufacturer claims, and what we were willing to put on it.
What we do not claim
We do not run clinical trials. No review here can tell you whether a chair will fix your back, because that depends on your body, your history and your hours, none of which we know. Where a product makes a health claim, we describe the claim and say whether the manufacturer has published evidence for it.
We do not measure colour rendering, lux at the page, or frequency response with calibrated equipment. Lighting and audio reviews describe behaviour in use and quote the manufacturer's own figures as claims, clearly attributed.
Warranties and the long term
A warranty is part of the product. We read the terms, not the headline: which parts are covered, for how long, whether labour and shipping are included, and what voids it. A twelve-year warranty that excludes the gas lift, the casters and the foam is reported as what it is.
Where a product has been on sale long enough, we look at what fails: forum threads, spare-part availability, and whether the manufacturer still sells the part you will need.
Prices
Prices in reviews are the manufacturer's own list price at the time of writing, in the currency the manufacturer quotes, and they go out of date quickly. We name the configuration a price refers to, because desks and chairs are almost never sold at their headline number once you pick a top, an arm set or a fabric.
Mistakes
We get things wrong. When we do, the review is corrected and carries a visible note saying what changed. See our corrections policy for how to tell us.