A strong product has to work on an ordinary day and a difficult one. This page explains exactly how every Truly Preserved comparison is built — what we look at, what we deliberately don’t claim, and what the score at the top of each review actually means.
We don’t test products — and we say so
Truly Preserved is a research desk, not a test lab. We do not buy the products, run them in a kitchen, or put filters on a bench, and you will never see us claim otherwise. No “hands-on” language, no stock-photo “testing,” no scores borrowed from other review sites.
What we do instead is slower and, for buying decisions, often more useful: we read everything — manufacturer specifications, certification records, regulatory actions, and hundreds of reports from people who actually own the product — and we show our work.
What goes into every comparison
Published specifications. Capacity, dimensions, materials, warranty terms, and performance claims come from the manufacturer’s own documentation. Where a claim is the manufacturer’s alone, we label it that way.
Certification records. For water products especially, there is a bright line between “certified to NSF/ANSI standards by an accredited body” and “tested to NSF standards” in a maker’s own lab. We check which one a product actually has, name the certifier, and treat the difference as a scoring factor — not a footnote.
Aggregated owner feedback. We read owner reviews on retailer sites, owner forums, and long-term ownership reports, and we count themes, not stars. A complaint that shows up once is an anecdote; a complaint that shows up in fifty independent reports is a pattern. Reviews state the sample behind any feedback claim (for example, “across ~1,200 ratings”) so you can judge its weight yourself.
News and controversies. Recalls, stop-sale orders, lawsuits, reformulations, and ownership changes all affect whether a product deserves your money. We check for them on every comparison, report both sides of a dispute, and revisit published reviews when the facts change.
Cost-of-ownership math. Sticker prices lie. We compute the cost per serving, per gallon, or per batch, and what consumables — filters, elements, cartridges, oil — add over roughly three years of typical use. The cheapest product to buy is regularly the most expensive one to own, and the math section of each review shows which is which.
What the score means
Every product in a comparison carries our own score out of 10. It is an editorial judgment built from four weighted criteria:
- Evidence it works — 30%. Certifications, published test data, and the quality of the manufacturer’s own documentation.
- Cost of ownership — 25%. Price per unit of output plus consumables over time, not the sticker.
- Owner experience — 25%. Recurring praise and complaint themes, reliability patterns, and the company’s support reputation.
- Preparedness fit — 20%. Whether it works without power or water pressure where that matters, durability, shelf life, and storage footprint. For food, this is where calories per dollar, ingredient and allergen labeling, water and fuel demand, packaging, and taste worth rotating are weighed.
The bands:
- 9–10 — Category leader. The one we would point a family member to first.
- 8 — Strong. Buy with confidence when it matches your situation.
- 7 — Good at a job. A real pick for a specific use, with tradeoffs you should know first.
- 5–6 — Narrow or flawed. A stopgap, a specialist tool, or a product whose costs and limits outweigh its strengths for most buyers.
- Under 5 — We don’t recommend it. If we cover it at all, the review explains why.
Scores are never for sale, never negotiated with brands, and never copied from retailer averages. Retailer star ratings appear in our reviews only as labeled, dated context in the text — never as our score.
Prices, freshness, and corrections
Prices are checked against manufacturer and retailer listings when a review is written, and each review carries a “last updated” line. Prices move; the date tells you how much to trust the number. When a product changes materially — a recall, a certification gained or lost, a reformulation, a major price shift — we update the review rather than leaving stale advice standing. If you spot an error, tell us through the contact page and we will check it and correct the record.
How we make money
Truly Preserved is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, we may earn a commission from the retailer or the brand’s affiliate program at no extra cost to you. That is the whole business model: no paid placements, no sponsored rankings, no brand gets to see a review before you do. The full details are on our affiliate disclosure page.