Transparency
Research and ranking methodology
Our order of operations is identity, eligibility, evidence quality, then ranking. A high score never makes an unsuitable product eligible.
1. Product identity and recency
ACs use supplied canonical identities and retain only 2025/2026 models. Different years and meaningful model suffixes remain separate. Supplied publishable records enter the catalogue immediately; uncertain evidence receives review flags and can limit recommendation eligibility. An out-of-stock retailer does not discontinue the canonical product.
2. Eligibility before ranking
Each AC requirement page has mandatory rules for room fit, capacity, efficiency evidence and retailer availability. Missing a mandatory condition removes the product from that shortlist.
3. AC scoring · ac-score-v2
Overall Quality and Premium have zero price weight. Cooling is compared within AC type and capacity class; efficiency additionally uses model year when enough peers exist. Numeric metrics use P10/P90 normalization with a minimum of 15 valid peers before falling back to wider groups.
- cooling
- 24%
- efficiency
- 20%
- brand Ownership
- 14%
- build
- 12%
- warranty
- 10%
- comfort
- 8%
- air Quality Maintenance
- 6%
- smart
- 3%
- retailer Rating
- 3%
Unknown inputs remain missing. Scores shrink toward peer medians according to coverage, source reliability and conflicts. Less than 35% evidence coverage cannot drive winners. Overall confidence of 70 enables normal ranking, 80 enables badges and 85 enables featured picks.
Value combines quality (55%), peer price (25%), running energy (15%) and ownership (5%). Premium combines ownership (20%), build (20%), cooling (18%), comfort (15%), warranty (12%), efficiency (10%) and smart capability (5%). Premium eligibility requires its score and confidence thresholds; expense alone never qualifies a model.
Brand ownership is an editorial prior, not measured reliability. Only Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, O General and Daikin are S-tier. Retailer ratings are adjusted using each retailer's category mean and median review-count prior.
4. Refrigerator scoring · refrigerator-v1.0
The refrigerator catalogue keeps product validity, public visibility, buyability, ranking, featured placement and SEO indexing as separate states. Ranking compares household refrigerators within type, capacity band and freezer architecture. Overall balances cooling preservation, energy, storage, ownership and warranty evidence; value and budget scores require a current verified peer price.
An unresolved BEE conflict disables energy claims. An unresolved capacity conflict disables family-fit and storage claims. Identity, year or wrong-category conflicts prevent ranking and featured placement. Unknown availability can remain publicly visible but cannot become a featured pick.
5. Prices and savings
A numeric price is shown only while its retailer-level observation is usable. Amazon remains link-only without an approved price feed. Savings require the same model and retailer, credible previous and current observations, stock confidence, and a reasonable discount range. The retailer page is always the final source of price, delivery and availability.
6. Reviews, sources and corrections
“Researched” means specifications were checked against available manufacturer or retailer information. It does not mean hands-on testing. Editorial pages state their published and reviewed dates. Material corrections follow our corrections policy.
Commercial independence
Affiliate commission does not change eligibility, score, winner labels or editorial order. We do not sell ranking positions. Read the complete editorial policy.