Editorial Policy

How we research, test, correct, and update. Last updated: September 1, 2026

Labeling: three honesty tiers

Every claim on this site comes from one of three tiers, and we label which:

1. “Per manufacturer specs” — a number or feature the manufacturer publishes. We don’t present marketing figures as measured results.
2. Owner-consensus claims — patterns reported by many long-term owners (Reddit, forums, review aggregates). Always attributed, never presented as our own experience.
3. “Tested by VacBotGuide” — our own measurement, with method, surface type, and date stated. Until a test exists, we don’t write it. Our test bench is being built in 2026; until then, most reviews are tier 1–2, and we say so plainly at the top of each article.

How articles are produced

1. Research — specs, pricing history, and owner reports gathered into an internal source file with links.
2. Draft — written only from that source file; unverified statements are flagged or cut.
3. Fact-check — done by a separate pass (not the original drafter), checking every external claim against the source file.
4. Edit and QA — style edit, then human sign-off by the editor before publishing.

Updates and corrections

• Comparison tables carry an explicit “last updated” date and are re-checked at least quarterly, and before Black Friday/Cyber Monday.
• News posts (e.g., unreleased products) are living pages: we add verifiable facts as they appear and correct what proves wrong, with the change noted.
• Reader-reported errors are fixed within a week after verification (see Contact).

AI use

We use AI tools for research assistance, drafting, and copy editing. Every published article is fact-checked against sources and reviewed by a human editor; we’re responsible for everything that appears here.

Affiliate relationship

See the full Affiliate Disclosure. Short version: commissions never decide recommendations, we don’t sell placements, and disclosure accompanies every article.