The Snazzy Scale

Snazzy Labs has been bringing the most honest tech reviews to the Net since 2008, and it has always been something that I have triumphed upon—I feel like it's the one true thing I do better than most other reviewers—convey an unbiased and completely unequivocal truth.  This is not as easy as it seems, however.

Up until now, I have loosely followed a 1-10 grading scale; however, a scale like this is fundamentally flawed.  A 1-10 scale, I feel, is misused by many publications.  With a range of ten numbers, the median should be five.  5 should be the average score.  But it's not.  Most publications make average in the ballpark of 7-8 handing out tons of what should be perfect 10s to products that are far from perfect.  Additionally, you have a completely unweighted and non-linear lower end.  

Not only is a scale like this often misinterpreted, but it's too subjective and inconsistent.  With so many options, numbers begin to duel against each other, and ratings are oftentimes based from prior scores that may have been issued uninformatively.  Obviously, grading is subjective; however, with so much hubabub concerning prior reviews, issues arise—things simply don't scale well.

The New Scale:

In order to maintain fluidity across the board when it comes to ratings and comparing products side-by-side, we're moving to a much simpler, much more graduated and consistent grading scale.  We call it The Snazzy Scale.

 Not Snazzy:

 This product has a flurry of issues and problems making it hard for us to recommend it to anyone.  It might be a good idea in concept, but the product was not tested well and is fatally flawed.  You should stay away. 

 Somewhat Snazzy:

This product isn't all right, but it isn't all wrong either.  Sure it has it's flaws and tradeoffs, but it's a decent product all-in-all.  Still, we'd recommend trying before buying—this isn't for everyone.

 Snazzy Labs Approved:

The highest honor.  We're hard-pressed to find many things wrong with this product: it's innovative, unique, well-made, and well priced.  We recommend this to anyone and have a hard time believing someone would be truly disappointed by a product like this. 

So that's our new scale.  Is it perfect?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  One thing is for certain though.  It is going to be a lot easier for us to give products a definitive grade and maintain consistency from product to product.  Snazzy Labs's top priority is to bring honest and unbiased reviews to the Net.  To mess that up on our own accord simply because of a poor grading scale would be devastating—so we finally decided to do something about it.

Welcome The Snazzy Scale.  It's here to say.