Test Bench v1.0
How we test home gym equipment
Every score on this site comes from the method below. It is published in full, versioned, and dated so you can judge the work rather than take our word for it. If we change how we score, the version number changes and affected reviews get re-scored in public.
What we have and haven't tested
Most "best of" pages on the internet imply hands-on testing that never happened. We are not going to do that, so here is the plain position:
- Hands-on reviews are clearly labelled as such. They mean we bought the product at full retail price, assembled it, used it, measured it, and photographed it ourselves. We do not accept free samples in exchange for coverage.
- Research-based comparisons are also clearly labelled. These are built from manufacturer specifications, UK pricing we track ourselves, warranty terms, and systematic analysis of verified owner reviews. They are genuinely useful — but they are not the same thing as having used the product, and we will never dress them up as if they were.
Every review page states which of the two it is, at the top, before the recommendation.
What we score, and how it's weighted
Six criteria, weighted for how much they actually affect living with a piece of equipment in a normal UK home. Overall scores are the weighted average — never an unexplained editorial number.
| Criterion | Weight | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Build & stability | 25% | Frame flex under load, wobble at speed or at the top of a lift, fixings and welds, whether the thing still feels solid after a month of use. |
| Real-world footprint | 20% | Measured assembled and folded dimensions in cm, the true floor area needed to actually use it (not just to store it), and ceiling height where it matters. |
| Noise | 15% | Measured in dB at 1 m, idle and in use. For anything with a belt or moving weight we measure impact noise separately, because that — not motor hum — is what a downstairs neighbour hears. |
| Value at UK prices | 20% | Price against real UK retail, not RRP theatre. We track what things actually sell for and flag when an 'RRP £599, now £299' has never been £599. |
| Assembly & living with it | 10% | Time to build, quality of instructions, whether one person can manage it, how easy it is to move and store in a normal UK house. |
| Warranty & support | 10% | Length and terms of UK warranty, whether the seller is a UK entity you can actually reach, and parts availability. |
What the scores mean
A 7/10 here is a genuinely good product, not a polite failure. We use the full range, including the bottom of it.
| Score | Band | What we mean by it |
|---|---|---|
| 9.0 – 10 | Exceptional | We would spend our own money on it without hesitation. |
| 7.5 – 8.9 | Very good | A confident recommendation for most people in its price band. |
| 6.0 – 7.4 | Good, with caveats | Works well for a specific buyer; read the 'who it's not for'. |
| 4.0 – 5.9 | Compromised | Only worth it on a heavy discount or for a narrow use case. |
| Below 4.0 | Avoid | We would tell a friend not to buy this. |
How we measure noise
Noise is the single most common worry we see from UK buyers in flats and terraced houses, and it is also where manufacturer claims are least reliable. We have already found published figures that don't survive contact with a sound meter.
So we measure it the same way every time:
- Calibrated sound meter on a tripod at 1 metre from the unit, at 1 metre height.
- Ambient room noise recorded first and stated alongside the result.
- Idle/motor reading and in-use/impact reading given separately — they are very different numbers, and impact noise is what travels through a floor.
- For treadmills and walking pads: measured at a 4 km/h walking pace by an 80 kg user.
- Every figure is stated with the date and the conditions. No single "quiet!" adjective without a number behind it.
Prices
Every price on this site carries the date it was checked. We track UK prices weekly across the major retailers, which means we can tell you when a "sale" price is simply the normal price with a bigger number crossed out next to it. Those checks feed our UK Home Gym Price Index.
Money, and how it could bias us
We earn affiliate commission when readers buy through our links, and the commission rate varies between retailers. That is a real conflict of interest, so here is how we contain it:
- Scores are set before any affiliate link is added to a page.
- We link to the retailer with the best price and availability for the reader, not the best commission for us.
- We do not accept payment for a review, a score, or a place in a list.
- We do not accept free products in exchange for coverage.
- Where we recommend against buying something, that page still carries links — losing the commission is the point of being trustworthy.
Full detail on the affiliate disclosure page.
Why there are no author names on this site
Reviews here are published by the site as an organisation rather than under individual bylines. Plenty of sites invent a "fitness expert" persona with a stock headshot and some certifications nobody checks; we would rather show you the method than a face.
The trade-off is that you should hold this page to a high standard, because it is what you're trusting instead of a name. It is published by Digital Grove Ltd, a UK-registered company, and it is dated and versioned. If a score here doesn't match your experience of a product, that is worth telling us about.