How we rank scuba gear

1. 01

   We start from the spec sheet, not the press release

   Every product enters our database from its manufacturer documentation — pressure ratings, published service intervals, materials, sizing runs, battery specs. Marketing lumens and "dive-tested" badges get logged separately from the numbers we can verify.

2. 02

   We track price, not hype

   We record street prices over time so a "deal" has to beat real history, not an invented list price. When we say a computer is the value pick, the price record is the argument.

3. 03

   We aggregate tester and owner data

   Fit verdicts come from size-chart cross-referencing and documented return-reason patterns across many buyers; durability notes come from long-run owner reports and public failure threads (ScubaBoard and the big gear groups). One reviewer’s pool session is an anecdote; a pattern across hundreds is a finding.

4. 04

   We separate what we can prove from what we suspect

   If a claim rests on published data, we cite the kind of source. If it rests on aggregated sentiment, we say "owners consistently report." If sources disagree, the article shows the disagreement instead of laundering it into false confidence.

5. 05

   We rank for a real diver, in a real situation

   The same regulator can top a warm-water-travel board and miss a cold-water one. Rankings are always scoped — bay, budget band, use-case — because "best" without a context is how listicles lie.

6. 06

   We keep dealer-channel gear editorial

   Some excellent gear (enthusiast regs, tech BCDs, compressed-gas cylinders) does not resolve to a trustworthy online listing. We cover it editorially and decline to link a marketplace result that might not be the real thing. Better no link than a bad one.

The people applying this standard are on the desk, and the conduct rules are in our editorial standards.