Product reviews & rankings

King-to-square ratio and weighted bases decide whether a chess set is pleasant to play on — everything else is decoration, including most of the price above $90.

Paid for itself in two haircuts and produced acceptable results from cut four onward — the first three were genuinely bad, and the back of your own head stays a problem.

Handled 400 screws, two wardrobes and 43 brackets without complaint, then took four minutes per hole in brick because it has no hammer function.

Ten-second nib swaps, a clip that never slips and flawless start-up over four months — but the triangular grip is non-negotiable and the F nib feathers on cheap office paper.

Four months of shaving cost $3.10 in blades against roughly $65 in cartridges — after a first fortnight that produced 11 nicks and a real learning curve.

A $15 watch that gained just over two minutes in six months and needs nothing from you — but the light is useless, the alarm is too quiet, and the strap is already cracking.

A real upgrade on the stickered original and still 13% slower in our own solve averages than a $10 magnetic speedcube — but it survives drops the speedcube doesn't.

The Vinylon F fabric shrugs off rain and looks new after five months of daily use, but the flat straps bite above 5 kg and the laptop sleeve has no padding at all.

The best cutting edge we've used under $20, attached to a wooden handle that swells shut if it gets wet and a design with no clip and no one-handed opening.

A 14-second fold into a block that stands up on its own is genuinely class-leading — but it weighs 12.6 kg, rides harsher than a $600 hybrid, and eats tyres at twice the rate.

Omnidirectional sensing and a genuinely good camera in a 248 g airframe — but expect 20 usable minutes per battery, not 34, and a real cost above $1,000.

Induction heating produces genuinely identical grains throughout the pot and keeps rice edible for 12 hours, but the cycle takes 50 minutes and the melody cannot be turned off.