Auto and Garage
A Jack Lifts a Car. It Does Not Hold One Up.
A hydraulic seal is a consumable and a jack on a sloping floor is a lever. Neither is a reason for alarm — they are reasons that jack stands exist and are not optional.
Risk Report
What goes wrong in a category, and how often.
66 articles
Baby and Kids
A Crib Mattress Should Feel Too Firm. That Is the Specification.
Everything about choosing a baby mattress runs against adult instinct. Firm feels unkind and is the safety requirement, and a mattress that fits loosely is a hazard regardless of how good it is.
Baby and Kids
Volume-Limited Headphones Often Are Not, and the Limit Is the Wrong Number Anyway
The 85 dB limit is quoted as if it were a safety guarantee. It is a workplace exposure figure that assumes a time limit — and independent testing keeps finding headphones that exceed their own claim.
Baby and Kids
Car Seats Expire, and It Is Not a Trick to Sell You Another One
Expiry dates on car seats look like a way to sell more car seats. There are three genuine reasons behind them, and the second-hand market compounds all of them.
Baby and Kids
A Wi-Fi Baby Monitor Is a Camera on the Internet in Your Child’s Room
Every Wi-Fi baby monitor depends on a vendor’s security, an account password and a firmware pipeline that will eventually stop. A closed-circuit monitor depends on none of those.
Tools and DIY
A Torque Wrench Left on Setting Goes Out of Calibration in a Drawer
A click torque wrench is a calibrated spring. Leave it wound to 60 Nm in a drawer for a year and it is no longer a 60 Nm wrench, and nothing about it will tell you.
Tools and DIY
The Ladder Rating Includes You, Your Tools and What You Are Carrying
Duty rating is the total load a ladder is designed for, not your body weight. Add boots, a tool belt and a bucket of tiles and a comfortable margin disappears.
Tools and DIY
The Safety Rating on a Multimeter Matters More Than Its Accuracy
Cheap meters quote resolution and accuracy. The specification that decides whether one fails safely on a household-circuit fault is the CAT rating, and it is frequently absent or unverified.
Pets
Indestructible Is a Marketing Word. Ask What Happens When It Fails.
Every chew toy eventually fails. The question that decides whether that is a nuisance or a vet bill is what shape the pieces are when it does.
Beauty and Personal Care
LED Face Masks: What Is Demonstrated, and What Is Just Sold
The underlying science is real and the consumer devices are frequently far weaker than anything tested. The gap between the study and the mask is where the money goes.
Outdoors and Fitness
The Temperature on a Sleeping Bag Is Not the Temperature You Sleep In
The number on the bag is usually the limit rating — just warm enough curled up, not comfortable — and it assumes an insulated pad you may not have bought. Both mistakes are made on the same purchase.
Outdoors and Fitness
A Water Filter Does Not Remove Viruses. A Purifier Does.
The words are used interchangeably in shops and they mean different things. A filter stops bacteria and protozoa; viruses go through it. Where that matters depends on geography.