How Climberoo researches a product

Figures come from the maker

Ages, weight limits, the number of children, assembled size, the play area the maker recommends, platform and deck heights, materials, assembly time and warranty are taken only from the maker's own website or manual. Each row in a specification table links to the source it came from, and the note under the table gives the date we read it. Where a maker publishes its manual through its own online store's file service, we cite it there.

Retailer listings are not used as sources. Retailers often copy, round or mix up figures between models and retailer-only variants, so a figure found only on a retailer page is left out.

We print a maker's figure in the maker's own units and wording. When two pages on a maker's site disagree, we keep the specification table's figure, and when we cannot find a figure again on the maker's own page, we leave it out.

Recall status

Every product page shows a dated check of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall database. A product named in a recall notice keeps its page, links to the notice, and links to no seller. A check that finds nothing is a dated search result, and a check we could not complete says so; neither is shown as a clean bill.

Comparisons use the same figures

Comparison pages set two products side by side using exactly the figures on their product pages. We pair products that the makers' own figures put in the same class, such as swing sets rated for a similar number of children or wagons with a similar rated load. A dash in a cell means the figure is not on the maker pages we cite.

Calculators

The yard fit checker, the surfacing and sand calculators, the assembly time table and the age and weight finder do arithmetic on the makers' published figures and on reference figures published by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, each cited on the page. They are planning aids for informational purposes only, not safety advice.

What we never publish

• Any claim that we have put a product through trials of our own, and any score or ranking of our own.
• Any judgement of our own about how a product performs for a child, or a ranking of products on it.
• Claims about what a product does for a child's body or growth.
• Estimated or typical figures in place of a maker's published one.
• A retailer's price. The only price we show is the price the maker's own site showed in US dollars, with the maker's domain and the date we read it. Prices change; the seller's page is the one to trust at checkout.

Corrections

If a figure is wrong, or a maker has changed a model, write to us from the contact page. We check the maker's current page and correct the entry.