Limitations of Aggregated Scores

A score can't capture everything

A single number is a useful shorthand, but it inevitably loses nuance. Two products with the same Critic Score of 82 might excel in completely different areas—one could have outstanding sound quality but mediocre battery life, while the other is the reverse.

This is why we also surface individual pros and cons from across reviews. The score tells you the overall picture; the details tell you whether a product is right for you.

Not all products get the same coverage

Popular products from well-known brands tend to get reviewed by many publications. A flagship phone might have 15+ professional reviews, giving its Critic Score a strong statistical foundation. A budget accessory from a smaller brand might have only 2 or 3.

Fewer reviews means more variance. A single outlier review has a much larger effect on the final score when there are only a handful of data points. We display the number of reviews per product so you can judge the confidence level yourself.

Score normalization is imperfect

Different publications use different scales—some rate out of 5, others out of 10, some use letter grades, and some don't assign a score at all. We normalize all of these to a 0–100 scale, but any conversion introduces some imprecision.

For example, is a 4/5 really the same as an 80/100? Maybe the reviewer considers 4/5 a strong recommendation, while 80/100 at another outlet is merely “good.” We do our best to calibrate, but perfect translation between scoring philosophies isn't possible.

When a review has no explicit score and we infer one from the text, there's an additional layer of interpretation involved. We're transparent about which scores are inferred versus directly converted.

Reviewer biases carry through

Aggregation reduces individual bias but doesn't eliminate it. If the professional review ecosystem as a whole tends to favor a certain brand or product style, that bias will be reflected in our scores too.

Similarly, reviewers tend to cluster in certain score ranges. Most professional reviews land between 60 and 90 on a 100-point scale, which compresses the meaningful differences between products. A 5-point gap in Critic Scores may represent a bigger real-world difference than it appears.

Timing matters

Reviews are written at a point in time, usually shortly after a product launches. Products can improve through firmware or software updates, or degrade as issues emerge over months of use. Our scores reflect the consensus at review time and may not capture how a product holds up long-term.

We also can't guarantee that every review is available the moment it's published. There may be a short delay between a review going live and it being reflected in our scores.

Scores don't replace personal research

We built Criticaster to make the research process faster and more reliable—not to replace it. A Critic Score is a great starting point for narrowing down your options, but the best purchase decision comes from understanding your own needs and reading the detailed analysis behind the numbers. That's why we always link to the original reviews.