Independent measurement desk · consumer health tech
We buy the thing, measure it against a reference, and publish the difference.
A plate goes on a balance that reads to a hundredth of a gram. The same meal is logged in every app on the bench. We publish the difference. Sleep trackers get compared to a polysomnograph, step counters to a hand tally, scales to certified masses, heart-rate sensors to an ECG harness. Same treatment, same arithmetic, same disclosure.
01
Buy it
At retail, with our own money. No review units, no press accounts, no affiliate links, no early access in exchange for anything.
02
Measure it
Against a reference we can name and you could buy: a 0.01 g balance, a polysomnograph, an ECG harness, a hand tally on a fixed course.
03
Publish the delta
The gap between what the product said and what the reference said, with the sample size, the date, the instrument and a run id attached to it.
On the bench
Counts, not adjectives
| Runs published | Samples measured | Products written up | Reports | Log entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 54 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
| Counted from what is actually on this site as of the last build. The desk publishes when a run finishes, which means it publishes in bursts and then goes quiet. That is the shape of the work, not neglect. | ||||
Latest runs
| Run | Tested | n | What was measured | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RP-RUN-2026-02 | 54 | Step counts from nine wear positions, worn simultaneously, against a mechanical hand tally | The observer's tally. 61,412 footfalls counted by hand across the 54 walking sessions |
What we measure, and against what
Procedures on methods
| Quantity | Reference we measure against |
|---|---|
| Food energy from photographs | weighed plate, 0.01 g balance |
| Sleep staging and sleep duration | Type II ambulatory polysomnography |
| Step counting | hand tally over a fixed treadmill course |
| Body-mass and body-composition scales | certified calibration masses |
| Heart rate, resting and interval | 3-lead ECG harness |
| Subscription prices | the price the app actually charges, dated |
Recently published
Reports and product write-ups
Reports · index
- What has actually been measured about calorie-app accuracy, and by whom?
- How accurate is wrist heart rate compared with an ECG chest strap?
- How accurate is the body fat percentage on a smart scale?
- How accurate are step counters? Phone, watch and pedometer against a hand tally
- What are the best calorie counting apps of 2026, and which one is most accurate?
How to read anything on this site
Four rules we hold ourselves to
- Every figure carries a run id, a sample size and a date. A number without those three is not a measurement, and if you find one here it is a mistake — tell us.
- A figure we did not measure is labelled with whoever did. We do not launder other people's results into ours, and we do not present a vendor's own number as independent.
- Prices are read at the point of purchase and dated. Where a company's marketing page disagrees with what it charges, we publish what it charges and log the discrepancy.
- We publish what our own work cannot support, and we do it in the corrections log rather than in a footnote nobody reads.