Experts at CHOICE push beyond limits in assessing items prioritizing consumer satisfaction
CHOICE: The Innovative Product Testing Powerhouse
In the world of consumer advocacy, CHOICE stands out as a pioneer in product testing. Based in Marrickville, Sydney, CHOICE performs a wide array of tests on various products to aid consumer purchasing decisions.
Real-life Replication
CHOICE's testing methods are designed to mimic real-life use cases, employing creative and specific techniques. For instance, when testing high chairs, they smear baby food, Weetbix, spaghetti, and tomato sauce, and let it dry to assess how easy they are to clean. Similarly, when testing air fryers, they use approximately 10kg of frozen chips, 10kg of chicken nuggets, 15kg of pork belly, and 15kg of chicken wings.
Specialized Materials and Contaminants
To ensure the tests are as realistic as possible, CHOICE uses unusual but realistic materials. For vacuum testing, they import artificial household dust from Germany. When testing washing machines, they use swatches embedded with "Aussie dirt" from the Netherlands. In addition, they use synthetic substances like NASA-developed "synthetic space poo" to test toilet cleaners and specialized testing equipment such as a condom inflating machine to assess strength.
Creative Test Equipment
CHOICE's innovative approach extends to their test equipment. For example, they listen to the same music tracks over and over again to test soundbars and speakers. When testing dishwashers, they use plates and cutlery dirty with oats, egg yolk, spinach, baby cereal, margarine, tomato juice, and tea. To test rangehoods, they spend dozens of hours watching water boil.
Expert Analysis
The hands-on, realistic use ensures products are tested in conditions closely mirroring everyday use. CHOICE's kitchen expert has baked over 8,000 scones to test appliances. When testing ovens, they cook more than 300 scones, 20 pizzas, 10 chickens, 60 meringues, and 10 loaves of bread.
Commitment to Standards
Several of CHOICE's testers sit on committees for Australian and international standards and help to write safety requirements. Their labs are accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) and are audited every 18 months. CHOICE's labs are also dedicated to testing lab equipment, with calibration experts testing and calibrating more than 1000 items each year.
Diverse Testing
CHOICE tests a variety of products, including clothes dryers, coffee machines, and robot vacuums. Tests range from common appliances like fridges, washing machines, and dishwashers, to unexpected items such as lawn mowers, nappies, electric bikes, trampolines, chocolate, and toilet paper. They even have a stash of cat hair that they use to test how well vacuums remove fur from carpet.
Trustworthy Evaluations
Approximately 70% of tests are conducted in accredited labs, with the remaining 30% outsourced to external labs. CHOICE's methodical yet inventive approach helps them give consumers highly relevant, trustworthy product evaluations. They test products thoroughly, using specialized artificial materials and contaminants, creative, sometimes unusual test equipment, and extensive real-life replication through repeated use by experts to analyze product performance under typical user conditions.
- CHOICE's Privacy Policy ensures that the data collected during data-and-cloud-computing operations, such as test results and consumer feedback, are managed responsibly and in accordance with the highest industry standards, maintaining user privacy and data security.
- When evaluating technology products, CHOICE employs a diverse range of testing methods, from real-life replication and creative test equipment to the use of specialized materials and contaminants, reflecting the organization's commitment to delivering reliable, realistic, and unbiased product evaluations.
