How we rate and rank products
This page exists so you can check our work. It describes the actual scoring, including the parts that cost us money.
The certification label is the important one
For anything carrying mains voltage, we label a product UL or ETL listed only when the manufacturer states a listing for the product itself. That is a narrower claim than it sounds, and the distinction is the single most useful thing this catalog publishes.
These phrases are all common, and none of them is a product listing:
- "Meets UL 458 standards"
- "UL-listed components"
- "UL-listed GFCI outlets"
- A certification claimed only in a marketplace listing title
Where only those exist, we mark the product as having no verified listing and say why. A Level 2 charger is a 240-volt appliance running unattended in an attached garage; the paperwork matters.
Editorial tiers
- Trusted — a brand with a real track record and real support. Badged.
- Solid — a legitimate product from a less-established name. Not badged, deliberately, so the badge keeps meaning something.
There is no third tier, because anything below solid does not get listed at all.
Top Picks are category-relative
Only the top two products within each category earn the badge. Being the best of six adapters and the best of forty chargers both qualify; being eighth of forty does not, however good the product. A badge that appears on most of a catalog communicates nothing.
Scoring weights hand-reviewed editorial tier most heavily, then safety certification, then sales rank where it exists, with price as a small tie-breaker only.
What we deliberately do not rank on
- Commission rate. It is not an input to any score on this site.
- Price alone. The Home Charger Finder says outright that the more expensive charger is often the cheaper total install, because load management can avoid a panel upgrade.
- Star ratings. Our product data source does not expose them, and inventing an aggregate rating would violate structured-data guidelines and mislead you.
Evidence levels for specifications
Separate from products, every Fathom specification carries one of three levels: confirmed (Ford stated it on the record), reported (a named outlet, not Ford), or unconfirmed (unknown, or circulating with no verifiable source). A claim only moves toward confirmed when a real source justifies it, and every change is dated.