Editorial Policy

Our promise

PoolGearGuide exists to answer one question per page: what should you actually do or buy, given your pool? Everything in this policy serves that.

Sourcing standards

• Specifications come from manufacturer documentation, not from other blogs.
• Claims about law, safety, or health point to authoritative sources (CDC, CPSC, product labels) rather than being restated from memory.
• Owner-feedback conclusions come from patterns across many verified reports.
• If we can't verify something, the page says "not confirmed" or "check retailer" — we don't fill gaps with plausible-sounding numbers.

Honesty rules

• Research-based reviews are labeled as research-based, on the page, above the fold. See how we review.
• Cons are real cons. Every product page names who should not buy it.
• No fake urgency, no invented discounts, no countdown timers.

Independence

Affiliate relationships (disclosed here) never determine what we cover, what we score, or what we recommend. No manufacturer sees a review before publication. We don't accept payment for coverage or rankings.

Corrections

Products get discontinued, firmware changes behavior, and warranties change terms. When we learn a page is wrong, we fix it and update the "updated" date. Spot an error? Tell us — we'd genuinely rather know.

AI assistance

We use software tools, including AI, to help organize research and draft structure. Every published page follows the sourcing and honesty rules above, and a human is accountable for what ships. The same rules apply no matter what tools touched the draft: no invented facts, no fake testing claims.