Brandon Foster

Last December I walked through three neighborhoods after dark with a notepad and a thermos of cocoa, counting animated displays. Out of 47 front lawns I cataloged, 31 had at least one moving, glowing figure, and 9 of those were on the best outdoor animated Christmas displays for lawns list I had been building. The … Read more

After spending 90 days rotating through eight connected strength machines in our test garage, I can confidently tell you which smart home gyms earn their floor space and which are hype. Our team lifted, sweated, and cursed through more than 200 workouts to find the best smart home gym options for every type of buyer … Read more

I bought my first doorway pull-up bar on a whim from a big-box store, mounted it in 10 minutes, and dropped 3 inches into the door frame on my very first kipping pull-up. That bar lasted two weeks before I gave up on it. Since then, our team has tested dozens of home pull-up bars … Read more

I plugged in my first electric vehicle at home using the charger that came with the car, and I waited 14 hours for a full battery. That moment sent me down the rabbit hole of Level 2 chargers, and after three years and more than a dozen units tested across two EVs, I have learned … Read more

I have stood in front of more bedroom mirrors than I would like to admit, and I can tell you this: the wrong mirror ruins the room. Cheap glass gives you a fun-house reflection, a flimsy frame warps in six months, and a wobbly stand will have you nervous every time a cat walks by. … Read more

Spending my summers manually netting leaves out of my above-ground pool used to eat up at least 30 minutes every weekend. After our team tested 12 different surface skimmers over six weeks, the best robotic pool skimmers for above ground pools consistently proved their worth by clearing 70-80% of surface debris on their own. I … Read more

Finding the best guitar amplifiers for practice used to mean settling for thin, buzzy tones that fell apart the moment you turned them down. After spending three months running 12 amps through bedroom-level tests, late-night headphone runs, and even a couple of apartment jam sessions, I can tell you the gap between a great practice … Read more

After spending three months testing floor gaming chairs in our team’s game room setups, I can tell you that the right floor chair transforms casual console gaming sessions into something genuinely immersive. We’ve sat in 23 different models, gamed for hours on end, and narrowed our list down to the 10 best floor gaming chairs … Read more

When my daughter turned four, she suddenly refused to sleep in her bed. After three weeks of midnight negotiations, I gave up and built her a “nest” on the floor with every blanket and pillow in the house. The problem? Nothing was thick enough. Standard floor pillows collapsed under her 38-pound frame, leaving her tossing … Read more

When my sister came to visit last summer, I realized I had nowhere comfortable for her to sleep. My guest room was already serving as a home office, and my sofa was a permanent fixture I couldn’t move. That single weekend pushed me down a research rabbit hole, and I spent the next three months … Read more