Frequently Asked Questions

What Lasts is a small technology company building tools to identify products that truly endure. We develop systems that gather warranty documents, manuals, reviews, data sheets, teardown sources, and brand history — then use AI-assisted extraction and a transparent scoring engine to turn that scattered evidence into fair, traceable evaluations of long-term durability.

Our work sits at the intersection of engineering, research, and consumer advocacy. Where most review sites focus on first impressions, we focus on year five, ten, or twenty: how products age, fail, get repaired, or survive real-world use. Our scoring model examines five core dimensions — Durability, Fixability, Warranty, Brand, and Function — and breaks them down into category-specific aspects, each scored against clear benchmarks.

But technology is only part of the story.

We’ve also built tools to help the Buy-It-For-Life community contribute trustworthy sources, flag issues, suggest products, and help keep rankings sharp. Real experience from real owners improves our evidence base and makes our scoring stronger.

The site earns income through retailer commissions on some links, but brands cannot pay for placement or influence our results. Everything is driven by documented sources, transparent methods, and a commitment to helping people buy fewer, better, longer-lasting things.

In short: What Lasts exists to cut through noise, decode the fine print, and surface the rare products that are truly built to endure.

Durable products are rare — and the stakes are high. Most modern products are optimized for the shelf photo and the unboxing moment, not for the fifth year of hard use. The result is predictable: frustration, repeat purchases, and mountains of waste. The average American throws away nearly 1,000 pounds of household goods every year.

By helping people choose what truly lasts, we’re trying to reduce waste, save money, and support a culture that values repair over replacement.

AI helps us extract structured evidence from manuals, warranties, data sheets, teardown reports, long-term reviews, and community submissions. It allows us to process far more information than a human team alone could review.

But AI does not make subjective decisions or “guess.” Every extracted fact must link to a real source, and our analysts review conflicts, reject low-quality claims, and apply confidence weighting.

What Lasts identifies promising candidates by combining:

• BIFL community suggestions
• Category research
• Brand stability and product lineage
• Evidence availability (products with no real evidence don’t qualify)
• Known failure rates
• The presence of repair paths and spare parts

Items aren’t chosen automatically. Every candidate must go through the same evidence and scoring process before appearing in rankings.

Each product group is built from multiple lines of evidence, including:

• Warranty and policy analysis
• Long-term owner reviews and failure reports
• Repair guides, teardown videos, and parts availability
• Materials and construction details
• Brand track record and design changes over time

We combine these into a structured scoring framework, rather than relying on marketing claims or short-term impressions. We use AI to extract and organize information, but every claim is traceable to a real source and nothing is invented or guessed. Human reviewers and the community oversee the process.

The What Lasts score is our way of turning messy, real-world durability signals into a single, traceable number. The score follows a transparent, published formula, where each claim rolls up into aspect scores, which combine into dimension scores, and finally a weighted final score. Lower confidence evidence automatically has less influence.

You can read more on our method page, where we “show our math.”

What Lasts is a small, research-driven technology LLC with no corporate backers. Brands cannot buy placement or favorable coverage, and affiliate commissions never influence our picks. Some links on the site are affiliate links, which may earn a small commission if you buy through them, but these never determine which products we recommend.

Our evidence base includes:

• Warranty documents
• User manuals and care guides
• Technical specs and engineering data sheets
• Repair guides and teardown videos
• Long-term owner reviews from credible platforms
• Industry standards and safety certifications
• Community-submitted documents
• Stable, reputable third-party review sites

Wherever possible, every claim is linked to its original source.

No. Our approach is different from lab testing. Instead of purchasing and briefly using a product, we analyze long-term performance signals that no short-term test can reveal: warranty outcomes, failure patterns, owner histories, known weak points, and repair data.

Because not every product has enough credible evidence. We only score items when:

• Sufficient documentation exists
• The product has real usage history
• The evidence is strong enough to create fair confidence weighting

Products with weak, missing, or inconsistent evidence are excluded until they can be scored transparently.

No — and this is an important distinction. Dimension weights and aspect definitions differ by category because what matters in a wallet is not what matters in a pressure cooker or a folding knife.

Scores are comparable within a category, but not across unrelated ones.

We encourage it.

Every product page includes tools to:

• Submit missing sources
• Flag incorrect extractions
• Suggest clarifications
• Share long-term experience

If the evidence supports a correction, the score will update because our rankings are “live.”

Each product group page is designed to be both skimmable and deep-dive friendly. You’ll typically find:

• A quick overview of how to think about longevity in that category
• Our top pick(s) and key alternatives
• Common failure modes and what to avoid
• Side-by-side comparisons with scoring details
• Links to key documents, manuals, and teardowns

Skim the highlights if you’re in a hurry, or dig into the sources if you like to see the evidence for yourself.

Yes. Products, materials, and warranty terms change. When new evidence appears, when a design quietly downgrades, or when a better long-term option emerges, we update our picks to reflect the current reality — not just the original launch quality.

Some retailer links on What Lasts are affiliate links. If you click one and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps keep the project sustainable.

Our recommendations, however, are driven by durability evidence, not commission rates. For details, see our disclosure.

Price isn’t the same as longevity. Some pricey products rely on branding and design rather than better materials or construction. We look for options that balance long-term reliability, repairability, and cost — even if that means a mid-priced workhorse beats a luxury label.

When possible, we include a “Best Value” or “Best under $X” pick: products that might not be perfect but still offer strong durability for the price. Our goal is to help you buy the most resilient thing you can reasonably afford — not to push you into overspending.

A warranty is often the most honest statement a company makes about how long they expect a product to last. Strong, clear warranties with real follow-through usually indicate confidence in long-term performance. Weak, narrow, or confusing warranties can be a red flag.

No product lasts forever, and real-world use is messy. What we can do is stack the odds in your favor by focusing on:

• Robust materials and construction
• Repairable designs with spare parts
• Companies that honor their warranties
• Products with strong long-term track records

Our aim is to help you choose things that reliably last longer than the average, not promise that nothing will ever fail.

Heavily used product groups are reviewed regularly, and we also update pages when we detect design changes, warranty revisions, or major new evidence.

Durability isn’t static, and neither is our scoring. Our rankings are “live.” When new evidence appears — warranty changes, new manuals, recalls, teardown findings, or community-submitted sources — products are automatically re-evaluated through our scoring engine.

Absolutely. The durability community is a huge part of what makes this work. Every product page includes tools for submitting sources or flagging issues, which helps strengthen the accuracy of our scores over time.

• Send us a note with your feedback or questions.
• Suggest a product or product group.
• Use the contribution tools on product pages to add sources or report issues.

Your lived experience helps make our rankings sharper, more transparent, and more aligned with real-world use.

To see how we score products in detail, visit our scoring method page. To explore the broader cultural movement around repair, stewardship, and intentional ownership, head over to the movement.