The method
- Define the problem the category solves. Not “weighted blankets” but “you cannot lie still”. The framing decides everything downstream.
- Gather the products currently on sale that address it. Real, currently-available models, established from research rather than recalled from memory.
- Compare the specifications that actually change the outcome. Not every spec - the three or four that decide whether the thing works for you. They are listed per category below.
- Shortlist. Usually three to five. A list of twelve is a way of avoiding a recommendation.
- State who each product is wrong for. Every pick on this site carries a “skip it if” line, and that line is the most useful thing on the page.
The specifications we compare, by category
Weighted blankets
- Total weight options against body weight (the ten percent starting point)
- Fill type - glass microbeads, plastic pellets, or no fill at all
- Shell and liner fabric, and therefore breathability
- Baffle construction: pocket size and whether seams are double-stitched
- Washability, and whether a removable cover is supported
- Available sizes, and whether they are sized to a person or a mattress
Sound machines, earplugs and sleep audio
- Whether the sound loops - and whether it is generated or played back
- Mechanical (a real fan) versus digital
- Available noise profiles: white, pink, brown
- Volume range and the granularity of the control
- Published noise-reduction rating (NRR or SNR) for anything worn in the ear
- Profile height, for anything worn against a pillow
- Rated battery life per charge, not the figure including the case
- Whether basic function requires an app, an account or a subscription
Sunrise alarm clocks
- Peak brightness - the spec that decides whether it wakes you at all
- Sunrise ramp duration, and whether it is adjustable
- Whether a matching sunset fade exists and is adjustable
- Number of display-dimming steps, and how dim the floor actually is
- Backup sound behavior - ramping volume versus an instant alarm
- Whether setup needs an app, and whether content needs a subscription
- Footprint
Sleep masks
- Profile height, and side-panel thickness specifically
- Flat, contoured or modular construction
- Whether anything contacts the eyelid
- Nose-bridge sealing, and whether it is adjustable
- Strap width and closure type, and where the closure sits on the head
- Material against the face, and whether it can be washed
What disqualifies a product
- It is not currently available. A roundup recommending a discontinued product is worse than no roundup, and availability checking is the highest-priority maintenance job on this site.
- There are no verifiable specifications. If a manufacturer will not publish what the thing is made of or rated at, it cannot be compared and it does not go on a list.
- There is a safety concern we can identify.
- A materially cheaper product does the same job. This one removes more products than the other three combined.
What we do not do - plainly
We do not run a laboratory. We have not measured these products with a spectrometer, a light meter, or a decibel meter, and we do not claim to have slept with every product on this site. Where a number appears here, it comes from the manufacturer’s published specification or from clearly-credited public reporting, and we say which. Sites that do run instrumented tests exist, and where their published measurements are relevant we credit them by name and link to them.
We also do not assign scores. There is no rating out of ten anywhere on this site, because a score we invented would give an unearned impression of measurement. Instead, the comparison tables carry a real published specification in the column where a score would normally sit.
And we do not show prices, because there is no live price feed on this site yet. Every buy button reads “Check price on Amazon”. When the price layer is connected, prices will appear with the date they were checked next to them.
How often pages are updated
What triggers a review, by content type:
- Hubs and roundups - quarterly, or immediately if a pick is discontinued or goes out of stock, a materially better product launches, or a safety issue emerges.
- Model reviews - quarterly, or immediately if the model is replaced by a successor or discontinued.
- Comparisons - twice yearly, or when either compared product changes materially.
- Problem guides - twice yearly, or when the recommended gear changes.
The visible last-updated date on each page changes only when the content actually changed. Bumping a date without editing anything is a manipulation signal and it is dishonest, so we do not do it.
How we make money, and the rule around it
Affiliate commission, disclosed on every commercial page and in full on the affiliate disclosure page. The rule is buyer-first: if the cheap option is genuinely sufficient, we say so, even when the expensive one pays more. Several pages on this site exist primarily to talk readers out of a purchase, which is the only real evidence anyone can offer for this claim.
How to tell us we are wrong
Email contact@heftandhush.com or use the contact form. If something here is factually wrong, we will correct it and note the correction at the foot of the page. That is the most useful message we receive and it gets dealt with first.