What standards do you use to review products?

We assess every board on 24 consistent metrics, weighted by the board's category, and build each review's plain-language verdict on them.

We use 24 consistent metrics to assess every stand up paddle board, and each one counts for more or less depending on the board's category. On those metrics we build the parts of a review written for paddlers:

• Who is it for?
• First Impressions
• Features and benefits
• Similar products

Stability, For Example

Many things make a board stable: its thickness, rocker (the curve of the board from nose to tail), construction, rails, foil, deck, bottom, and nose and tail width. Width is the most predictable of them, and a wider board tends to come with the others that add stability, so we group stability by width:

Updated November 2026