How we test and choose
Plainly: we are a small UK site, not a laboratory. We do not have a soundproofed room or a robot arm dropping toys onto concrete. What we do have is a consistent, checkable process for deciding what goes on a page — and it is worth being honest about exactly what that process is, so you can judge the recommendations accordingly.
What every recommendation goes through
It has to be buyable in the UK, today
Every product in a roundup is checked against its live Amazon UK listing before it is published, and re-checked on a rolling basis afterwards. If a pick goes out of stock, gets delisted, or the listing quietly switches to a different model, it is replaced rather than left to rot. Roundups carry the date they were last checked.
We read the listing properly, not just the marketing
Age ratings, battery type and life, what is actually in the box, whether an app or subscription is required, and whether the app still supports current phones. A surprising number of coding toys depend on an app that has not been updated in years — that is the sort of thing that ruins a Christmas morning, and it is checked before a product goes in.
Specifications are taken from the manufacturer, prices from the retailer
Where we quote a figure — motor count, sensor type, print volume, suction in Pa, battery life in minutes — it comes from the manufacturer’s own documentation. Prices come from the live retail listing and move constantly, so treat any price on this site as indicative and check before buying.
Owner reviews are read at volume, and read sceptically
We read through recent verified-purchase reviews looking for repeated, specific complaints — the same part failing, the same app problem, the same missing piece. One angry review is noise. Forty people describing the same broken hinge is a finding, and it will be in the write-up.
Recommendations are ranked by fit, not by commission
Picks are ordered by who the product actually suits — age, budget, whether a parent wants a screen involved — not by what pays the most. Where the honest answer is “buy the cheaper one”, that is what the page says.
What we don’t do
- We do not claim to have long-term tested every product on this site. Where a product has been used hands-on, the page says so explicitly.
- We do not accept payment for a place in a roundup, or for a particular ranking.
- We do not keep dead links around to preserve a page’s word count. If a pick is gone, the pick goes.
How we make money
AIToys.co.uk is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme and other affiliate programmes. If you buy through a link on this site we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. That commission does not influence which products are chosen or how they are ranked — see our affiliate disclosure for the full detail.
Who writes this
Editor, AIToys.co.uk
Alan Fox
Alan Fox is the editor of AIToys.co.uk. He selects and tests the AI toys, coding robots, STEM kits and smart-home gadgets covered on the site, and is responsible for every buying recommendation published here. Picks are checked against live UK retail listings before publication and re-checked on a rolling basis.
Found something wrong?
Prices move, stock disappears and manufacturers change specifications without saying so. If something on this site is out of date or plainly incorrect, please tell us and it will be corrected.