Which? Best Buy

Products that earn a Which? Best Buy come highly recommended by our experts. Whether you're searching for a powerful laptop, comfy mattress or long-lasting electric car, you can purchase with confidence.

On this page, we explain how our rigorous lab tests identify the best products for your budget. We've also included links to our latest high-scoring products and reveal how much you should expect to spend on a Best Buy.*

Which? member benefits – from personalised expert advice to Great Value and eco-friendly recommendations, we've got you covered

What is a Which? Best Buy?

Which? Best Buys have all satisfied or exceeded our expert criteria, based on the results of rigorous comparative testing and analysis carried out by Which?.

You can be confident that you're spending money on a genuinely impressive product.

• Our Best Buy recommendations are 100% independent – no company can nominate its own products for the award. The only thing influencing our recommendations is our meticulous research.
• They perform brilliantly under strict, lab-controlled conditions – we use advanced machines to put products through their paces, from a child car seat crash rig to an enormous wooden barrel used to test mattresses.
• They're a breeze to use – we can prove it with our unique ease-of-use tests. For example, we test in our lab how difficult vacuums are to push and pull, and how much effort it takes to load and unload a washing machine. Accessibility is also assessed before awarding a Best Buy.
• Best Buys are reliable – products that we know to have poor reliability, based on our owner surveys, are not awarded a Best Buy – even if they score well in our tests.
• They don't have to cost a fortune – our tests highlight affordable, high-scoring products to suit a range of budgets. For many categories, we also calculate annual running costs so you can see, at a glance, how much you'll save in the long run.
• We test thousands of products a year – only exceptional ones are worthy of the Which? Best Buy endorsement.

Which? members can instantly access all our Best Buy recommendations.

Our latest product recommendations

Which? Best Buy TVs

How much does a Best Buy TV cost? Typical spend is around £1,500, but we've found cheaper models closer to £700.

A Best Buy TV will look and sound superb while remaining simple to use. These models score 71% or more, while alternatives that score 45% or less are considered a Which? Don't Buy – many are ruined by poor picture quality and confusing menus.

For every TV we test, we calculate an overall score based on picture and sound quality, ease of use, smart features, connections and tuners, and running costs.

Our in-depth TV reviews are also backed by our owners' survey, which uncovers the brands that last longest and those that people would buy again.

Discover the best TVs or start building your shortlist with our TV reviews.

Which? Best Buy mattresses

How much does a Best Buy mattress cost? Typical spend is around £580, but we've found cheaper mattresses for under £300.

When deciding which mattresses are deserving of a Best Buy title, we check to see if they provide long-lasting support for your spine in most, if not all, sleeping positions. High scorers are also likely to be breathable and good at preventing the transfer of movement from one side of the bed to the other.

To become a Best Buy, a mattress needs to score 73% or higher in our expert tests. Don't Buy mattresses score 45% or less – usually, they're either unsupportive or struggle to stand the test of time.

When calculating an overall score, our experts consider performance, durability and ease of use. As part of our mattress testing, we measure the shape of the spine at 36 different points when standing up and then again when lying down.

See which models offer plenty of support with our guide to the best mattresses, or see all our mattress reviews.

Which? Best Buy cars

How much does a Best Buy car cost? Typical spend is around £22,000, but we've found a host of models that are far cheaper – city cars, SUVs, estate models and MPVs at £5,000 and below.

We've been independently testing cars for years, rounding up top-scorers by class so you can invest in a vehicle that lasts.

On a mission to uncover Best Buy new and used cars, we run extensive tests linked to safety, reliability, comfort and more. Crucially, we assess how well passengers and pedestrians are protected in a crash by studying a car's active safety systems.

Which? car reviews are also backed by our annual reliability survey, which allows us to incorporate feedback from tens of thousands of car owners. Simply put, we can tell you what a car's like to live with and whether it's reliable or not.

From the latest electric vehicles to high-scoring family cars, see our round-up of the best cars. Alternatively, browse all our new and used car reviews.

Which? Best Buy washing machines

How much does a Best Buy washing machine cost? Typical spend is around £660, but you don't have to spend that much. We've also spotted Best Buys (and Eco Buys) under £400.

Best Buy washing machines are outstanding at banishing stains, plus they're easy to use. These models score 77% or more, while dreaded Don't Buys (often plagued by poor stain removal) score less than 45%.

For every washing machine, we calculate an overall score by studying cleaning effectiveness, rinsing, ease of use and more. Each machine is made to clean a range of stains, including tough-to-shift blood and grease.

To help you lower your bills, we also record how much energy each machine uses on both of the wash programs we test. We then generate a score for energy, based on the amount of laundry washed.

See our collection of the best washing machines or try our product filters on our washing machine reviews page.

Which? Best Buy air fryers

How much does a Best Buy air fryer cost? Typical spend is around £150, but our tests can help you pick out more affordable Great Value options.

The best air fryers we've tested cook great chips, are easy to use and don't use too much energy.

To earn a Best Buy title, an air fryer needs to score 75% or more. Without consulting our reviews, you run the risk of picking up a Don't Buy that makes soggy or burnt chips.

When putting air fryers through their paces in our lab, we measure the quality of cooking (chips and chicken), machine performance (cooking time and energy efficiency) and ease of use. Our experts note how well the built-in controls function, plus how much of a pain it is to clean the appliance.

Add a high-scoring air fryer to your kitchen counter with our guide to the best air fyers, or explore all our air fryer reviews.

Great Value products

Our Great Value recommendations will help you buy a trustworthy product or service without spending more than you need to.

Which? Great Value picks (identified by our purple badge) don't always score as well as Best Buys or Which? Recommended Providers, but still come highly commended as a cheaper choice – they typically cost at least 20% less than the average price of all products or services featured in their category on Which.co.uk.

Why you can trust our product reviews

Our commitment to publishing unbiased reviews means we buy every product that we test – we don't sweet-talk brands into sending us free samples.

And since we've been reviewing products for over 60 years, you can trust that we know our stuff. Throughout that time, we've constantly refined our processes to stay on top of the latest industry developments, putting products through their paces in the lab based on how you'd use them in real life. No fancy new feature or promised increase in performance escapes scrutiny.

We use specialist equipment to find products worth your money and our labs are home to plenty of unusual (but brilliant) machines. For example, we use an advanced 'dust trolley' to measure vacuum cleaner performance and a whizzy robotic arm to track a smartphone's battery life.

In short, we make choosing a product much easier – we're 100% impartial and are proven test experts with decades of experience.

Spend wisely – join Which?

Our tests find you the best products to buy and show you the ones to avoid, so you don’t waste your money.

Choose from one of the following subscription packages:

• Digital (£79 a year / £8.99 a month) – All product reviews, the Which? app, Which? magazine digital edition, Ask Which? personalised buying advice
• Full Access (£99 a year / £5 for first month then £10.99 a month) – All product reviews, the Which? app, Which? magazine in print, delivered to you monthly, Which? magazine digital edition, Ask Which? personalised buying advice
• Which? Magazine (£79 a year / £8.99 a month) – Which? magazine in print, delivered to you monthly

You can subscribe to Which? today.

* Based on the average price of our published Best Buy models. Correct as of March 2024.