Glossary
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Capacity
Capacity is the stated load size of a machine, whether that is a wash drum, a fridge or a freezer.
Capacity in liters
Capacity in liters is the usable space inside the product, as the brand's own site states it.
Cartridge price
The one-off cost of a replacement filter, and the figure that decides what a purifier or water filter costs to keep running.
Certification scope
What a certificate actually tests, whether that is the filter material, the whole machine, or a single named substance.
Clean air delivery rate (CADR)
The volume of clean air a purifier delivers each hour, in cubic metres per hour, matched against the size of your room.
Cloud plan
A cloud plan is the monthly subscription some camera brands charge for storing recordings and clips away from the device itself.
Contract length in months
The contract length is the shortest time you must keep a camera or security plan, and no contract means you can leave at any …
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Filter change interval
How often the filter should be swapped, in months, and what that interval does to the cost of running a machine.
Filter cost year
Filter cost year is what a brand charges for replacement filters over a year on its own shop page.
Filter system
A filter system is the technology a water filter uses to clean your water, and the type decides what it can hold back.
Filter types
Filter types tell you which stages a purifier uses, and brands list their own sets of them.
Founded
The founded year is when the company behind a brand was set up, a rough signal for how long support and spare parts may …
Free features
Free features are the parts that work with no subscription attached, and they decide how far you get before paying.
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Headquarters
The headquarters country is the registered base a brand runs from, and it hints at which laws and support hours apply to you.
Height
Height matters most for robot vacuums, because the model has to fit under your furniture to reach the floor.
Hub required
A hub required flag tells you whether a brand's devices need a separate hub to work or run straight on your own network.
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Legal entity
The legal entity is the registered company name behind a brand, and it is the name you quote when making a claim.
Lidar
The distance sensing that maps a room, which turns a robot vacuum's path into a planned route rather than a random one.
Local storage
Local storage means a camera saves video on a device inside your home instead of sending every clip to the cloud.
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Machine types
Machine types show which coffee machine formats a brand sells, from espresso machines to grinders.
Markets
Markets are the countries a brand sells or ships to, and coverage decides whether you can order and which warranty terms you get.
Maximum suction
The strongest pull a vacuum claims in pascals, and the trade-off it makes against noise and power draw.
Milk
The milk system is how a machine heats and textures milk, and it decides how much work each cappuccino takes.
Mobile app
Mobile app records whether a brand's own site lists a phone app for controlling or checking the product.
Money-back period
The money-back period is how long you have to return hardware and get your money back.
Monthly monitoring cost
Monthly monitoring is the fee a professional response team charges to watch your alarm or camera for you.
Mop
The mop is the wet-cleaning part of a robot vacuum, and the type decides how it treats hard floors.
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PFAS and lead reduction
Whether a brand states that its filter reduces PFAS and lead, recorded as a yes or no claim rather than a measured result.
Pod system
The capsule format a machine accepts, or none at all when it takes beans or ground coffee.
Power
Power lists how a camera draws its electricity, as the brand's own site describes it.
Power draw in watts
How much electricity an appliance pulls while it runs, and why you read that figure next to the room it has to serve.
Price
Price is the one-off cost of an entry kit or device, before any subscription is added.
Price entry
Price entry is the lowest price a brand shows on its own shop or pricing page, in that site's currency.
Price flagship
Price flagship is the highest price a brand shows on its own page and answers what the top of the range costs.
Price from
Price from is the lowest price on a brand's own shop page, and it is an entry price for one product rather than a …
Pricing model
Pricing model shows whether a brand sells kit you fit yourself, a monitored service, or both.
Product types
Product types are the categories a brand actually sells, and a wider spread usually means one account and one support team for the whole …
Professional monitoring
Professional monitoring shows whether a monitoring centre watches alerts on your behalf.
Protocols
Protocols are the wireless standards a smart home device speaks, and they decide what it can talk to.
Pump pressure in bar
The pressure a machine applies to ground coffee, and the figure that separates a machine that copes with tight pucks from one that stalls.
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Recording retention
How long a camera keeps footage in cloud storage before deleting it, and how far back you can go after an incident.
Reference models
Reference models are current products named on a brand's own pages, used as a sample of the range rather than a verdict.
Resolution max
Resolution max is the highest video resolution a brand states for its cameras.
Room size in square metres
Room coverage is the floor area a purifier is rated to handle, and the bigger the figure, the larger the space it can clean.
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Self-empty dock
A self-empty dock is a base station that empties the robot's bin for you, so you clear the dust far less often.
Shortest runtime
The shortest runtime is how long a vacuum keeps going on one charge, measured at its lowest setting.
Spare parts shop
A spare parts shop means the brand sells its own replacements, which decides how easy a long-lived product is to keep running.
Support channels
Support channels are the routes a brand gives you to reach help, and the mix of routes shapes how fast a fault gets sorted.