Intro: Any manufacturer can describe its own product favorably. What separates a real claim from marketing language is who's making the claim, and whether they have any incentive to shade it in the manufacturer's favor.

The Basic Problem with Self-Reported Data

A company testing its own product has an obvious, structural conflict of interest - not necessarily dishonesty, but a real incentive that shapes what gets tested, how, and what gets published.

What Independence Actually Provides

A lab with no financial stake in a product's success has no reason to shade results favorably. That's the entire value of third-party testing - not that it's more sophisticated, but that it's independent of the outcome.

What to Look For

Named labs, specific tests, and available documentation are checkable. General claims of being "tested" or "proven" without any of that specificity are not, and shouldn't be treated the same way.