The Bob Vila team tests products all year long, from space heaters and dehumidifiers to chainsaws and garden hoses. In 2025, we got our hands on more than 800 products and field-tested them in real-life situations. We power-washed our driveways, sidewalks, and siding for days. We started hundreds of plants from seeds. We sawed through brush, limbs, and trees. We simulated power outages and timed how long backup generators could power our appliances.
BobVila.com’s Best of the Test 2025 Awards represent the best of what we’ve seen, tried out, and recommended over the last 12 months. Each product has been vetted and reviewed by the brand’s Product Reviews team, which is made up of writers, editors, and contributors who have both industry expertise and home improvement and garden knowledge. We use each score card to help us pick our Best Overalls in that product category as well as the standouts from the broader collections of tools and maintenance, lawn and garden, renovation and repair, home technology, and home essentials.
As 2025 comes to a close, we’re thrilled to share the highlights from months of hands-on testing: 70 products we’d buy again for our own homes and to-do lists. Click into any category below to see which gear stood out to us this year.
The Best Tools and Workshop Essentials We Tried in 2025
The 15 Best Outdoor Tools We Tested in 2025
The 2025 Must-Haves for Repairs and Renovations of Any Size
The Best (and Most Useful) Power and Tech Products We Tried in 2025
The Best Home Essentials of 2025, From Smart Humidifiers to Emergency Prep
