As one can appreciate reading The Bench research and the The Bench themselves, an enormous amount of time goes into each review. Thus choosing equipment worthy of the investment isn't easy. Some of the factors that go into the selection process are:

• Is there a review sponsor?
• Is the equipment supplier one of HB's "premiere sponsors"?
• Is there sufficient public interest (realized or expected)?
• What about the proposed review is different than existing HB articles?
• Are their formal reviews available elsewhere (even if less detailed)?
• How much consumer information is available? (a proposal with dozens of consumer reviews doesn't benefit from more exposure)
• Does the proposal meet the interests of the HB membership? (e.g., super-autos need not apply)
• Has a "guest reviewer" offered to help evaluate the proposed equipment? What are their qualifications / experience to lead such an effort?
• Does the reviewer have a personal interest in the review ("fun factor")?

Recently we introduced a new review format, the Second Look. These reviews follow the blog-style format of the research component of a Buyer's Guide, but don't culminate in a formal top-level article, so they demand less time for copyedit/layout/publication. The Olympia Maximatic - Second Look and Mypressi TWIST - Second Look are two examples of this new review format.