About Honest Picks
Hi, I'm Rainy. I'm a heavy AI user who builds small tools for fun and for work — downloaders, a TV streaming app, little automations that run my servers and my mornings. I spend all day at a desk with AI agents working alongside me, and I buy a lot of small gadgets trying to make that easier.
Most of them disappoint. The spec sheet was fine; the third month was not.
Why this site exists
Honest Picks is where I write down what I learn before buying small desk, home and kitchen tools: which complaints in the reviews actually matter, which features are decoration, and which products to skip entirely. I would rather publish one careful comparison a week than ten rewrites of a product page.
How I work
- Real use first. If I have used something, I write from that use and say so.
- Labelled research. If I have not used a product, the article says it is a spec-and-review comparison and shows its sources. I never dress research up as a hands-on test.
- Complaints over stars. A 4.6-star average hides the one flaw that will make you return it. I read the 1–3 star reviews and return reasons first.
- No pay-to-rank. Commission rates differ by category; they are compared for business reasons, but a higher commission never moves a worse product up the page.
The money part, plainly
Once enrolled in the Amazon Associates Program, this site will earn affiliate commission when readers buy through its links (it earns none today) — see the full disclosure. That income is why the site can stay free, and it is also exactly why the rules above exist.
You can also find me on X as @rainyxiejiaze, where I post short notes from the same testing.