I build websites.
And I play padel.
Who is behind it
I'm Ruud Caris and I have been building websites since 2008. Androidworld, for example, the biggest Android site in the Netherlands. Now Thuisbatterijgids and Nozie. And I make the podcast Iets met Tech.
When I am not working on those, I am on the padel court.
And that is where it starts. A new racket catches my eye. Specs, a review, another review. Buy it or not? Sometimes I do. I play it for a few weeks. And quite often I sell it again.
The searching was the same hassle every time. Specs on one site, reviews on another, prices on ten more. Every brand with its own words for the same thing.
So I built padell.io. Specs from the brands, independent reviews and the price in your country. In one place.
Ruud CarisBuilds platforms, plays padel
More from me: LinkedIn · Androidworld · Thuisbatterijgids · Nozie · podcast Iets met Tech
From brand site to your screen, every night
- 01Brand sites
Specs come from the brands themselves: weight, balance, shape, core, face. 9,003 spec values so far, each with the page it came from.
- 02Checked, not guessed
A value only goes live when it appears on the source page. Missing is shown as missing, never filled in with a likely number.
- 03Independent reviews
4 review sites are read for their verdict. I summarise in my own words and link to the full review.
- 04Prices every night
32 shops are checked every night. 254,172 price points so far. The longer a racket is followed, the better you can tell a real deal from a normal price.
Four things I never do
No brand or shop can pay for a higher score or a better place.
If a brand does not publish it, the page says "not published". Better an empty box than a guess.
Customer ratings on shop sites are not independent. I only use reviewers who publish their own verdict.
For every brand the page says where the specs come from. Every review links to the full article.
Shops may pay a small commission. You pay the same price.
When you click through to a shop and buy something, padell.io may earn a commission of a few percent. The price for you does not change.
That commission never touches the score, the order of a list or which rackets I recommend. The score is worked out before it is known which shops pay. Rackets without any shop link are scored the same way.