When I review an item and need to describe the longevity I like to let people know the hours it has been used instead of how long I have had the product.

Having a rough idea of how long the motor lasts is more important to me than how long it has sat in a desk drawer. I have items I did not like that are over five years old. They look great and when I cleaned the toy boxes out this weekend, still worked perfectly. When I know I am going to review an item I will roughly keep track of how long it is used each time, I then add the usage up and use that as a guide for its longevity, or lack of. I feel this is a more accurate formula for weeding out the 'disposable' toys versus the better quality and longer lasting items.

What method do you use to determine the longevity of your items? less

I try to keep track, but I'm really horrible and if something uses batteries, I bounce the same pair of batteries around until it's dead rather than having a separate set for each item. I can usually get a decent feel for how long rechargeables are going to last based on how many times I can use them per charge, but again, I really suck at keeping track of how long something is running for. less