Reviewed models
Every model we reviewed
Each card opens the full review: the score on our five criteria, the specifications and current prices.
Method
How we score
Five criteria, the same on every product review, so a score means the same thing from one page to the next.
The five criteria
Playing performance, build quality and finish, size and weight range, warranty and support, and value for money. Each is scored out of ten, with a written reason printed beside it.
The overall score is the mean of those five, computed rather than typed, so it can never drift from the numbers it is built on.
Playing performance is judged against the job the boule is sold to do. A shooter’s boule is scored on shooting and a junior set on how easily a child can throw it, so a specialist is not marked down for being a specialist.
What the bands mean
| Band | Reading |
|---|---|
| 9.0 to 10 | Nothing available does this better. |
| 8.0 to 8.9 | Strong, with compromises worth naming. |
| 7.0 to 7.9 | Good, with one limitation that will matter to some players. |
| 6.0 to 6.9 | Works, but something else at this price does more. |
| Below 6.0 | Not worth the money. |
What is not scored
Where it is sold. A boule that is excellent but hard to get here is still excellent, and marking it down would hide that.
Instead each review says where the thing can be got: sold in North America, imported from Europe, or no longer made. That is about distribution rather than what sits on a shelf today, which changes daily and cannot be verified from here.
Where the figures come from
Manufacturer specifications first, then the federation’s own registers and the trade press, and every review lists its sources.
Where two sources disagree, the maker’s figure is used and the disagreement is noted. Where nothing can be confirmed, the review says so.
On prices. Prices move, especially on imported goods, and several models sell at two prices: a standard one for stocked sizes and a higher made-to-order one.
Every review carries the month its prices were checked.
Index
Browse brands and categories
Each link opens the full review list filtered to one brand or category.