Claire Bergstrom, Senior editor

I'm the senior editor here, so most of my job is deciding what doesn't make the list. A cabin that's only there because it's cheap this week. A "two-person" label on a bench where two adults would sit shoulder to shoulder. A ranking nobody has opened since the prices moved.

My usual setup is three tabs side by side: the spec sheet, the owner's manual and the buyer reviews. When a listing says a cabin seats two, I look for the inside bench width and the door opening. When owners keep describing the same thing (a door that needs adjusting after assembly, a control panel that's hard to read in a dim room, a warm-up that takes far longer than the listing suggests), I write it down, and it ends up in the ranking notes.

I write the guides on choosing a sauna, cabin versus fabric, and the first sessions at home, and I edit most of the others. On temperatures and session length I stick to what the manuals print, and for anything health-related I'd send you to your doctor, not to me.

We don't sit in these saunas ourselves, and I'd rather say that plainly. We read, we compare, and we keep the lists current.