Reviews are meaningful as long as they give enough details to identify the use case with which they were matched.
Objective rating systems are very useful when they specify what criteria are being used. As an engineer, I rely heavily on them. Not for personal selection, because that depends on the use case details, but to determine things like reliability over time, durability in specific environments, carrying capacity, safety features, etc.
There are many existing discussions in the forums about various devices, including comparisons and detailed feature discussions. You might find them of interest. 
(I should also say that as someone who is almost always an edge case, I do have a personal distrust of generic “best” recommendations.
For example, the Aeon Minimote is a very useful device for many people. I often suggest it for consideration for specific use cases when people post project questions. However, at present it is the only button controller that can run locally with SmartThings.
That’s a disaster for me, because as someone who is quadriparetic with limited hand control I can’t physically use a minimote. It doesn’t mean that the device I can use, the SmartenIT 3 toggle, is “better” than the Minimote. It just fits my particular use case better.)
Labeling one particular device in a class as “best” tends to drive down the availability of other options. But my own experience, both professionally and personally, has been that choice is good, and different use cases call for different solutions.
JMO