I'm starting to despair of the possibility of ever having a reliable way to gauge product quality on the Internet. It seems to be a huge asymmetry problem where, as soon as a trustworthy system appears, the rewards of gaming it are so big compared to what consumers are willing to pay to have it stay trustworthy, that sellers will throw unlimited money at the problem until they have captured it with useless garbage.
About the only thing you can do is find a particular writer or site that has a reputation you trust, but they might never review the specific product you're interested in. And when you're trying to buy something in an entirely new category you're not familiar with, it's hopeless.