As I know these different scales used in different sources doesn't always follow the same standard, I almost always investigate from different sources when I want to buy something, being it expensive or cheap. I don't like to spend money in experimentations so I always need a certain degree of certainty that the minimum requirements can be met.
When it doesn't happen, and before I buy it, I always need to have a plan B about the missing requirements (if necessary).
Otherwise, I probably won't buy it.
As a side note, although I don't have too many orchids (around 40), most of them are from different genus, and I never lost a plant (so far
).