In my book, cold fusion was/is electrochemistry. A characteristic of electrical expreiments are that they are hard to duplicate because they are critically dependent on the apparatus used. So, cold fusion requires the proper setup to get it going. Apparently, many researchers didn’t/don’t have the experience or the skilled glass blowers to make the apparatus. I will give you an 85% probability it will will work with the proper equipment.
That is the essence of the problem: getting independently reproducible results. The guy who can figure out how to do that will win the Nobel Prize.
That said, I've been disappointed often enough that I have little interest until we have
(1) someone with reputation evaluating it ON THE RECORD
(2) in his independent lab and
(3) having it run long enough and generate enough energy that there is no possibility of a chemical reaction, preferably by an order-of-magnitude.