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I don't mind the affiliate links, but I mind dishonest or low quality churned reviews. When TV shopping, I used the reviews from https://www.rtings.com/ https:

by ABCLAW 8y ago

I don't mind the affiliate links, but I mind dishonest or low quality churned reviews. When TV shopping, I used the reviews from https://www.rtings.com/ https://www.rtings.com/ They pointed me to issues and concerns with TV quality, provided me with an understanding of the trade-offs at various price points, and then directed me to a TV model that I purchased and have been incredibly satisfied with. Maybe we need a reputable internet equivalent to consumer reports. We obviously have demand, the question is how to finance it. I think consistent, ethical, non-conflicted third party quality reviews can be a solid lifestyle business. Won't be a unicorn, but it'll keep a few people gainfully employed and make the world a bit better.

ams6110 8y ago
Well? What's wrong with Consumer Reports? Sign up, pay for it, done. Why does valuable information that takes a lot of time and expense to produce need to be free? That attitude is the root of most of what's wrong with the web today. s/internet/web/
- kiba 8y ago
  I have a problem with being nickeled and dimed with every subscription service.
  - jhall1468 8y ago
    The whole reason it's subscription is to avoid advertisers. CR doesn't have to answer to manufacturers so their reviews are very reliable.
  - ams6110 8y ago
    CR is $7.95 a month. Sign up for a month when you're making a major purchase. If it saves even 10 minutes of research time, that's value enough for me.
  - URSpider94 8y ago
    Subscription fees are literally the only source of income for Consumer’s Union, the parent company of Consumer Reports. They don’t take ads, they don’t take payments for reviews, and they don’t sell rights to use their ratings in advertising (they sue companies who reference their CR ratings in any kind of marketing material).
- derefr 8y ago
  Most people are only going to ever buy one or two things that are important enough to them to need to be thoroughly comparison-shopped. If there was a Consumer Reports-alike where I could pay "per report" (like paying for investment news "per report"), I'd pay. But I wouldn't subscribe.
  - jperras 8y ago
    > If there was a Consumer Reports-alike where I could pay "per report" (like paying for investment news "per report"), I'd pay. But I wouldn't subscribe. I subscribed to CR for a month when I was shopping for a new dishwasher. After I found what I wanted, I unsubscribed. That seems functionally equivalent to what you want, at least when applied to large ticket items where the cost of a month of subscription is a small percentage of the total cost of the purchase being made.
  - justin66 8y ago
    > If there was a Consumer Reports-alike where I could pay "per report" (like paying for investment news "per report"), I'd pay. But I wouldn't subscribe. This is a strange comparison. I'm amazed there are any worthwhile investment news items available to purchase for less than the cost of an annual CR Digital subscription ($35). It's so cheap it's hardly worth worrying about if you're going to use it at all.
- ABCLAW 8y ago
  I don't have an issue with consumer reports. I used to browse their material occasionally. However, most of the time, I spend very little and make few purchases. The ones that are low-value - lets say vegetable peelers and compressed air canisters - I don't need ratings for. The large ones (Appliances, Misc Electronics, Suits, Cars, etc.) I research online anyways. So if I'm not using their product 95% of the time, their subscription business model doesn't line up with my expected use-case. So I don't use it. I would love to pay for better rating data and don't mind shelling out for information, but I do need to pay for it when I'm consuming it, not in a prophylactic manner.
- joegahona 8y ago
  Does Consumer Reports provide any value over Wirecutter? The latter is free and has negligible display advertising.
  - onethree 8y ago
    I stopped trusting the wire cutter after they shifted from recommending a $40 knife to a $145 as their best chefs knife for most people
    - TeMPOraL 8y ago
      As a layman in the space of knives, why did that cause you to stop trusting them? In other areas, I found that up until a point, the price is generally correlated with quality. I had great success in avoiding frustration and waste by following the saw "I'm too poor to buy cheap".
      - michaelt 8y ago
        Sure, up until a point. If you read a review of the best SUVs and it said the $200k Bentley Bentayga was better than the $27k Toyota RAV4 you would probably say "Well, I'm sure it has its benefits, but I doubt it's better value for money" As someone who uses a $20 knife, I feel the same way about a $145 knife.
        crankylinuxuser 8y ago
        One of the most dangerous things in a kitchen is a dull knife. (And mandolins without guards!) Dull knives require multiple times of stress, and sawing motion to abrade through the thing. And with more power means accidents are easier and more damaging. A proper chefs knife (I prefer santokus) should be professionally sharpened, honed before each use, and will be razor sharp. I only need to lay the knife on a steak and pull, and it cuts right through. The cheap $20 knives are usually serrated (nigh unsharpenable) and double as hacksaws.
        8y ago
- MagicPropmaker 8y ago
  Consumer reports is good; the problem is even the people on HN don't want to pay for any content anywhere.
- TylerE 8y ago
  Consumer Reports tends to rate heavily on things I don't much care about, like initial reliability (which for most modern products is more than fine) while almost ignoring things like ACTUAL performance and ergonomics.
  - bluedino 8y ago
    They're also biased. If they generally give the winning nod to brand X, even if brand Y comes ou with a superior product, they'll still give brand X the nod. It works the same way when brand X has sub-par releases.
- ekovarski 8y ago
  Many libraries subscribe to Consumer Reports and even offer free access via their portal to it. I've used it countless of times to find reviews online.
function_seven 8y ago
> Maybe we need a reputable internet equivalent to consumer reports. We have one. It's cr.org
- nitrogen 8y ago
  Why don't they ever show up in search engine results?
  - function_seven 8y ago
    Not sure. I assume because they're paywalled and won't allow clicks from a search engine to view the content? I don't know what the rules are around that.
dawnerd 8y ago
Their headphone reviews are top notch too. They do actual measurements on them to determine how they actually perform rather than some reviewer spewing garbage about how the sound stage is so warm.

by ABCLAW 8y ago

ams6110 8y ago

Well? What's wrong with Consumer Reports? Sign up, pay for it, done. Why does valuable information that takes a lot of time and expense to produce need to be free? That attitude is the root of most of what's wrong with the web today. s/internet/web/

kiba 8y ago
I have a problem with being nickeled and dimed with every subscription service.
- jhall1468 8y ago
  The whole reason it's subscription is to avoid advertisers. CR doesn't have to answer to manufacturers so their reviews are very reliable.
- ams6110 8y ago
  CR is $7.95 a month. Sign up for a month when you're making a major purchase. If it saves even 10 minutes of research time, that's value enough for me.
- URSpider94 8y ago
  Subscription fees are literally the only source of income for Consumer’s Union, the parent company of Consumer Reports. They don’t take ads, they don’t take payments for reviews, and they don’t sell rights to use their ratings in advertising (they sue companies who reference their CR ratings in any kind of marketing material).
derefr 8y ago
Most people are only going to ever buy one or two things that are important enough to them to need to be thoroughly comparison-shopped. If there was a Consumer Reports-alike where I could pay "per report" (like paying for investment news "per report"), I'd pay. But I wouldn't subscribe.
- jperras 8y ago
  > If there was a Consumer Reports-alike where I could pay "per report" (like paying for investment news "per report"), I'd pay. But I wouldn't subscribe. I subscribed to CR for a month when I was shopping for a new dishwasher. After I found what I wanted, I unsubscribed. That seems functionally equivalent to what you want, at least when applied to large ticket items where the cost of a month of subscription is a small percentage of the total cost of the purchase being made.
- justin66 8y ago
  > If there was a Consumer Reports-alike where I could pay "per report" (like paying for investment news "per report"), I'd pay. But I wouldn't subscribe. This is a strange comparison. I'm amazed there are any worthwhile investment news items available to purchase for less than the cost of an annual CR Digital subscription ($35). It's so cheap it's hardly worth worrying about if you're going to use it at all.
ABCLAW 8y ago
I don't have an issue with consumer reports. I used to browse their material occasionally. However, most of the time, I spend very little and make few purchases. The ones that are low-value - lets say vegetable peelers and compressed air canisters - I don't need ratings for. The large ones (Appliances, Misc Electronics, Suits, Cars, etc.) I research online anyways. So if I'm not using their product 95% of the time, their subscription business model doesn't line up with my expected use-case. So I don't use it. I would love to pay for better rating data and don't mind shelling out for information, but I do need to pay for it when I'm consuming it, not in a prophylactic manner.
joegahona 8y ago
Does Consumer Reports provide any value over Wirecutter? The latter is free and has negligible display advertising.
- onethree 8y ago
  I stopped trusting the wire cutter after they shifted from recommending a $40 knife to a $145 as their best chefs knife for most people
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    As a layman in the space of knives, why did that cause you to stop trusting them? In other areas, I found that up until a point, the price is generally correlated with quality. I had great success in avoiding frustration and waste by following the saw "I'm too poor to buy cheap".
    - michaelt 8y ago
      Sure, up until a point. If you read a review of the best SUVs and it said the $200k Bentley Bentayga was better than the $27k Toyota RAV4 you would probably say "Well, I'm sure it has its benefits, but I doubt it's better value for money" As someone who uses a $20 knife, I feel the same way about a $145 knife.
      - crankylinuxuser 8y ago
        One of the most dangerous things in a kitchen is a dull knife. (And mandolins without guards!) Dull knives require multiple times of stress, and sawing motion to abrade through the thing. And with more power means accidents are easier and more damaging. A proper chefs knife (I prefer santokus) should be professionally sharpened, honed before each use, and will be razor sharp. I only need to lay the knife on a steak and pull, and it cuts right through. The cheap $20 knives are usually serrated (nigh unsharpenable) and double as hacksaws.
        8y ago
MagicPropmaker 8y ago
Consumer reports is good; the problem is even the people on HN don't want to pay for any content anywhere.
TylerE 8y ago
Consumer Reports tends to rate heavily on things I don't much care about, like initial reliability (which for most modern products is more than fine) while almost ignoring things like ACTUAL performance and ergonomics.
- bluedino 8y ago
  They're also biased. If they generally give the winning nod to brand X, even if brand Y comes ou with a superior product, they'll still give brand X the nod. It works the same way when brand X has sub-par releases.
ekovarski 8y ago
Many libraries subscribe to Consumer Reports and even offer free access via their portal to it. I've used it countless of times to find reviews online.

function_seven 8y ago

> Maybe we need a reputable internet equivalent to consumer reports. We have one. It's cr.org

nitrogen 8y ago
Why don't they ever show up in search engine results?
- function_seven 8y ago
  Not sure. I assume because they're paywalled and won't allow clicks from a search engine to view the content? I don't know what the rules are around that.

dawnerd 8y ago

Their headphone reviews are top notch too. They do actual measurements on them to determine how they actually perform rather than some reviewer spewing garbage about how the sound stage is so warm.