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There is a similar organization in the USA: Consumer Reports. It used to be a magazine, now I believe it's just a website. Entirely funded by subscription - and
by Gurgler 4y ago
There is a similar organization in the USA: Consumer Reports. It used to be a magazine, now I believe it's just a website. Entirely funded by subscription - and not advertisement or other sponsorship - they tackle entire categories of consumer goods in the USA, rigorously testing and ranking competing products across many metrics.
- TylerE 4y agoTheir conclusions are somewhat suspect sometimes though… with weird qualifications for “best” that often barely effect actual functioning. Like, heavily weighting quietness over power.
- linkdink 4y agoAt least they're open about how they weighed their values. And they give you enough information to draw your own conclusions from your own values. Some people want to be told what's "best", and they've found a way to make everyone (minus one) happy.
- wtallis 4y agoAre you referring specifically to their car reviews? Those seem to regularly attract criticism for not being more like traditional car enthusiast-oriented reviews. I think that's largely due to car enthusiasts having insufficient self-awareness about the degree to which their priorities differ from those of mainstream consumers. PC gamers and PC building enthusiasts are also frustratingly prone to this kind of thing. (I spent several years reviewing PC hardware for a living, which included constantly fielding comments from readers who seemed to be genuinely unable to understand how their could be a market for low-end components.)
- throwaway09223 4y agoI remember reading their computer reviews a few decades ago and being gobsmacked at how ignorant their process and conclusions were. I assume that other articles have similar issues, and that I'm just unaware because they're not within my area of expertise.
- thaeli 4y agoCR's core failing is, on the surface, their greatest strength: they refuse to have any "special" contact with any manufacturers. Unfortunately, this also means that they don't ask, or listen, when their test procedures are nonsensical.
- 41b696ef1113 4y agoLast year, I was looking to upgrade my desktop. Found a review that was bemoaning a motherboard because it only had two M.2 slots. How many consumers use two, let alone would benefit from a third?
- NathanielK 4y agoSince the only thing consumers use full size PCIe slots for now is for a single GPU, extra M.2 slots isn't that big of an ask. One M.2 keyed for an interchangeable wifi card, one for NVMe storage, and then an extra one if you want to upgrade to more storage later. If you only have one keyed for storage, you're SoL when you buy a bigger one later and it's very inconvenient to move data over.
- Dylan16807 4y agoIt's not a big ask, but it's also quite unimportant. Adapter cards to put one M.2 card into a PCIe slot are in the $5 range, and better adapters will do four.
- wtallis 4y agoPC motherboard marketing and reviews usually don't count the WiFi card slot when tallying up the number of M.2 slots (since approximately zero motherboards are sold with an empty WiFi-type M.2 slot), so the complaint was most likely about not having more than two storage-type M.2 slots.
- fomine3 4y agoI have opposite bemoaning for recent motherboards: only one PCIe slot (x16) is directly connected to CPU (not via chipset). It's useless to have PCIe 5.0 x16 slot even for average consumer because 4.0 x8 is still enough for modern GPU for gaming and even if it become not enough, 5.0 x8 should be enough for foreseeable future. Lack of high bandwidth dedicated PCIe slots for other than GPU makes the PC less expandable, e.g. video capture, another GPU (not for SLI), 10GbE, HBA, etc...
- formerly_proven 4y ago
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y agoI had a problem with them where their rating methodology for carpet cleaners was not adequate. So the cleaner with strongest cleaning capability was like 10th in the list, instead of first
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoThey are also incorruptible. If they give your product good marks, you are not allowed to mention it in your marketing (Not sure how they enforce it; maybe they stop reviewing your stuff). I worked at a company that regularly got top marks from them, and our Marketing folks would have fits, because they couldn't mention it.
- alamortsubite 4y agoSounds great, but Consumer Reports definitely has a checkered past. Read about the Suzuki Samurai debacle, in which they methodically manipulated their tests (strictly for that vehicle, and not any of the others in its class that they were simultaneously evaluating), with the goal of destroying the vehicle's reputation. https://www.aim.org/aim-report/aim-report-a-black-eye-for-consumer-reports/ https://www.aim.org/aim-report/aim-report-a-black-eye-for-co...
- Spooky23 4y agoI think Consumer Reports has an opinionated editorial voice. But I think that’s inevitable in that line of work. SUVs evolved to address the risks pointed out by CR and other entities. They mostly have wider wheelbases and lower centers of gravity.
- crotchrocketeer 4y agoWell, at least this wasn’t in the “pretend it’s better direction” so it’s a at least still reliable in helping pick good quality.
- alamortsubite 4y agoNot if you were trying to decide between the Samurai and the other vehicles CR was "evaluating" (a Wrangler and the Bronco II). Internally, CR's testers praised the Samurai as having the best handling of the bunch, but their editor made sure the public never heard this.
- 4y ago
- game-of-throws 4y agoAnother similar site is https://www.rtings.com/ https://www.rtings.com/. They do very scientific, thorough quality tests. I've only used them to buy monitors so far, but it looks like they're starting to branch out from tech -- they have new categories for blenders and vacuums.
- ghostpepper 4y agoHopefully they don't go the same path as the Wirecutter. Started out great and small and independent and slowly started watering down reviews as they branched into more and more areas. They are now owned by the NYTimes and the quality of the reviews is much more hit and miss.
- squeaky-clean 4y agortings is trying to push a subscription now. I was looking up wireless mice latency, and after looking at 5 mice, I had used up all my free views of "advanced metrics" like click latency. rtings does good work, I'd pay a flat fee for it. But a subscription for a website I check every 2-3 years when I'm upgrading some tech? I'll just clear my cookies.
- nordsieck 4y ago> I was looking up wireless mice latency, and after looking at 5 mice, I had used up all my free views of "advanced metrics" like click latency. If you're specifically looking at mice, you might want to check out RocketJumpNinja. The reviews are pretty biased towards suitability for FPS, but they are quite in depth, and the reviewer is pretty knowledgeable.
- driverdan 4y agoWirecutter has always been hit or miss.
- abawany 4y agoConsumers Report still has a magazine - I subscribe to it for a lower cost than the online access.
- mcphage 4y agoMy dad always used Consumer Reports to pick products, and... I dunno, they didn't seem to be super great.
- switchbak 4y agoI've seen some reviews for which I know a fair amount, and often the testing and rating rubric are ... Bewildering and unsophisticated. I love the idea of Consumer Reports a lot more than the actual thing itself.
- mcphage 4y ago> I love the idea of Consumer Reports a lot more than the actual thing itself Yeah, exactly. I really love the idea, but not the results.
- cptnapalm 4y agoIt's still a magazine. Source: I work at a library and put the September 2022 issue on the shelf last week.