Nice post, dimwit. Like others have said, don't take their reports as gospel, just a good way to start your research.
If you're in the market for kitchen items, check out America's Test Kitchen
If you're in the market for kitchen items, check out America's Test Kitchen
Take Consumer Reports with a grain of salt. While CR can be a "good read" it always seems that when you when you read a CR review about something you are well versed about (electronics in my case, especially audio) they seem to really screw it up and seem to have the kind of viewpoint my father would have about any product that he's looking at: a very general outlook with more than a hint of ignorance.
The speakers example is right on.
However, it is human nature to accept blindly that CR is "the holy grail" of information for those products that we have no clue about. When you think about it - it seems rather silly, no?
I'll look at the speaker reviews and laugh ... but then i'll check up on vacuums and think "hey, that so and so cleaner is recommended by CR!"
Wait a minute! Weren't they just the ones that wrote all that bunk about speakers and NOW, in a blink of an eye, change my tune and am willing to accept their info at face value about things I don't know? Now, that's learned blind trust ... that has to be stamped out.
Just a thought.
The speakers example is right on.
However, it is human nature to accept blindly that CR is "the holy grail" of information for those products that we have no clue about. When you think about it - it seems rather silly, no?
I'll look at the speaker reviews and laugh ... but then i'll check up on vacuums and think "hey, that so and so cleaner is recommended by CR!"
Wait a minute! Weren't they just the ones that wrote all that bunk about speakers and NOW, in a blink of an eye, change my tune and am willing to accept their info at face value about things I don't know? Now, that's learned blind trust ... that has to be stamped out.
Just a thought.
Every time I try to sign up for this I click SUbmit and get a Page Cannot be Displayed error. Any ideas?
--Kel
Nevermind, apparantly that's how they tell you to pick a new username.
--Kel
Nevermind, apparantly that's how they tell you to pick a new username.
I'm trying to download the site for offline browsing. But it doesn't seem to work. Any suggestions or advice?
Someone suggested some programs over a year ago for this same site that could be used to download the whole site for offline browsing. Maybe someone could suggest a similiar program?
CR is not geared towards experts in any field. If you are an expert, then you don't need CR for that range of products. CR is oriented towards best-bang-for-your-buck with a reasonable price limit. So for example, floorstanding speakers get you more bass extension but compared to a subwoofer plus satellites, the marginal increase in audio performance is not a good value. You get 80-90% of the maximum possible quality by spending a few hundred dollars. After that, the increases in performance have a much higher dollar/quality ratio. CR doesn't care about those lofty levels. Same thing with most of the other items they review, yeah there may be a $10K vacuum cleaner out there that vacuphiles dream about in their sleep, but for most people the $100-$200 range is going to get them 80-90% of the cleaning performance for a whole lot cheaper. That's why a honda will beat a bmw and an apex dvd player will beat a madrigal dvd player in their evaluations. CR is about maximizing the bang/buck ratio and that's their bottom line. Plus they don't take any money or products or anything else from the manufacturers that they review, they do it all themselves and thus are the only commercially-unbiased source of reviews.
Places like Amazon and audioreview, etc suffer from a number of problems - ringers are the easiest one to pick out, but then there are also the people who having made a purchase are now psychologically commited to believing that it was the best choice possible and they validate that choice by expressing their belief online. Its all relative, but CR is the closest thing available to an unbiased, scientific evaluation of consumer products.
Places like Amazon and audioreview, etc suffer from a number of problems - ringers are the easiest one to pick out, but then there are also the people who having made a purchase are now psychologically commited to believing that it was the best choice possible and they validate that choice by expressing their belief online. Its all relative, but CR is the closest thing available to an unbiased, scientific evaluation of consumer products.
This is also what happened last year - free for a month, so everyone starts downloading left and right so the site is slower than ever. And everyone who does get on tries to download the whole site for offline browsing, causing even more problems for others trying to get on. I thought they even pulled the plug for awhile why they figured out what to do to alleviate the problems.
Yes, I also remember the subscription that auto-kicked in. I ended up paying for a month or so before I remebered to cancel. Perhaps they've changed that now.
Yes, I also remember the subscription that auto-kicked in. I ended up paying for a month or so before I remebered to cancel. Perhaps they've changed that now.
I was getting the error page too, and now am just getting a message telling me I am not eligible for this promotion, but can sign up for $19.95!!!!
Sweet deal! I hated going there trying to find something only to be denied because I was too cheap to subscribe. Thanks.
Yah if you were an evil person you would use Acrobat 5 and have it spider and download the whole site, indexed, to one huge acrobat file. But that would be bad.
Very nicely put Jah Wren! I have been a subscriber to CR for the past 15 years and I agree with everything you said. I usually save 2 years of CR as reference for times I do need to buy certain products.
A few years ago when I had money burning through my pockets, and I wanted to buy the most features packed(many of them rarely used) VCR, I consulted several videophile magazines. But for most things, I usually pick the their top 5 - 10 products, narrow it further based on repair history, then check them out in-store to see which I like best.
A few years ago when I had money burning through my pockets, and I wanted to buy the most features packed(many of them rarely used) VCR, I consulted several videophile magazines. But for most things, I usually pick the their top 5 - 10 products, narrow it further based on repair history, then check them out in-store to see which I like best.
how can anyone slam CR??? They are there to give unbiased reviews. They are exceptional when it comes to there automobile roundups. Thanks dimwit...great find
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