"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
news:Rff0e.15784$ed6.4219@trndny06...

"Buck Frobisher" wrote in message

Suggest you take a subscription to Consumers Reports online site for a
month or two. They buy and test what they rate, and they do an annual
questionnaire to get information on reliability. For me, most
importantly they give a good general explanation in a very clear and
concise manner, talking about the different features available, listing
the pros and cons of each.


Many years ago they were OK. They seem much more biased in their reporting
and their findings have often been directly opposite my own experience.
They downgrade appliances and automobiles for things that I find to be a
plus. Read their information with an open mind and do other research
also. While they do have some good information, their priorities may not
match yours at all.

We all have our own agendas and value sets, so it's nearly impossible for
many of us to accept another's opinion on -anything- at face value. And
let me say that I'm not here to defend CR, they are well able to do that
themselves.

Having said that, I cannot be an expert on everything. Even if I was, I
could never hope to have the resources available to me that CR has. Nor can
the sum total of all the people that read and post on this group be expected
to be experts on all appliances, only those with which they have had
contact, and even then, to a limited degree. They don't test them, they fix
them. Don't get me wrong, there IS a wealth of good information available
on here though.

Also, it's hard to believe publications that accept free samples for testing
and then sell advertising space back to the same companies are completely
unbiased or anywhere near it.

As I mentioned in my original post, the thing I value the most from CR is
their descriptions of the overall current market offer in terms of features
and their usefulness for a specific commodity. As often as not, I don't buy
their "best buy" items, rebel that I am

So, I'm quite willing to look to a better independent source for product
reviews, if anyone knows of one. Who IS CR's competition, anyway?