We are Consumer Reports fans. In the house from which we moved I had a lot of space and kept all of my Consumer Reports on a shelf! We no longer subscribe but did for many, many years. I believe that any large purchase we have made (even not so large ones) have been made with the assistance of this magazine.
In each issue various products are reviewed. (Not unlike epinions however they have a staff who gets a real paycheck and they have tools available to them that the ordinary reviewer doesn’t have.)
I am reviewing the July, 2001 issue which is 66 pages long. I want to tell you about two pieces of information right off the bat.
1. In a future issue, though we are not told which one, vaccines will be looked at in terms of the many new ones and their safety for adults and children. I know this is a hot topic for many so you may want to be on the lookout for it.
2. You can get free e-mail alerts if you subscribe to Consumer Reports that will update you on “important consumer news that happens between issues, including product recalls, health alerts, safety information, etc.
•The cover story tells us that 41,000 readers have judged 46 leading hotel chains. This is an amazingly thorough 6- page piece that packs a lot of information into it. Within the article itself and the graphs, you will also read blurbs on such things as “Costly Cities” (The average room rate in New York is $240.) and “The Pros & Cons of B & Bs” including websites that they found helpful such as www.ibbp.com.
There is a wonderful page within this article called “A Tale of Two Hotels” which compare the Four Seasons ($435 per night) with the Sleep Inn (($62). They had a reporter go to each negotiating the best prices and keeping his identity secret. He did a terrific job reviewing these two hotels, which if you are interested, “both chains, in their own way, did a standout job of satisfying Consumer Reports readers’ desire for clean, comfortable, and well-kept rooms, good value and a trouble-free stay.” Both of these hotels are located in New York.
•A relatively (and I am using that loosely) new feature in Consumer Reports which they didn’t have when we first started subscribing many years ago is the One-Year Index. It makes it easy to find information you are looking for. I remember going through issues looking for that one article I remember reading and now that doesn't happen. If you are looking for information on garden gloves, for example, go to the back of the magazine and you will see that you can find information in the May 9, 2001 issue.
•The magazine is very reader friendly and I find it to be very thorough. There is a 10-page article on “Traveling with Kids.” You might want to supplement this information with what you find at epinions. Reviewed are child car seats, travel play yards, and soft baby carriers. For each product there are terrific pictures showing exactly what the product looks like and from different angles.
You will also find rating graphs for each product. For example the J. Mason Safe Surround J5010 Play Yard is listed the best in terms of performance. We are told the price- $100; the weight of the child who can use it- 22 pounds; the overall score- VG (from P to E, poor to excellent); the rating scale – excellent; the ease of use- good; and recommendations and notes. In this case we read that this play yard is “the safest model tested….”
•Each article is as comprehensive as that one. You’ll find similar reviews on CD portables and MP3 players in “Music on the move” a 5-page article and “Shoes that can take a hike” not only has hiking shoes reviewed and rated but there is an article called “Anatomy of a hiking shoe” which tells us all about them including lacing, toe bumpers and gussets.
•In total in this issue there are 8 products reviewed. Others include rooftop cargo boxes and generic drugs.
•We stopped subscribing and wouldn’t again because we just don’t buy enough products to justify $26 a year. That isn’t a lot of money for what you are getting, but we don’t need to waste the paper. I go to the library. Their website www.ConsumerReports.org gives very little information. In fact you have to subscribe to get anything more than headlines. You can subscribe to their online site for $24 per year or $19 per year if you subscribe to the magazine. You also have the option of using it on a monthly basis for $3.95, which is the same as the cover price of the magazine.
They have a special promotion going on now that if you subscribe you get 13 issues including the year-end Buying Guide 2002 issue and the 2001 Buying Guide for free. That subscription is $26.
In summary, I highly recommend this magazine as a consumer. If you buy products frequently or want to keep updated with products, then subscribing makes sense. Each issue would cost you $2.00 and you get a lot of information. If you are like I am, the occasional buyer stick with the library. Since we rely so heavily on Consumer Reports and I don’t find any flaws in it (Except not being able to access the website!) I will give it a rating of 5.
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