Everyone has heard of Consumer Reports. It is the magazine that invented the idea of reviewing products for the masses and reporting on their quality. They’ll take any number of items in the same product category and test them then they publish those results.
It sounds a heck of a lot like Epinions.com, doesn’t it? Well, maybe they aren’t so similar.
Consumer Reports does do one major thing better than anyone else, Epinions.com included. They review automobiles. The testers manage to get hold of almost every single model produced and they analyze them, from safety to appearance, inside and out, long road tests and short road trips. They will tell you exactly how many cubic inches the trunk will hold and how comfortable the back seat is for taller passengers. They’ll discuss the pros and cons of each car, and will give you the suggested price of the vehicle.
The reader is able to see how each of the cars compare head-to-head in their annual automobile issue.
When I was buying cars, I wouldn’t even consider a vehicle – even after test-driving it – until I read the Consumer Reports article. I’ve even found some vehicles I’d have not considered if it weren’t for a positive write-up in Consumer Reports.
The editors will tell you what used vehicles to avoid by model number and manufacture date. They’ll give you the reasons why those vehicles should be avoided. It is sometimes very interesting to see them give a glowing review of a vehicle for its manufactured year, and then several years down the road, they’ll tell you to steer clear of that vehicle.
I know, because that happened to my 1987 Volkswagen Golf. It was listed as a highly recommended vehicle in 1987. When I sold it in 1992, it was listed as a vehicle to avoid because of the brake system and some nasty engine problems.
I honestly believe that most of the benefits of Consumer Reports ends with that one annual automobile issue.
There is something else that Consumer Reports does right, and that’s when it gives out advice. Whether it be car purchasing advice or advice on tipping a waiter at a restaurant, they give excellent information. They’ll give you real facts about products in general and are usually able to distinguish the difference properly between different options in a category.
Finally, their list of product recalls is very useful. These are always posted in the back of the magazine and are quite easy to locate.
Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports claims it is an organization that is independent and has been doing non-profit testing and consumer protection only for consumers. They indicate in every issue that since 1936, they have been an unbiased source of reporting about products and services, personal finance, health and nutrition, and other consumer concerns.
Doesn’t that sound rather familiar? It should, because Epinions.com has a similar mission statement.
Here’s how the Consumer Union works. They go out, buy the products right off the shelf, and test those products in their labs. Their ratings are based on laboratory tests, controlled-use tests, and expert judgments by their technical and research staff. They claim they poll millions of readers annually to report on their models.
They do not accept advertising, nor do they accept free samples. If they can’t buy it off the shelf then they don’t take the product into consideration.
I find problems with what they say on page seven of each issue. I find it difficult to believe that they poll millions of their readers annually. Think of it – even if they did a million surveys annually, that’s a tremendous amount of work. Do you know anyone who has been polled by Consumer Reports for anything? I’d bet the answer is “No.” My folks have been subscribers to Consumer Reports for years and they’ve never been polled. My grandmother has been subscribing for nearly forty years, and she’s never been polled. Surely, if they do poll millions of readers a year, you’d think that someone who has subscribed for forty years would have been asked just once her opinion on something, right?
While I think that the Consumer Union does an admirable job in what they do, they present their information in a confusing manner. Typically with any product, they’ll list the brand and model number, the price, an overall score, and some performance variables. The products are usually listed from best to worst.
The overall score is easy to understand. It is a sliding bar that ranges from P (poor) to E (excellent). Products are rated from Poor, Fair, Good, Very Good and Excellent. If you think about it, this is the same kind of scale that Epinions.com uses. Instead of these kinds of ratings, we have a 1-5 star rating system. One star would be Poor, and five would be Excellent.
The performance variables are what I’ve always found difficult to understand. They have five different symbols, ranging again from Excellent to Poor. These are circles that are colored in different ways, each representing a different rating.
Aside from the annoying symbol, I’ve always been confused by a product being rated at the very top as “Excellent” yet the product doesn’t have more than one “Excellent” performance rating. Another product will be far lower on the chart and have three or four “Excellent” performance ratings, yet not have a greater number of lower-quality ratings than the item at the top of the chart.
It certainly isn’t price-generated. I know, because I’ve checked to see if possibly a lower price would bring a better overall rating.
I think Epinions.com has some real advantages over Consumer Reports.
First and foremost, we have people writing for this site who are regular, everyday people. These are the people who will be using the product every day of their lives until they replace it. Epinions.com is made up of mothers, fathers and their children. It is made up of college students, career-oriented people, and a few experts in their respective fields (and no, I’m not talking about those deemed Experts at Epinions.com).
These people, who aside from being paid a small royalty for their work, are not paid to review products. They are simply regular people walking down the street who have made some very good purchasing decisions and some very bad ones. They want to share their findings with the world.
The Epinions.com community does not have laboratories to test the products. Rather, their homes are their proving grounds. These products are reviewed based on their real-world experiences.
I think, while we are not professionals at Epinions.com, we may have a more realistic idea of how well the products hold up, especially after a number of months or years of real-world use.
I like the idea of searching out a Kenmore dishwasher with a specific model in mind and seeing tens of reviews on the same product. I can read them all and see where each person lists their pros and cons of the dishwasher. I like to track trends between those reviewers and the product they are reviewing.
Consumer Reports just gives me one review on the product. How am I able to compare based on just one test?
Epinions.com has one other advantage over the Consumer Union. We test all models of products, not just one or two by a manufacturer.
On the other hand, Consumer Reports has one major advantage over Epinions.com. They show ratings of products head-to-head. As far as I can tell, the database on Epinions.com doesn’t work in that manner. If it does, I’ve spent the last eight months looking for it.
In conclusion, I’d recommend Consumer Reports as an invaluable tool in researching automobile purchases. I’d seek them out for some excellent general advice when you have to consider purchasing a type of product.
However, when it comes to specific product-purchasing decisions, I’d rather rely on Epinions.com.
Testing products since 1936: Unbiased monthly reports on cars, home appliances, electronics, computers, food, health, finance, and more. No outside ad...More at Magazines.com
The indispensable guide for anyone who wants to comparison shop for the best quality and value of anything on the market, Consumer Reports Magazine is...More at Magazineline
Testing products since 1936: Unbiased monthly reports on cars, home appliances, electronics, computers, food, health, finance, and more. No outside ad...More at Magazine-Agent
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