Vox:
Consumer Reports’ testing processes, scientific rigor, and commitment to independence are commendable. But it’s difficult to take them all in without asking an important question: does Consumer Reports have a future?
Even though I don’t completely trust Consumer Reports because of some of their tech and Apple coverage, their testing process makes for an interesting read.
The problem CR hits is that so much of tech testing isn’t objective. It’s subjective as hell.
that’s a problem for them, because they do VERY well with measurable objective testing. “How much distance does this car take to stop” “How well does this washing machine handle an unbalanced load” “How evenly does this pan heat”
those things are objective measurements that can be duplicated reliably, and create meaningful results that lend themselves well to the kinds of ratings CR does well.
Computer software and hardware is harder. For example, what is “the best” laptop? Well, the only right answer is “what are you doing, and what is your budget”. You can’t objectively measure that. I have a really good chance to tell large groups of people reliably what the best refrigerator is in a given price range.
There’s no way in hell I can do that with a laptop or even a word processor.
The fact CR does as well as they do in those arenas is impressive.
I am a CR subscriber.
I find CR’s reviews of white goods to be excellent and useful.
I find their reviews of brown goods to be completely useless. (They just seem to have no clue about what is important in a computer, tablet, TV)
That sounds racist….
🙂
CR proves you can do all the objective testing you want, but as soon as you try to summarize it and write a recommendation based on it you’re putting your own uneducated biases into it.
Exactly.
I learned a lot of things from my subscription to CR a few decades ago. They didn’t just test and rate; they also discussed issues of concern for consumers behind the product or service. I’d like to hope they’re still providing good background for the categories they’re good at rating.
Consumer Reports began to lose its credibility with the Remington Electric Razor fiasco. They rated it the very best electric razor you could buy. Remington advertised that fact. That’s against CR’s policy, so they told them stop. Remington kept on trumpeting it.
The next year that razor was rated near the bottom. CR of course claimed the test had been objective. (Insert eye roll here).