Vox:
Consumer Reports has been subjecting everyday products to rigorous testing since 1936, but the past decade has seen a flurry of growth in the product review space, with the launch of publications like Wirecutter (2011), Best Products (2015), New York magazine’s the Strategist (2016), BuzzFeed Reviews (2018), and the Inventory (2018). Apart from the standalone sites, plenty of properties like The Verge (which, like Vox.com, is owned by Vox Media) have robust reviews programs. That’s not to mention the many, many individuals who review products on blogs and YouTube.
As ever more authorities enter the fray, the question is this: When everyone claims to have identified the “best” product in a category, who do you trust?
With all the fake/paid for reviews we are subjected to, it’s great to have a recommendation site you can trust.
I use the Wirecutter all the time but I don’t just pick a product and buy their top one, I use the posts to do a couple of things.
First, it gives me a shortlist of products to consider. Yeah, maybe I miss an outlier that’s really awesome but that’s less likely.
Second, I can get some info on the products… advantages, disadvantages, things to consider.
Third, the comments are valuable. People who bought the product recommended and love it, fond problems, bought other things or point out products that should be reviewed (if s a lot of people ask for a given product to be included in the next update it’s often worth a look).
Agreed, comments of the reviews are, to me, the most helpful.
So let me get this straight. You’re giving a recommendation to a site that’s giving a recommendation to a site that gives recommendations.
recommendation sites without science are nonsense. The Wirecutter and its “experts” offers almost no value in the proudest it demonstrates. Differing methodologies, no clearly defined use cases, and much personal opinion shape most of these sites. They are all glorified versions of amazon product reviews. Useless.