[Swordmaker]

Technical NightOwl reviews Consumer Reports review of the iPad2 review—PING!

Please, No Flame Wars!
Discuss technical issues, software, and hardware.
Don't attack people!
Don't respond to the Anti-Apple Thread Trolls!
PLEASE IGNORE THEM!!!

Apple v. Consumer Reports Reviews Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[I cannot think of a name]

“When it comes to consumer electronics gear, Apple didn’t suffer in any noticeable way because the two flavors of the iPhone 4 weren’t recommended, based on that alleged “Death Grip.””

That's funny.

My wife works at a University where just about every student assistant has an iPhone. And they have ALL bitched about this little gap on the edge of the phone that if you happen to put your fingers across the call gets dropped.

I don't have an iPhone so I'm not sure what they are talking about, but talk about it they do. Wonder how Consumer Reports got them all to lie like that?

[Erik Latranyi]

CR has been questioned for years.

Their devotion to certain brands created suspicions.

Their unwillingness to divulge their raw data, weighting, etc is another flag being raised.

CR will not tell you what a “defect” is. In fact, they leave it up to their subscribers. Therefore, a blown fuse in a car could be considered a defect by one reviewer and ignored by another.

Sample sizes have been questioned and CR always stonewalls on that issue as well.

Anyone who relies on CR is only fooling themselves.

[truthguy]

I'll read this later, but for now I can say Consumer Reports is garbage when it comes to auto reviews. There ratings are always different from all the other car reviews? Why? They will always list the top 10 in every category as Japanese. Always. They hate American cars are are extremely biased. This is known in the industry. Don't take my word for it. They are shills for the Japanese. Not even Mercedes can crack their top 10. Their methodology is insane.

NEVER take CR seriously when buying a car!


Motor Trend, C&D, R&T, Edmond's, and many others are good for autos.

[brytlea]

I find CR helpful because they give detailed info on features for products when I’m first beginning a search for a new big ticket item. I just bought a new landline phone. Yeah, I checked CR first in order to figure out what features different ones had instead of trying to get info from the kids who work at Best Buy etc. That made it easier to start whittling down the choices.

[Echo4C]

Yet another person who has clearly never used a Xoom before. The “lack of apps” battlecry is particularly amusing, considering I own one and haven’t found an app I need and can’t get. Macunists sound a lot like democrats - repeat a lie over and over until people believe it.

[Stegall Tx]

My personal experience is that when I take the time to do the research and buy something that they have rated highly (clothes washer/dryer and space heaters most recently), I have been very pleased with the products’ performance. I can’t really say that they are “the best” because I have nothing to compare them to, but I haven’t bought something they rated highly and determined it to be a bad choice.

Just my 2¢.

[SMM48]

Why Do You Believe Consumer Reports?

I don't!

[The Great RJ]

Give Consumer Reports credit for reporting the Chevy Volt is a joke.

[chaosagent]

I remember back in the early 80’s CR declared the new Coleco Adam as the “Computer of the Decade”, maybe even the century.

Yeah, right!

[dayglored]

> Why Do You Believe Consumer Reports?

What? Someone believes Consumer Reports? NFW dude!!

Not for a review of anything more high-tech than a wooden toothpick.

[antiRepublicrat]

Take all CR tech reviews with a big grain of salt. For example:

They have, for example, an ephemeral “ease of use” category

This can be tested by numbers, time it takes to complete tasks, time it takes new users unfamiliar with the system to do things without having to be guided. Video them while they're doing it, looking for negative or positive facial expressions.