Consumer Reports

none

I have to remind myself the CR accepts no advertising and cant be bought off by makers of various goods and service. The magazine industry isnt exactly blistering hot and I'm still surprised CR is still coming each month. That said, some of the product reviews are becoming a bit redundant and frankly price isnt always the object when you want quality. The publication has become a little thinner and less content. The new layout format that occurred a while back wasn't to my liking. Some of the print is now so small that reading it has become a challenge. I'd prefer old school to now..

I bought one copy to see how I liked magazines on my 7" Fire (1st generation). Viewing the whole page, it's nice and colorful with easy to read article titles. Lots of tables (CR's standard for comparing features, prices, reliability, etc. between brands) often can not be viewed completely on the screen when zoomed in. I'm hoping my 9" Fire HD will remedy that. Other than the zooming issue, print is clear and crisp and photos are even better than the paper version. Until I get my 9" (it's on my Christmas list), I will read from the 7" but for viewing the tables, nothing beats a full size monitor or computer screen. I can't confirm that buying a yearly subscription allows access to the magazine on my Fire AND the online site but I can't imagine why it wouldn't at $29-$30. Consumer Reports has lots of competition for reviews, even here on Amazon. The one thing CR has going for it, though, is the lack of bias. Most other review sites are impacted by ads or just random comments from consumers. CR tries to apply the scientific method when testing products. However, that by the very nature of time, is why CR's reviews are frequently for products that are no longer available. Products are revised and changed when the company knows of a problem that is going to be published as soon as it is financially viable so maybe CR works before we even know of it. Lastly, CR is entertaining. It's just not the last word on products and can still be influenced by opinions. It remains today an industry standard. Just look to view the classic tables on a larger screen that 7" or buy a paper copy.

With my subscription to Consumer Reports about to lapse, I decided to renew with Amazon. Love the fact that all my magazines could be monitored in one place, get a reminder when to renew, and not pay more for the extra service. I subscribe to 20+ magazines, have much free time, and spent too much of it tracking the title and info (date paid, price/duration/renewal date, etc). Pages of details taking too much time to track...and here's Amazon, doing it all for me. And they'll even deal with the publisher if there's a problem. If I could, I'd cartwheel around my living room, but Amazon doesn't have an ambulance service. So, I won't.

I’ve subscribed to Consumer Report for Years & always refer to it before purchasing any major appliance or household staple. I gift subscriptions to my kids!

Compared to what it was 20 years ago, CR seems to do less product testing but more health/finance related articles. Their product testing (particularly their automotive testing) used to be more in-depth than what it is today. For example entire test of a car is now maybe one page in length where it used to be 2 or more pages, and they gloss over things that they used to expand upon. Same thing for just about any other product they test.Overall it's a magazine that's still worth getting, but they seem to concentrating less on product tests than they used to.

As the title relates, I reach for consumer reports before any product that costs near or over 20.00. For the most part, I have been pleased, but, they can only review what is in their queqe for a certain amount of years, they have no idea what may happen to that item a few years down the road. For example, I researched through CR, a 750.00 front drive, walk behind, rear bagger JD lawn mower that was superb..........till it was recalled about 7 years later for the exact issue that destroyed mine.......750.00 down the drain. JD is an exceptional lawn product producer, so it is likely that model is the only one ever recalled, I have no idea. However, it was NOT the fault of CR...........I still maintain subscriptions to them!

I don't always agree with their priorities, but I know that they don't have a conflict of interest hanging over their pick. AND they test the stuff they rate, not just read the company literature.I loved the story of the $20,000 sneeze machine to test tissues. Who else would do that?!?! Anyone else would just try the tissue and ask a few others to comment. I can do that! But, I'm not building a sneeze machine, that makes the test fair and consistent.The best magazine for people who HATE their to waste money on inferior products. Those who believe that "you only get what you pay for," I have a bridge I'll sell you! You never get MORE than what you pay for - true. Check out the vacuum ratings for "getting what you pay for." The $100 vacuum beats the $1000 vacuum, where'd that $900 go???? Enough said!