Customer Reviews

The Buying Guide 2004 (Consumer Reports Buying Guide)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this guide hoping to get good information on new cars and electronics. The car guide was ok. It gave enough information to help if you are looking for a new or used car.
However, the electronics information was stitled. First, pages 240-260 were not there. There were duplicate 261-280 pages....so buyer beware. Most of the buyers advice given was general at best. My biggest dissapointment was lack of information on any portable electronics. Not a thing. With technology advancements and a huge market for portable entertainment consumer reports bit the dirt with this book.
Their website was no better.

I'll stick with amazon for product review...definetely cheaper.

Consumer Reports is the best- known name in product testing and analysis. An affiliate of Consumers Union, this company examines all sorts of products and services and reports on the good and bad, the pros and cons, and then ranks across different criteria. This buyer's guide is like the Consumer Reports magazine, except that it contains mostly ratings without many explanations of the different products.

This guide can come in very handy not just for its product ratings, but also for some of its general advice- found in the front of the book. Here, you can lookup web sites for different manufacturers, tips on avoiding shopping traps, a table that helps consumers decide whether or not it's more financially efficient to repair or replace an item, and so on.

One criticism that I must make about this guide is the limited number of products reviewed in some categories. Automobiles are covered very well, and so are a few other categories. But others, like certain appliances, only cover a fraction of the total brand names available. The book would be more complete if this area was improved.

In spite of its few flaws, this is still a useful guide to own. It ranks products by overall score, showing consumers which products are the best, based on Consumer Report's scoring. I don't agree with everything I find in this book, but I still recommend it to aid in the buying process.

Consumer reports guides have always been the consumers' first defense. This guide follows this line in providing the consumer an independent review of various brands. If you're going to buy one consumer guide this year, this is the one.

The reason for the 4-star rating is that it seems the prices for electronics are rather out-of-date, and the newer models are missing there, even considering the publishing delay.