Consumer Reports Buying Guide 2010 (Best & Worst Appliances, Cars, Electronics, and more, 1,500+ Brand-Name Product Ratings) [Paperback]

Editors of Consumer Reports Magazine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2009

Here's the ideal resource for every consumer faced with questions like: "Is this the right product for me? Will I get my money's worth in this product? Which brand is the best for me?" In today's marketplace, there are so many products that can be bought and so many ways to buy them. Consumers are often faced with too many choices when trying to decide on which products to purchase. The Consumer Reports Buying Guide 2010 is a one-stop portable source for making intelligent, money saving purchases for all home buying needs. This book tells you what manufacturers can't and often won't tell you - based on a full year's worth of Consumer Reports testing. This compact reference guide contains over 1,500 brand-name ratings along with invaluable information on what products are available, important features, latest trends and expert advice on: Home office equipment Digital cameras and camcorders Home entertainment Cellular Phones Home and yard tools Gas Grills Air conditioners Kitchen appliances Vacuum cleaners and washing machines Cars, minivans, pickups and SUV's And so much more!From refrigerators to vacuum cleaners, digital cameras to SUVs -- Consumer Reports Buying Guide 2010 will make every consumer a smarter shopper.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Consumers Union (2009)
• ASIN: B002WC1ZTO
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another in this valuable series of publications, November 11, 2009

By 

Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL)) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Consumer Reports Buying Guide 2010 (Best & Worst Appliances, Cars, Electronics, and more, 1,500+ Brand-Name Product Ratings) (Paperback)

I am a member of Consumers Union and a subscriber to "Consumer Reports" (CR). As such, one of the great benefits is receiving the CR annual "Buying Guide." And just out is the 2010 guide. Page 5 lays out the purpose of this publication: "The Consumer Reports Buying Guide for 2010 is your handy one-stop source for making intelligent, informed, money-saving purchases for all your home and personal needs."

Each year, I use these guides to give me a sense of what might be my best bets for purchases when the need arises. The guidance is normally pretty useful, too.

The auto section is normally one of the most informative parts of the book. Pages 149 and following are very important to me. My son's old Honda Accord is getting long of tooth, and we may be looking for a replacement used car soon. And here is the best and worst of used cars on these pages. A valuable resource as we plan to look at an upgrade. If we wanted to spend, say $10,000 or so, a Honda Accord (2004) might fill the bill.

Randomly going to other pages. . . . We're thinking of some new flooring in our home. On page 58 starts a discussion of types of flooring, what to look for, and so on. Page 96. Printers for computers. Some guidelines and thoughts about what to look for. Also, a reference to the issue of Consumer Reports that goes over printers in detail (i.e., December, 2008), a nice feature indeed. Page 238: GPS navigators. A ranking of different brands and models. Page 261: refrigerators. A ranking on a number of different dimensions (including temperature performance, energy efficiency, noise, ease of use, and the like).

So, another handy reference tool from CR. And a welcome addition to our home library.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pathetic! Out of date/ just plain wrong., January 5, 2010

By 

J. Nicholson (PA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Consumer Reports Buying Guide 2010 (Best & Worst Appliances, Cars, Electronics, and more, 1,500+ Brand-Name Product Ratings) (Paperback)

So I saw this handy little book in line @ bestbuy and thought I'd take a look. I've been thinking of getting a CR subscription so I thought this would be a trial run. I flipped through most of the book in 10 minutes (it was a huge line) not finding anything terribly interesting... then I got to the computer electronics section. It was pathetic. Absolutely laughable! The information was probably 1 to 5 years out of date on average, let alone looking forward into 2010. I'm a computer hobbyist, not even a professional electronics writer, and I know I could write a better, more helpful, and more relevant piece on PCs and laptops for 2009-2010. The PC section read like what I would imagine a book entitled "PC buying for dummies 2006 edition" might read. Here's an example: under the operating system section they say something like "if you're getting a PC, windows vista is the best option and is offered with most new PCs" So if you're not laughing at a statement like that you may need this outdated book... but I'll educate you anyway. Windows 7 is the best option and is offered with most new PCs. It's considered better than Vista in basically every way and It's been on sale since October (and available on a trial basis for FREE for about a year before that! Special priced programs for students & academics, etc). They make no mention of 32bit vs. 64bit windows (there are real advantages to both), no mention of the value of the various tiers of windows that Microsoft is peddling. Don't even get me started on their BRIEF and misinformed section on video cards, a component that is probably the most important part of a modern PC. No mention about consumers saving money on upgrading just the video card ($50+ upgrade) or the ram ($50+ upgrade) instead of buying a whole PC ($400+ upgrade).

Also I've been suspicious about consumer reports since Behr paint has been the #1house paint for like 10 years running or something ridiculous. I know a lot about paint. A LOT. I know for a fact that there are better paints out there - many of them not tested by consumer reports. When I was a kid I thought consumer reports was the holy grail for buyer's information, but now that I know a thing or two about electronics and paint I know that they know almost nothing despite their "unbiased scientific tests." I suspect that there's more to consumer reports than meets the eye.

So now I'm wondering: "if they could be so wrong on electronics AND possibly misguided about paint, what else could they be wrong on? Could they be wrong on cars too?! That's their claim to fame! Are they just guessing? Are their writers living somewhere without internet access?"

Needless to say I got a few good laughs from this book and threw it into the discount DVD bin at checkout. If this book were bigger it might be worth one star because at least the pages could be used to line an animal cage or something.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much Needed, April 5, 2010

By 

WENDY L. LAMONT "Sheltie Mom" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Consumer Reports Buying Guide 2010 (Best & Worst Appliances, Cars, Electronics, and more, 1,500+ Brand-Name Product Ratings) (Paperback)

When purchasing a vehicle in our market it truly is "buyer beware" so having tools such as the Buying guide really makes the difference. I recommend this to anyone thinking about buying a vehicle whether it is new or used.