Do you think it's worth it? There are two or three different plans, $35/year, $55/year, $7.95/month...

I want to read ratings for lawn mowers and other lawn tools, washing machines & dryers, HVAC maybe... what else?? Internet... That's it for the short run.

Hmmm, guess I'll go google "reviews of consumer reports" .... seems kinda meta...

Googling got me to this

quote:

Using Consumer Report for reviews is like buying stuff using the Sears Catalog. It's outdated.

As the young kids say "I feel personally attacked right now"

It’s part of Apple News. I haven’t checked whether you need a separate subscription or not.

I think its worth getting a few months when you buy a new house. You'll buy enough stuff to make it worthwhile, or at least I did when I moved in to this place.


Or you can rely on Amazon and Home Depot reviews, which are free and not a bad option. Yes, some can be faked, but I think generally they still lead you in the right direction.

But spending 30-40 bucks on a few months of CR seems worth it to me.

Yeah, I'll probably subscribe, I need to check the Apple News option and also Amazon's option.

I found an article about some of CR's strugles for relevance in the internet age, this quote caught my eye:

quote:

All this, however, is hardly the first obstacle Consumer Reports has faced. In 1940, the House Un-American Activities Committee listed the organization as a subversive operation for its suspected ties to communism. Consumer Reports replied in the form an editorial, stating, “If the condemnation of worthless, adulterated, and misrepresented products is a communistic activity, then the Federal Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and the American Medical Association must be paid direct from Moscow.” In 1954, Consumer Reports was dropped from committee’s list, and has continued to educate the public ever since.

https://www.theatlantic.com/bu...mazon-review/477108/

That's pretty badass.

It’s full stories, no subscription needed.

That articles als had a recommendation for thewirecutter.com, which I sometimes see in the NYT but has way more stuff reviewed than I realized.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
It’s full stories, no subscription needed.

Wait, do I have a subscription to Apple News? I feel like I have the icon on my phone but never open it?? And I'm not paying any monthly for that...

Time for more googling...

I had it for a while when I moved. I used it far more than I thought I would. Their used car buying guide is indispensable, btw.

I was a long long time subscriber, but gave it up seven or eight years ago when it just stopped being very useful to me.

Cheapskate tip: Most local libraries have a subscription, and you can flip through the last six or seven issues to see if there’s a topic that’s on your to do list.

Amazon offers a Kindle subscription with a 30-day free trial period, so I signed up for that. The annual fee through Amazon is $24 btw, while on the CR website it's $35... Hmm.

But the CR website offers a few other types of subscriptions not available through Amazon.

I have option fatigue.

I paid the $35/year when I was shopping for a new dishwasher.
I was not aware of option to get it through Amazon/Kindle.
I do not regret paying it.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug:
I was a long long time subscriber, but gave it up seven or eight years ago when it just stopped being very useful to me.

Cheapskate tip: Most local libraries have a subscription, and you can flip through the last six or seven issues to see if there’s a topic that’s on your to do list.

That's pretty much my story, too. It was very helpful as a homeowner, but I ended up only reading a few pages of each edition, and about a fourth of the Car issue. When I need a review, I go to the public library.

Call me frugal.

Nevertheless, it was well worth the subscription, and even when I stopped reading it cover-to-cover, I did feel good about supporting the work they do.


Interesting tidbit: When the Chrysler K-cars came out, CR reviewed them and said, "hey, these look pretty good, are reasonably priced, and if you need a small, affordable car, buy one." As we now know, Chrysler K-cars were car-shaped rolling piles of feces. That was the last time CR ever recommended a car model that was less than three or four years old. They review new cars, but they won't recommend one... they just say "it's too new to recommend".

We have a subscription; I’m not sure why. But I used it recently to pick a new dishwasher. The 30 year old one finally died.

So the Amazon subscription is only for the kindle version of the print magazine, it doesn’t include access to the website or archives.

So I just canceled that subscription and I think I’ll resubscribe through their website.