Average Rating: 
Rating: - Excellent
The kids and I got the suscription for my husband for Christmas last year. We both love it. I usually get the mail and most of the time read it first. The reveiws are great and easy to read. It's wonderful even if you don't plan on buying any big ticket items in the near future. We've used it for other people in our family that did need to purchase vaccume cleaners and the like. Wonderful. Excellent. I renewed.
Rating: - Consumer Reports Rates Products By Quality, Not Name
I have subscribed to Consumer Reports before. And I plan to again. The reason is, I have tested myself a lot of the products they rate and have found them to be very accurate in their ratings! What I found when subscribing to it before is, more well-known name-brand products are not, for the most part, better than the less known name brand products. For example, I found it interesting to find Sherwood stereo receivers were rated higher than Pioneers. And a Philips Magnavox TV has been rated higher than a Sony or JVC the same size in the same category. I learned not just to go by the name of a product. I have had Zenith TV's. What surprised me is when Consumer Reports rated the Philips Magnavox's the same size way better. And Zenith at the time was a bigger name in TV's. It has also surprised me how often they have rated the Toyota Camry even higher than a Lincoln Town Car, for example. It has helped me to make informed, intelligent decisions when buying household products. Is it any wonder my girlfriend and I now own 2 Philips Magnavox TV's instead of a Sony, JVC or Panasonic? Not at all! It has taught me what to watch for when buying products. For example, with TV's, it is the picture and sound even more than features, although both Philips have a lot of those as well. It also keeps a person informed about any new products to be available on the market before they are and their ratings. True, there have been some times they have been off on their ratings. An example is my Sharp Hi-Fi VHS VCR. It has turned out to perform better than other makes and models of Hi-Fi VCR's they rated higher. But for the most part, they are very accurate on their ratings and findings. What I like is how they do research and ratings on about every item most people use from A to Z. It is mostly inclusive, as well as clear, precise and specific. It is one magazine I highly recommend to anyone who considers quality to be more important than the name of a product.
Rating:  - Bottom line: worth the money
I've been a subscriber for about five years now. A couple of times, I've considered not renewing. Then I'll get an issue that seems to make the entire year's subscription worth it. Stuff like washing machines, new cars, computer monitors, even sunscreen. At a minimum, these truly independent reviews (the organization is non-profit and the magazine is ad-free) focus you on the pivotal issues regarding each product and provide questions to ask in making your purchase. At its best, it pretty much does your screening for you and all that's left for you to do is choose between 2 or 3 brands. I also have to admit I get a good chuckle out of the last page, where consumers have submitted ads or product descriptions that are either misleading or just erroneous. Every issue is not necessarily useful. I think it's ridiculous for them to review things like cereal or restaurants, which I feel are personal preferences, or detergents, which are pretty similar nowadays. But think about this magazine subscription as insurance against a bad purchase or as an investment that can pay you back several times over by saving you hundreds of dollars. Bottom line: it's worth the money.
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