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Comment by timcederman | Hacker News Reader

I've bought several things on recommendation from the Wirecutter, and repeatedly been disappointed, so this is not so surprising - what a shame.

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IMO they have the same problem as most online review sites. The reviewers lack the industry knowledge needed to assess a product in isolation, so they end up with reviews where products are compared to each other. A review of dozen piece of trash products always ends with a recommendation even if they’re all a waste of money.

IE: Check out our review for the tastiest dog shit of 2018.

They actually occasionally write reviews that tell you not to buy any product in a category. For example, "The Best Automatic Cat Litter Box (But We Don’t Recommend It)".(https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-automatic-cat-litter-...)

My guess is that affiliate revenues for automatic cat litter boxes are somewhat low. Judging by their behavior and response to these allegations, I'm inclined to think that, if the product was higher volume, they would go ahead and recommend it wholeheartedly.

I've bought a few things after reading their reviews, but since found a select few youtubers who seem more genuine (e.g. RocketJumpNinja for gaming mice).

I've always been happy with their recommendations, but they were not higher-end electronics and more thesweethome stuff.

What are the biggest disappoitnments?

The worst was the Pioneer XW-SMA4-K bluetooth speaker they recommended. Obsolete just a couple of months after I bought it, and performance was just ok. Had to hook it up to a timer to reset it at least once a week or else it'd stop showing up on Airplay.

There was something else I bought (can't recall which) that I was disappointed with, so when I was looking at treadmills and security cameras, I looked at their reviews more carefully. Trying to corroborate their positive reviews elsewhere turned me off their conclusions.

Agreed, their bluetooth speaker reviews were lackluster. Ended up getting a UE Boom 2 after researching it myself and have been very happy. But for their other guides like travel gear, bluetooth headphones, monitors I've generally been happy with their picks. I usually pick the upgrade option when possible.

I was just about to look up wirecutter review for Bluetooth speakers, I don't suppose you found a reliable opinion on the stubbier UE WonderBoom?

In my case I found a very detailed review on Amazon that compared it to a few competitors. I suspect UE makes good speakers overall though. For the UE Boom 2, it's sound quality was significantly better than the Anker speaker I tried and supposedly only 2nd to the Bose Soundlink Mini which is 2x the price and not waterproof.

I have two of those speakers, and I’m actually quite happy with them.

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