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Comment by v77 | Hacker News Reader

Wirecutter and Consumer Reports for most purchases, Yelp and TripAdvisor for reccomendations while traveling. Works pretty well.

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I've come to really distrust Wirecutter after doing additional review research and realizing that many of the products they recommend have real issues and are in fact not the best whatever you can purchase. Also, their affiliate system isn't the most reliable one so often when you click their Amazon affiliate product link, you're forwarded to a non-existing product page.

I guess experiences differ. Their recommendations have always seemed like pretty solid choices for me.

What's certainly is true (CR as well going back decades) is that if you have a fair bit of knowledge and very specific wants/don't wants in a product area, you may well not be happy with the recommendations from any of the generalist review sites. (I wouldn't use them for a higher-end camera for example.)

Even if their final recommendation isnt the best, its usually a good jumping off point to start looking up their recommendation, their upgrade, and the competition section. More often than not, if their main pick doesnt wow me, I can find something in the competition section that was dismissed for a silly reason, and Ill use that product to start my search.

> are in fact not the best whatever you can purchase.

Best is still subjective, no matter how objective a reviewer may try to be. If one finds their tastes don't line up with a particular review site, then they can find another.

I still use the wirecutter but feel my trust factor has diminished quite a bit recently

I don't think wirecutter really even tries to identify the best, because they factor price into the equation too much for that. I do find it to be a good source of data about some of the options and tradeoffs, but when I'm looking for truly the best in class, it's rarely their pick.

> are in fact not the best whatever you can purchase

I've never used Wirecutter and can't comment on them specifically, but I will note that what is "the best" is very subjective and context dependent. There is no absolute "best" anything.

I don't live in the US, but I've heard "pay to play" allegations against Wirecutter:

https://www.xdesk.com/wirecutter-standing-desk-review-pay-to...

Given that it's part of The New York Times, I'd be skeptical.

I believe the events from that article happened before the NYT acquisition. At that time the Wirecutter was still a startup.

Then why bring up five year old allegations that are almost certainly not relevant today (if they indeed were at the time)?

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