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Comment by lisper | Hacker News Reader

Nowhere is this more evident than when you want to do comparison shopping on an expensive product like a camera or a car. I am actually in the market for a new car right now. I know pretty much what I want. But trying to figure out which product is the best fit for what I want is a nightmare. I go on a manufacturer's web site and it's all marketing. Trying to extract technical details is a chore, and trying to figure out the actual differences between different models and trim lines can range from a nightmare to downright impossible.

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When trying to discern the details between trim levels, I've found looking for actual PDF brochures for that model year is the best route (something like this: https://cdn.dealereprocess.org/cdn/brochures/mazda/2020-mazd...). Nearly every vehicle brochure I've found has a table outlining what is included with different packages and trim levels.

Cars (and cameras) are even more complicated because of prestige and reputation influencing price so greatly. Hyundai and Buick end up as two of the best values right now because nobody wants a used Buick. Cameras have a similar but different thing going on where most people think they need a "DSLR" to take professional pictures, and they buy something three times as big as they need because they dont want to "downgrade" to a mirrorless.

Obviously branding and status play a factor in many purchases, but the larger ecosystem / maintenance agreement ones are a different magnitude. Buying a camera is buying into a camera ecosystem, and buying a car is both a product and its serviceability. The Buick can be greatly reliable, but if its perception is that of something less reliable, you pay for perception not reality.

With car shopping I’ve always hunted down fan forums. There you can usually find out if there’s any issues and whatnot - and even sometimes when deals are about to happen.

I just tack reddit on to the end of every search.

This is why professional reviewers and critics exist.

This has been my experience with any complex product. All our media is regressing to the layman's mean. Why bother posting technical specs and information if 90%+ of your customers won't bother looking at them?

Frankly it makes us all dumber.

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