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Comment by throw10920 | Hacker News Reader

Hooray for Consumer Reports! They're one of the few truly independent (e.g. no paid sponsorships like you see on YouTube channels) product testing and review companies. I have a subscription to them and it's served me well, and I hope they stick around for a while.

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I'm for independent analysis/investigative journalism but this seems written to generate a certain result. All foods are below the guidelines but potentially any amount is unsafe? So any detectable level is bad? It's not clear what result would have been 'good news'.

I agree that CR editorialized a bit - apparently they're not immune to the increasingly emotionally charged journalism in this day and age.

However, I think that they did a better job than, e.g. the NYT would have done - and they actually did lab tests themselves!

I'm hoping that I can convince some friends and family to not just get a CR membership, but also write to them and ask them to editorialize less, change the way they review certain products (like cars), etc.

Who else is there? Today's consumer protections for anything Internet related feels nonexistent. Who else is like Consumer Reports?

Consumer Labs, at least, which does more low-level lab testing than CR. Don't know of any others.

GearLab uses the same model as Consumer Reports. No sponsored content, they buy all the products themselves, etc.

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/about

Looks like they do use affiliate links though, which means they have an incentive to recommend items sold on sites that will give them higher affiliate commissions.

Guess Wirecutter is in the same boat, then.

FYI Consumer Reports also uses affiliate links now. I'm of two minds about it. OTOH it creates an incentive to recommend more items and more expensive items. OTOH I like that they capture some revenue that can go to furthering their mission.

https://rtings.com is pretty good, they're sponsored by readers just like CR.

The detail I could get from them comparing TVs and Vaccumes really impressed me.

Wirecutter. They were acquired by the NY Times not too long ago. I also like America's Test Kitchen, but they only review kitchen products.

Wirecutter has gone downhill rapidly, to the extent that I wouldn't trust it anymore. Which is a shame, since it used to be my go-to for nearly everything.

Here's an article about it:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/08/wirec...

The article doesn't actually quantify them going downhill at all. Only that they've lost some luster with their fans. I honestly attribute it more to them being a victim of their own success. A Wirecutter endorsement is now so valuable that I suspect brands are deliberately gaming the system in some way to get a plaudit from them. I've bought more than a few items they've endorsed in the past few years and they've all held up very well.

I only mentioned it because you were being downvoted without anybody explaining why. If you like Wirecutter, more power to you.

Project Farm on Youtube: rigorous, trustworthy, data-driven, hard to watch all the way through, but definitely worth skipping to the results.

Escape Collective for cycling gear and topics. It's a recently launched outlet consisting of quite a few ex-Cycling Tips writers. They don't use ads and are instead supported by their paying subscribers. The content is fantastic if you're into cycling.

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