wjm@whuxl.UUCP (MITCHELL) (11/21/84)
Some thoughts on Consumers Union and Consumer Reports:
1) CU attempts to be as unbiased as possible; they buy their test samples
anonomously in stores, they do not accept any advertising, they vigorously
fight any abuses of their no commercial use of reprints or test results
policy, and they try to design tests that are as fair as possible to all
products.
2) As far as I can tell, (having read Consumer Reports for 10+ years)
CU takes great pains to insure their information is accurate.
3) As has been noted by other contributors, CU targets their reports
for the general public, and comments on features they feel are most useful
to that audience.
I've found CU to be most useful for items like air conditioners and washing
machines (where I'm not particularly interested in getting the highest
technology - just a) staying cool and paying the $#$%$## at Jersey Central
Power & Light as little as possible for Three Mile Island or b) getting
my clothes cleaned reliably) and least useful for audio equipment, where
I am interested in higher performance than most of the things they review
provides.
CU tends to review "mass market" items - they tend to stick to budget and
mid-priced high fi equipment for example.
This is not a criticism of CU, since they have limited resources to devote
to product testing (as well as limited space in Consumer Reports to print
the results) and they have to use those resources where the interest is
greatest.
What I've said about audio equipment is also true of computers and photography
(and many other areas).
4) CU also tries to educate the public about some of the key technical
details of the equipment they review - e.g. their computer articles last year.
They generally do quite well, but keep in mind who their target audience is
the non-technical public, with little or no prior knowledge about the
subject. Sometimes, I feel they oversimplify things, like their "accuracy
score" for loudspeakers, in an effort to clarify them.
5) I don't agree with CU's politcal philsophy, which is to support government
"consumer" measures. The only government regulations I feel are necessary are
those to insure a fair marketplace, e.g. weights & measures, truth in lending,
ingredient disclosures, etc. but that's a politcal issue and doesn't take
away from the validity of their test results.
In Conclusion:) CU test reports can be very useful, if you don't want to get
too deeply involved in a product's background and you want a product targeted
for the general public. If you want a more specialized product or more
detail, read the specialty magazines.
Regards,
Bill Mitchell ({ihnp4!}lcuxc!wjm)