Consumerist: product testing

Fellow Consumerist Tests Coffee Grounds Tips So You Don't Have To

Chris Walters — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:37:37 EDT

We want to commend hhole for electing himself or herself guinea pig on this morning's coffee grounds post. Apparently, hhole immediately started rubbing coffee grounds all over his or her body in order to see if it really would work as a facial scrub/hair shiner. (Of course, this only makes us want to come up with some imaginary "use" for, say, kitty litter or corn meal to see whether hhole takes the bait.) Read this intrepid commenter's first person report below.

Seeing the coffee ground story I was completely stoked to head upstairs and try out the new coffee ground solution. Outcome...overall a big fail.

Shorty63136 hit it on the head. I used about the same amount of water that a small 3rd world nation uses to rinse the last bit of ground out of my hair. Aargh... I just rubbed the back of my ear and found another ground. Yeesh.

As a facial and foot scrub it was fine but as a body scrub I don't recommend it for anyone past the body hair level of "smooth". Again, so much water to get off so few grounds.

Overall, I vaguely smell like the days when I was a barista. Best to leave the past in the past in this instance.

Past the body I really don't think I'd put grounds on a pet just because coffee is toxic for them and I'm not sure I could prevent grounds getting in their mouth. Plus, with all the hair, I have no clue how many lakes I'd have to drain to get Hungry the Cat clean.

Inside The Consumer Reports Testing Facility

Ben Popken — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:10:56 EDT

Ever wonder how Consumer Reports figures out which products to recommend? For one, it takes mad science, like this echo-free room that sits on a different foundation from the rest of the building. I was up at the Consumer Reports HQ yesterday for a planning meeting related to a blogger's conference they're planning for June, and they were nice enough to give me a quick tour of their testing facilities. I snapped some 33 pictures with my cellphone camera. Check them out in the interactive photo essay gallery, inside...

Air Purifiers That Work, And Ones That Don't

Chris Walters — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:14:33 EST

Consumer Reports tested 40 air purifiers by locking them in a closed room and filling it with smoke and dust—in other words, they recreated this writer's childhood Christmases when Granny would visit with her angry poodle. Here are Consumer Reports' selection of the best and worst devices.

Two ozone-based purifiers, EdenPure Area Model and the EcoQuest Fresh Air, "do a poor job of removing smoke and dust, and they emit very high levels of ozone." Consumer Reports slaps a "Not Acceptable" for use by homeowners label on them. (More memories of Granny.)

Of course, the most heavily marketed purifiers we know of are from Sharper Image. So how did the company fare?

Consumer Reports also tested air purifiers from market leaders Oreck and Sharper Image. The Sharper Image Hybrid GP Germicidal Air Purifier is $500 and the Oreck tower, the XL Professional Air Purifier, is $700. But Consumer Reports says neither did a good job of cleaning the air.

A much less expensive air purifier did a much better job and earned top-ratings. It's the Whirlpool Whispure model number AP45030S for $230. It uses only a filter to clean the air, so it doesn't emit any ozone at all.

As far as antibacterial features, the testing found that the Whirlpool Whispure model named above performed as well at removing microorganisms from the air as more expensive models, even though the Whirlpool model isn't marketed as antibacterial.

"CONSUMER REPORTS: Air purifiers" [9 News Colorado]

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"Air cleaners, how to choose" [Consumer Reports]
(Photo: Getty)

Consumer Reports: Man Vs. Leaf Blower

Meg Marco — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:31:24 EST

Consumer Reports wanted to know if leaf blowers were really worth the money and ear damage, so they marked off a parts of lawn, filled it with leaves and had the ultimate man vs. blower showdown.

Anyone who has ever had to rake a lawn can immediately tell you who won, but it's still a cute video. They've also got some fall cleanup tips.

Man Vs. Machine [Consumer Reports]