A lot has been made about the 41-megapixel camera inside the Nokia Lumia 1020, but our tech-head twins at Consumer Reports say that you shouldn’t be swayed by the impressive number of megapixels, and that the camera is good but still outperformed by the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4. [Consumer Reports] [More]
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The New Nokia Lumia May Have A 41-Megapixel Camera, But That Doesn’t Mean It’s The Best
July 25, 2013
Hey Electronics Experts, Consumer Reports Is Hiring
July 24, 2013
Our more respectable siblings over at Consumer Reports have an opening for a passionate electronics industry expert, and since we know there are more than a few of you out there reading Consumerist, we figured it was worth bringing to your attention. [More]
8 Tips To Hone Your Haggling Skills
By 7.10.13 — Updated: 6.26.14
We live in an age where a growing number of things are purchased online, and even those items bought at retail stores are often sold by large national chains that have little to no interest in customers who want to debate a product’s price. The art of haggling is in danger of becoming lost to future generations, but that need not be the case. [More]
How To Pick Laundry Appliances With Features That Are Actually Useful
By 7.9.13
If you’ve never bought your own appliances before or the dryer you bought during the Carter administration finally died, you might find the array of features available on modern washers and dryers daunting and scary. The problem is that the machine with the most features isn’t necessarily the best one. [More]
Want Only The Best Toilet Papers? Go To Walmart, Apparently
By 6.18.13
Toilet paper: almost everyone uses it, but do you put much thought into which brands you buy? Do you have a brand preference, or just pick up the biggest and cheapest package available at Walmart or Costco? Our colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports put on their 2-ply lab coats and got to work stirring, pulling, and caressing various brands of toilet paper to find out which brands really are the best. [More]
Why Should I Care About New Fuel Economy Standards? Because Money Is Nice To Have
By 6.14.13
Don’t you just loooove watching the dollars and cents tick up as the gallons slowly glug into your car’s gas tank? No you don’t, because no one likes spending large chunks of change to fuel their vehicles. And maybe hybrids or electric cars don’t have all the bells and whistles you’ve come to expect. What’s a discerning, wallet-conscious consumer to do? [More]
Consumer Reports: $1,500 Ultra HD TV Is Just a Mediocre LCD TV
By 5.29.13
With many Ultra HD (or 4K) TVs ranging in price anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000, early adopters who want that level of visual definition without going bankrupt may be tempted to buy Seiki’s 50″ Ultra HD for around $1,500. But our TV-testing siblings at Consumer Reports say you’d probably be better off saving your money for now. [More]
Store-Brand Sunscreens From Target, Walmart, Walgreens Outperform Higher-Priced Options In Test
By 5.23.13
If you think you get what you pay for when you buy sunscreen, you might be in for a surprise. Our less-sunburned cousins at Consumer Reports recently put a dozen sun-protection products to the test and the ones that came out on top were also among the least expensive. [More]
Watch As Consumer Reports Goes Drifting In $90,000 Tesla S
By 5.9.13
Earlier today, our test-track-lovin’ kin at Consumer Reports surprised an awful lot of people by announcing that the completely electric (and completely expensive) Tesla S scored the highest in its latest automobile ratings. But what may surprise even more people is that the seemingly button-down auto-test folks at Consumer Reports also know to cut loose… and go drifting in a $90,000 car. [More]
Can I Replace My Smartphone Screen Myself? Yes. Should I? Maybe.
By 5.1.13
Can you replace a cracked smartphone screen yourself? Yes, and there are plenty of tools, kits, and online tutorials available to help you. Should you do it? Maybe, say our colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports, armed with pentalobe screwdrivers and lab coats. [More]
How To Save Money By Not Using Your Health Insurance
By 4.30.13
We’ve covered the topic of low-cost generic medicines in the past, helping a reader save more than $300 in out-of-pocket expenses every year by filling his prescriptions at a discount store and not using his health insurance. That’s just one person, though. Can this plan work for everyone? Our sibling publication Consumer Reports deployed their nationwide network of secret shoppers to find out. [More]
Save Electricity: Don’t Turn Off Your Printer
By 4.4.13
Do you turn your printer off when you’re not using it? You might be wasting electricity…and ink. Our watt-measuring colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports Electronics note that letting your printer enter standby mode often uses less power than turning it off or on. For inkjet printers, the toll also includes ink: some models slorp a bit more ink when priming the jets to print when you turn the printer on rather than letting it wake up from standby mode. [Consumer Reports Electronics] [More]
Will The Edge Of Glory Really Let You Slice A Tomato WIth A Credit Card?
By 4.3.13
Have you always dreamed of slicing vegetables with the sharpened edge of a plastic credit card? Yeah, us either. But pitchman Anthony Sullivan does just that in the ad for the Edge of Glory, an inexpensive, small, and easy-to-use gadget that claims to sharpen any knife in your drawer. Is it worth $10.99 plus shipping and handling? According to tests by our super-sharp siblings down the hall at Consumer Reports, the answer is “maybe.” If you only have cheap knives. Or want to chop your food with a credit card. Which actually works. [More]
There Is Always A Best Way To Cook A Frozen Pizza
By 3.26.13 — Updated: 5.20.15
Looking to get the best culinary experience out of your frozen pizza? That’s not an oxymoron. The smell of tomato sauce and cheese is drifting down the hall from our colleagues at Consumer Reports, who compared the same pizza when cooked in a conventional oven and a microwave oven. Their goal was to figure out the best way to cook frozen pizzas for optimal texture and tastiness. [More]
Consumer Reports Tests Prove: Generic Twinkies Not As Good As Original
By 3.8.13
Since negotiations broke down between management and workers and the mass-consumption snackery Hostess liquidated, American consumers have been left bereft and Twinkieless. No one really cares about Wonder Bread, but Twinkies hold a special place in our national imagination, even for people who haven’t tasted one of the hydrogenated delights in decades. But are the generic Twinkie-ish cakes you see on store shelves worth your time? [More]
Perhaps You Would Like A Fridge With A Built-In Sodastream Or Hot Water Dispenser
By 2.15.13 — Updated: 4.15.15
Many of our friends and readers are big fans of the Sodastream, a device that lets you make your own sweet (or not-so-sweet) fizzy beverages at home. What if you could combine a refrigerator water/ice dispenser with the at-home carbonation technology of the Sodastream? Don’t rush to the patent office: Samsung has already introduced that product. It hits stores in April. [More]
If You’re Looking For An iPhone 5, Consider Going No-Contract
By 1.25.13
If you’re looking for an iPhone 5, do you want to pay an extra $450 now, or an extra $1000 over the next two years? Buying an unlocked phone and using a no-contract carrier can give you sticker shock initially, but you can save quite a bit of money in the long run. Our number-crunching colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports looked into it, and found that if you can pay for your new phone itself out of pocket, going unlocked and contract-free is a much better deal. [More]
Should You Take Back That GPS You Got For Christmas?
By 12.27.12
You might have ripped the wrapping paper off a shiny new GPS unit earlier this week, but should you keep it? A well-meaning loved one might have bought you a new one this week, but that doesn’t mean that they chose the best one for your needs or that you should keep it. How do you know whether the unit you have is the best for you? If only there were an entity out there that tested different models side-by-side and published the results…Oh, right, that would be our elder sister publication, Consumer Reports! [More]
