Abby’s Guide > Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) > Discussions > Consumer reports and factual errors
Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions |
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Briantun
Joined: Oct 13, 2010
Points: 14
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Consumer reports and factual errors
Original Message Dec 22, 2010 12:53 pm |
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Have any of you seen the December online issue of Consumer Reports? Snowthrowers are reviewed. Lots of facual errors. The have the retail price for the 828 oxe at $1,700. If you click on "shop for this item", more mistakes. They also have all models, at least the 2 stage models, rated poorly for sound. I'm wondering if this information was pulled from the days of when many of these brands used the Tecumseh L-head. Further, they have falsely listed certain models as having freewheel steering. Honestly, there are so many mistakes, that I wonder if they did any actual testing this year. Is the magazine in trouble financially? I have used CR for may years and was disturbed to se this level of recklessness in reporting.
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alty
Joined: Nov 1, 2010
Points: 38
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Re: Consumer reports and factual errors
Reply #7 Dec 22, 2010 5:56 pm |
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(Marc) - " With the advent of the "net" much more comprehensive information is available from a wider better informed source base than CR's "experts". Good point - Very true
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tkrotchko
Location: Maryland
Joined: Feb 9, 2010
Points: 143
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Re: Consumer reports and factual errors
Reply #8 Dec 22, 2010 6:09 pm |
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I never find CR too useful for my taste. They have a heavy weighing factor on price/value. Targeted towards lowest common denominator, low priced commodity type products. They rarely review highend products, and when they do, the high price goes against the rating, regardless of the performance of the product. Tell it like it is, don't cloud the facts with pricing bias. Not for me.
They're more for speed reading to get familiar with competing products, not critical and indepth reviews final decisions. With that said, I rarely look at the specs that they quote. I find them useful to determine (a) what they think are critical items (b) to consider factors that I hadn't thought of (c) a general idea of what they consider "really good" or "really bad". They're really just another data point. For example, I was purchasing a toaster (yes, they still make those) and looked on CR's website, and looked up the CR top rated toasters on Amazon, and there was little correlation between the ratings by consumers on Amazon and CR's rating. The useful part of Amazon was people wrote 2-3 sentences detailing what they liked and didn't like, which you don't get in consumer reports. In the end, I picked on that was top rated on Amazon by 82 people, but was only mid-rated by CR. Again, CR is just a data point, and I enjoy the magazine and website and appreciate what they do.
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FrankMA
Location: Merrimack Valley/Northeastern Mass
Joined: Jul 1, 2010
Points: 587
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Re: Consumer reports and factual errors
Reply #12 Dec 23, 2010 7:09 am |
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Dollars vs. functionality are probably their basic criteria. If a $500.00 machine can clear a driveway as well as a $1400.00 machine with no major performance issues, it will likely be their choice.
I doubt that they take long term performance into consideration. Yeah - it would be nice to see a follow up review of their top OPE picks say, 3 - 5 - 7 years out as a true measure of performance, reliability and longevity. As you aptly stated earlier, forums like this provide on the ground information that can't be found in a magazine.
Toro Wheel Horse 522xi GT, Honda HS928TA, Honda HS621AS, Honda HS520A, Toro CCR3000 (work in progress), Honda HS624WA (sold 08/23/2010), Stihl BR550 Backpack Blower, Stihl MS250, McCulloch MS1635, Honda EM6500SX Generator
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Oneplay
Joined: Oct 11, 2010
Points: 11
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Re: Consumer reports and factual errors
Reply #13 Dec 23, 2010 4:59 pm |
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.... As you aptly stated earlier, forums like this provide on the ground information that can't be found in a magazine. Most definitely to all of the above. I found this site while researching which machine I should buy several months ago and its been invaluable in helping me figure out what would fit my needs by educating me far more than i had expected.
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New_Yorker
Preach the Gospel always, use words when necessary
Location: Long Island, NY
Joined: Nov 26, 2010
Points: 219
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Re: Consumer reports and factual errors
Reply #14 Dec 23, 2010 5:36 pm |
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I just checked the Consumer Reports on line site, and the price is listed at $ 1700.00 as you say but upon clicking on the shop for the prices of $ 1460.00 come up and when I do a Google search the prices vary even more up to 1600 bucks, so it sounds like Toro is having a sale, and trying move these machines. You'd have to ask them what decible levels they rate poorly to discover why the sound levels are rated poor. CR is still the only objective reviewer on all such machines, so don't be too hard on them. I expalined what is, in my opinion, their deficiency on explaning how snowblowers work, and what actually matters. Heated hand grips won't do you much good if the drive system doesn't move the machine into that heavy wet pile semi-ice. They also do not tell you important information to compare the brands, like the diameter and wdth of the friction wheel and drive plate on each machine. That is like leaving off the tire and wheel sizes on cars.
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