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Is there another reliable site to ask questions about consumer items?
Every time I would be in the market for something particular, say, a keyboard, or a camping tent, I would ask google, “What is the best air fryer, Reddit.”
I would get the link to the subject, however niche it was, and see discussions from assumedly real folks talking about the subject I was curious about. It was informative, and I could research deeper into brands or products I didn’t know about before.
Is there another site that even comes close to that? Or are we currently in a dark period until something like that comes along? I don’t typically use advertised websites to tell me “lists of the top ten handheld gaming consoles.”
Just wondering if there’s an alternative to my previous method of research.
I'm in Australia and I'm a member of Choice which is a consumer advocacy organisation. They test items pretty rigorously, even if you aren't in Australia often models are identical internationally so their may be some cross over.
The closest American equivalent I know of is Consumer Reports. While accessing their full results requires a subscription, that subscription is a free perk at many local libraries. Check with your local branch to see if they offer access to CR.
RTINGS is the closest equivalent for consumer electronics and hobbyist gear. Wirecutter is also a great resource - while they’re not as rigorous as RTINGS or CR (and I don’t trust that they’re 100% impartial) they often offer a great overview of the most commonly recommended options that you should consider, much like Reddit.
How is Consumer Reports these days? I thought I'd heard that they'd gone a bit downhill, but I may be thinking of another site.
I think they’re pretty accurate. They got a lot of complaints about their vehicle rankings, though IMO in most cases those were accurate too.
The biggest issue I have with them is that it often takes so long to gather data and publish the results that you can’t even get half the stuff they tested anymore. Either the items were discontinued or there are new versions. Are the new ones as good as what was tested? Who knows!
What have you been hearing about their vehicle rankings? The woman who runs that department is a friend of my family’s.
The usual complaint was they are lenient on/promote imported brands and are critical of domestic US vehicles.
I didn’t really see it, but that was the criticism.
I’m excited to research this site more. I really appreciate it. News to me.
I mean I still use wirecutter and consumer reports. You can nitpick all kinds of things with any particular choice, but generally I think you'll get something good at the end of it. There's a lot of rose-tinted nostalgia glasses whenever the "back in my day, wirecutter was good" sentiment comes up.
I'm not sure it's worthwhile to also completely void yourself from reddit? If you're researching something, you're just shooting yourself in the foot if you don't go on reddit links from google searches.
I haven't done it that often, but Bing w/ GPT or GPT with the web search plugin have been pretty good at summarizing results last time I tried it (which was for an ocarina).
Sometimes there's also forums for that specific niche, like camping, but the lack of voting can make it a chore to dig through.
Great suggestions… I suppose I shouldn’t dissuade myself from Reddit completely, but I’d rather not give them traffic, nor do I trust the content anymore. I do really love these other sites you’ve recommended…
I’ve been trying to find a quality Anahata walking stick flute for a while now so I think I’ll use your method for that as well!
I mean, for a while at least reddit results will still be valid.
Between Wirecutter and Consumer Reports, I can usually get all the info I need for most products. It's usually just very niche purchases that I'm lacking good reviews for without reddit.
Rtings.com is pretty great for electronics
YouTube, and it's arguably better than reddit for this purpose. There are a ton of amateur content creators, and you should be able to find reviews for almost anything you need. Oftentimes, you can find a "6 months later" review for popular products.
I mostly agree, but MAN is it hard for me to click on an informative YouTube video when I see its 10 minutes or longer.
I feel the same way. YouTube is great for a deep dive, but for most things I’d rather be able to filter, sort, and skim my way through a lot of information relatively quickly. I can check 10 different Reddit threads in half the time of one video.
Cntrl-F as well.
If I’m looking at a huge page of information I can quickly locate anything relevant with a cursory glance. Not the case with videos.
I feel this way as well. I often adjust the playback speed in settings to 1.25 or even 1.5 just to get them to get through their blather faster.
I’ll just scroll watching the mini viewer until the thing I’m looking for shows up on screen. Or I just won’t watch it at all…
Part of the reason for the 10 minute plus videos is that is the minimum length for the video to be monetized. Just a random factoid.
Is that still the case? YouTube changes their algorithm so often, I wasn’t sure what the current rules are for videos.
I'm guessing it is from some chatter I've heard from other tubers...
"Hey guys! Today we're going to talk about the Acme Widgetron and why I think it's the...best...Widgetron...out there, but first let's talk about Widgetron's and why you might want one and...."
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Right?
It’s the worst when it’s a video on a more complex issue and the first ten minutes is a 101 course on the basics.
Like, dude, I already know what a computer is and how to turn it on. I’m getting an error code wibblyjibbly, and your title promised you’d show me how to resolve it.
Dude, I don’t give a DAMN about raid shadow legends.
Youtube is defintely the way to go if you are willing to spend a while going through different people's opinions.
The hard part about Youtube is finding someone who is knowledge about the related industry. Most Youtube videos on products I tend to find are from people who make general review content, which usually mean they lack insights on the specific advantages of one product vs another.
Do you find that more advertisers support the top reviewers? I’m curious that it’s the case… even with Marques Brownlee? I seem to not trust anything.
Top reviewers will often disclose if a product has been sponsered. I know LinusTechTips ALWAYS discloses if something is sponsered or not, and Marquez usually is good about that too. There was only one video I recall where he was sponsered by Best Buy for some products and it felt like a shoe-horned ad, but it was a one off video that I haven't seen him do much similar since.
Basically yeah. People have become a lot better at disclosing sponsorships, but Youtubers may still have the incentive to give a positive review so they can get keep getting early and free access to products. I also find that big Youtubers overhype products for engagement, but that depends more on their personality I guess.
Marques Brownlee isn't someone I wouldn't trust for headphone reviews, but from what I've seen he doesn't seem too biased with phones and such.
The biggest thing I look for in a reviewer is that their rating scale matches my own. For me 5 is average, and products should have to do something exceptionally good/bad to score higher/lower than that.
People do ask these questions on Tildes. It may take longer to get an answer and not every product will be known to other users, but it has been done successfully many times.
I haven’t tried the same method, as in asking google, “What’s the best iPad keyboard, Tildes?”
Does that work too? I suppose my immediate question is an ease of research. Maybe I just need to be less lazy :/
FYI If you want results to ONLY display tildes results, you would want to phrase your search as "What's the best iPad keyboard site:Tildes.net"
I do that all the time for Reddit when I'm looking at reviews for certain things. Tildes may not have as many threads related to the area of discussion, but if it's there you will want the above syntax.
Yes, it does. That is a common kind of post here. But usually people add more details in the body of the post regarding their particular needs and preferences. A more descriptive title helps too.
I'd probably put your example post in ~tech.
But you will get a nice conversation, not just a list. So I get why you might feel lazy about it.
We have lots of keyboard nerds here.
I’m ready to be more mentally active anyway. The switch from lazy to proactive is only beginning after Covid and everything being a lazy Sunday. I really can’t tell you how much I dig this site.
That's awesome! Glad to have you here ;)
I’m really excited to be a part of it and bring great conversation to the internet that I love.
Oh boy, you are definitely in the right place for that!
TRUE THAT. Bring it, Tildes. ~~~~~~
I type in something very similar to your search term. It's literally only 5 letters' difference, but it gives me what I need
“What is the best air fryer, Reviews”
That gives me all sorts of review articles about air fryers. Would that work for you?
My strategy is to read reviews that might be biased/sponsored to get some product names in my head as well as some price points for midrange high-end low-end etc and then search "{product_name} problems" or "{product_name} isn't working" for a couple options in the band that suits my needs/price range for the item and then read those results too.
If I need something really quickly and the need is so urgent that I'm price insensitive (e.g. a HEPA filter just now for the smoke in the Chicagoland area) I just buy the first thing that Wirecutter recommends. I think this has happened maybe twice ever, the other thing was that my speakers broke really suddenly a few years ago and I wanted to replace them both immediately and with something long-lasting.
This would give terrible results. For example, Reddit thinks non-stick pans are going to kill you, they think carbon steel pans are god-tier and you can do anything with a carbon steel pan, they think the only pan you can use to sear a steak is cast iron, they don't know the differences between different types of stainless steel pans.
For kitchen equipment I'd be looking at America's Test Kitchen because they know what they're doing, they really test the stuff, they can compare different items, and they set out what they think pros and cons are so you'll know if you agree or disagree with them.
I'd be interested to hear your knowledge on the topic of non-stick pans.
I was particularly ready to abandon all my non-sticks and get all stainless steel for health reasons (I don't trust the tech behind non-stick surfaces, no matter how much they tell me it's the new advanced formula that won't make me sick in 20 years).
As a matter of fact there was another Tildes user here yesterday that echo-ed that.
It's not the same where you can just tack on a "site:example.com", but I've found Ars Technica to be pretty good and trustworthy when it comes to reviews. They don't review everything, but the writers that they have tend to be knowledgeable and provide plenty of detail as to why they do or don't like something.
For forum/consumer perspectives, there’s also tapatalk, there are a lot of hobbyist forums on it that will have threaded discussions similar to Reddit.