Consumer Reports does a great job at giving honest reviews. They go through multiple steps to ensure manufacturers don't know they're purchasing their products as well (to avoid getting beefed up 'review units').

And no, their service is not supported by ads - You have to pay for a subscription. Consumer Reports needs to be mentioned more IMO. Because even on reddit, there are companies that offer advanced stealth-like astroturfing campaigns for products/services.

The counterargument is that Consumer Reports could be intruded by corporate shills, but their reputation is solid and they've been around for a long time.

Link: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm

I use CR, but they do miss the target sometimes. They extrapolate a lot between models, sometimes farther than I think is justified by saying they are 'similar'. And occasionally they make really boneheaded recommendations that I just don't understand. On their recommendation I bought a Samsung washer and dryer pair, which both broke within the first 12 months. A bit of research on the appliance forum, and it turns out that all the repair guys say pretty much the same thing -- don't buy Samsung appliances, they're unreliable crap. As someone who owns three Samsung appliances (the third being a refrigerator), I wholeheartedly agree. Never again. Refrigerators are notoriously unreliable regardless of manufacturer, but Samsung really sets the bar pretty low.

So they're definitely not perfect - but it seems like they do far, far more research than the average online source, and are far more reliable, more consistently reliable, and have a much wider array of tested devices (as opposed to a blogger who might test a bunch of products in one specific category).

We can do better than CR - but right now, afaict they're the best we have.

wirecutter on samsung refridgerators seems like one the fairest assessments i've seen: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-refriger...

And unfortunately, you're never really sure on Reddit, either. I found I was too willing to put those, what, 5-10 voices telling me to pick a certain brand up on a high pedestal, because they seemed like real people. They didn't sound like advertisers. But, honestly, how hard is it to fake 5-10 accounts to push your product, or buy high-karma accounts?

My go-tos are sites like Wirecutter, where it seems like the hit to their reputation would be too high to be blatantly bought-out, even if they'll generally only hawk products that can be bought on Amazon or other sites that give them affiliate money. They're not always perfect, but I trust that they're trying to do what they set out to do.

I'm a Consumer Reports + self-investigation guy (using all sources). I do use Wirecutter but I put low weight on their ultimate recommendations. I use them to find what else is out there.

The main issue with most review sites is that they're kids. Companies like NYT/Wirecutter don't want to pay old men that are experts in manufacturing. They hire kids with little life experience to review something like a washing machine. They haven't had 2 or even 1 washing machine in their entire lives. They wouldn't even be capable of doing a teardown. Let alone identifying which parts are quality vs not.

Unless of course your main qualification is not trying to find something that is built to last. Which is the hardest thing to get these days. Finding garbage like electronics and software is easy. Everyone wants to sell you software rather than high quality manufactured goods. And I want the least software possible as I'm very anti-technology for a software developer.

My research sources would be roughly in this order:

1. Consumer Reports (teardowns, can't beat this method. You pay them directly, if interested in least conflict of interest)

2. Wirecutter (good for a free source, but puts near-zero weight on reliability)

3. Amazon reviews (can find some old timers reviewing there but always keep in mind that most people aren't very intelligent. They maintain nothing and won't skim a manual)

4. Reddit (a lot of zero life experience kids on that, meaning generally anyone under 40)

5. Then whatever else you can find on the web

To be fair(er) to WC, most of their review introductions typically mention interaction with people with longer histories in whatever the relevant business is, so it's clear that they recognize their outsider status. How much interaction they really have with these niche experts and what impact it has on their reviews, I don't know.

Let me share a resource with you, where an experienced community with skin in the game review products under the context of bargain hunting! www.ozbargain.com.au

Looking past the bargain and location aspects, this site is super useful for understanding products in greater detail

I find the best results on reddit when I look for the same company selling only that type of thing. They often moderate the sub on that topic and are very open about being a seller of it, and know their product. Note this is actually selling the product - not to be confused with amazon links. They need to have a real business, and while they moderate the sub they never have links to their store (instead it is search my profile to buy from me).

4chan's /g/ for tech gear and /diy/ for bigger gear is great for that sort of thing. There's "generals" for common subjects like headphones, PC building etc, and "stupid questions thread" where you can ask about anything. Do note that 4chan can be very offensive and politically incorrect, you need a bit of a thick skin to get along there.