Ask Lemmy

I think rtings buys their own test units, though they only do a few categories: tvs, monitors, etc.

Consumer reports is okay for non-tech items, though companies have caught on and once they're on top of the list, they make revision that makes the product much cheaper and shittier and sell it under the original name. You can see it in the comments when people buy the same thing after it has been the best for a bit. Once a company is #1, they enshittify so it's better, in my opinion, to buy rising stars rather than the soon-to-enshittify incumbent.

I ask someone who might have an objective opinion on the matter. When buying a 3d printer, I asked the 3d printing community, when buying a car I asked someone who used to own the model I was considering, and when it comes to tools I ask my brother (he's used them all, both professionally and privately).

In other words, I ask people with first hand experience, and try to avoid the ones who might still be biased. Once getting a solid opinion from someone I trust, I go online to gauge the general impression of the public as a whole, and see if the align with my trusted source.

Easy if you live in Germany! I go to test.de, search for what I‘m interested in, and pay them 4,90€ to access the test results.

They‘re a foundation, originally founded by the German federal state, and the only way they make money is by selling access to test results.

Consumer Reports

America's Test Kitchen

First i determine what quality of product i really need so I can shop in that range. Do i need a modern high performance mountain bike, an entry level quality bike, or just a cheap mass produced bike thats good enough for my needs?

Then i do extensive research often reading multiple reviews and articles. I look for whats mentioned most frequently and what isn't mentioned, also for how consistent things are between reviews. I'm sure some of what i encounter is marketing or bot comments but some may be still legitimate as well.

I also look for guides on what to consider if its something I'm new to so i can compare any stats included with the product. The material and quality of the product can be a big factor as well, generally the better the product the more likely they are to brag about its construction. Are they bragging about a certain reinforcement, weight reduction, or power level?

Looking at the reputation of the retailer can be useful as well. A shoe store with 4.8 star reviews is likely to have better quality and selection of shoes than wal-mart. Sometimes you can sniff out the quality brands this way then find those brands for a better price somewhere online.

Going to a brands website can sometimes give you a hint. Are they proud of their products, have easy to access support and lots of details/downloads available or is all the information vague or poorly translated? A quality brand is more likely to have a quality website but this isn't always the case, especially for niche products that are being produced by small time businesses like specialty equipment.

https://youtube.com/@projectfarm

Unfortunately all of the most reliable places for that are either dead or co-opted. Those that still exist are buried under an avalanche of AI best of lists. I don't think there is a simple way to find the best of really any product.

you know the option that's 1.5x the price of the other options and has the most bland, grown up branding imaginable? yeah it survives because it's better quality than everything else.

There's also a recommendations community here !recommendations@lemmy.world

It's not active enough to be all that useful. But hey, the more people that subscribe, the closer that is to changing.

Like any other signal, the options have been found out and probably, mostly, reduced to noise. But Wirecutter and Consumer Reports claim to test things and recommend. The latter needs a subscription, but you may have one through your local library.

For electronics, rtings was quite good last I used it. Some categories are free, but they are (or were) quite open about letting you sub, find what you want, then cancel after the month. It was nice that most of the data was objective stuff presented in tables you can filter by. But many data points are definitely subjective ratings.