# Consumer Reports 11 Hacker News commenters recommended Consumer Reports and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended for independent product testing, reliability data and no ads or paid rankings. Critics say its data is hard to access and its reviews are sometimes wrong. ## Why people recommend it - Independent, non-profit, no ads (4 comments): "They don't allow ads or ranking either. I don't think they've steered me wrong." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49715896)) "organizations with very high ethical standards like Consumer Reports" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47017692)) "It is the only independent place we can trust for that information." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49711988)) - Strong testing and reliability data (4 comments): "We’re going to have to put more confidence into testing like this and Consumer Reports." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47248271)) "CR has really good data, but it's also one of the least accessible sources of data." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48550655)) "I do trust their longitudinal reliability statistics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50279291)) - Thorough reviews beyond press releases (2 comments): "doesn't just quote the press release and actually discusses the previous policy as well as critiquing the change" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46976308)) "The cost of the subscriptions pays for a human to wade through all the junk and select something" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48398956)) - Most trusted by default (2 comments): "By default I trust them the most because everybody else I can find is too obviously a sell out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716449)) "I don't really know if the reviews are any good, though I've been relatively happy with it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49878102)) ## What people warn about - Reviews wrong or criteria questioned (3 comments): "my trust in Consumer Reports was heavily eroded when I read a review on computer printers that was basically all wrong" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47017175)) "I totally disagreed with their criteria for ranking products." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619113)) "it's often completely worthless" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47017715)) - Seen as captured or limited (2 comments): "Consumer Reports, too, has been captured by industry, and is largely useless now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46167545)) "which has its own massive limitations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45846169)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Rtings](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rtings-com.md): 12 recommend - [Yelp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/yelp.md): 7 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.consumerreports.org/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Consumer Reports", https://hackerapproved.com/p/consumer-reports/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).