Consumer Reports
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 3 review sites by recommenders
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.
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.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Independent, non-profit, no ads
“They don't allow ads or ranking either. I don't think they've steered me wrong.”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Let's make quality the norm again” “organizations with very high ethical standards like Consumer Reports”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Ars Technica makes up quotes from Matplotlib maintainer; pulls story” “It is the only independent place we can trust for that information.”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Let's make quality the norm again” - Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV”
Strong testing and reliability data
“We’re going to have to put more confidence into testing like this and Consumer Reports.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “I Hired a Lab to Counterfeit-Test a Dozen Suspicious Beauty Products” “CR has really good data, but it's also one of the least accessible sources of data.”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Hetzner Price Adjustment (June 15th, 2026)” “I do trust their longitudinal reliability statistics”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Reviewers rarely talk about reliability. Owners bring it up twice as often” - Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Let's make quality the norm again”
Thorough reviews beyond press releases
“doesn't just quote the press release and actually discusses the previous policy as well as critiquing the change”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “FDA says companies can claim "no artificial colors" if they use natural dyes” “The cost of the subscriptions pays for a human to wade through all the junk and select something”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “CT scans of BYD car parts” Most trusted by default
“By default I trust them the most because everybody else I can find is too obviously a sell out”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Let's make quality the norm again” “I don't really know if the reviews are any good, though I've been relatively happy with it”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data suggests”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Reviews wrong or criteria questioned
“my trust in Consumer Reports was heavily eroded when I read a review on computer printers that was basically all wrong”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Ars Technica makes up quotes from Matplotlib maintainer; pulls story” “I totally disagreed with their criteria for ranking products.”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Ask HN: Does everyone here hate ads?” “it's often completely worthless”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Ars Technica makes up quotes from Matplotlib maintainer; pulls story” Seen as captured or limited
“Consumer Reports, too, has been captured by industry, and is largely useless now.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Advertising as a major source of human dissatisfaction (2019) [pdf]” “which has its own massive limitations”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Meta projected 10% of 2024 revenue came from scams”
Other review sites people recommend
The two most recommended other review sites, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 3 review sites, rankedWhat people said
All 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I do trust their longitudinal reliability statistics”
“I don't really know if the reviews are any good, though I've been relatively happy with it”
“a much more valuable resource in my mind”
“By default I trust them the most because everybody else I can find is too obviously a sell out”
“They don't allow ads or ranking either. I don't think they've steered me wrong.”
“It is the only independent place we can trust for that information.”
“CR has really good data, but it's also one of the least accessible sources of data.”
“Consumer Reports likes them, too, worth paying for a subscription”
“The cost of the subscriptions pays for a human to wade through all the junk and select something”
“I totally disagreed with their criteria for ranking products.”
“We’re going to have to put more confidence into testing like this and Consumer Reports.”
“it's often completely worthless”
“organizations with very high ethical standards like Consumer Reports”
“my trust in Consumer Reports was heavily eroded when I read a review on computer printers that was basically all wrong”
“a tremendous pro-consumer non-profit”
“doesn't just quote the press release and actually discusses the previous policy as well as critiquing the change”
“Consumer Reports, too, has been captured by industry, and is largely useless now.”
“which has its own massive limitations”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.