I have a couple items that I want to purchase. I would consider to be high dollar (over $1k) upcoming. Where are you guys finding the “real” reviews. I’m usually search the item in google and look for Reddit reviews. What do you wanna do? This limits the results to specific items but I don’t trust the big box store or big online retails reviews. Looking for quality here
Favorite site for “real” reviews on items?
byu/wpbth inFrugal
Posted by wpbth
9 Comments
I like wirecutter. I don’t always agree with them but they at least explain their process.
Consumer Reports.
I have resorted to AI for some things. Most of them give a good summary, break down pros and cons even in detailed tables. At least it brings up a good starting point to do a deep dive.
For tool/home improvement type items, Project Farm on YouTube is very good. He sets up good side-by-side comparison tests with clear methodology w/ a ranked list by category at the end.
Depends on the item, i usually search and read a few different blogs articles or such to get as well rounded a view as I can.
But Reddit is always in the mix, i look in subs dedicated to the things I’m looking to buy. Sometimes it’s r/buyitforlife other times it might be r/abrathatfits or r/asianbeauty. It’s usually not formal reviews, posts where people ask for opinions on a specific product or for which products to address a specific need people like can be a great way to get a consensus and consider if the posters reasons to see if they apply to you.
Reddit for some topics. /r/BuildAPC and /r/nutrition are pretty knowledgeable. /r/castiron is a meme sub pretending to be a knowledgebase.
YouTube for topics I’m already very familiar with. I know enough about cooking to recognize that America’s Test Kitchen has good recommendations, and anyone who uses Hexclad cookware is either a shill or a cooklet.
ChatGPT is excellent for telling me what *kind* of product I need if I explain my use case. It can often recommend products I didn’t know existed. It’s recommendations for brands are complete ass since it mostly regurgitates those “top 10 pizza cutter 2025” slop sites.
Ebay is good for finding products with specific features since the search bar is amazing. Searching for “waffle maker removable plates” will show only listings with all 4 of those keywords. Amazon will show you 3 products that match and 300 copies of the same product that doesn’t. Sometimes I’ll find the product I want on Ebay and then buy it on another site.
Carcomplaints.com
Man, there used to be options for this and they keep dropping off:
* Fakespot was a services that removed fake reviews from Amazon. A website and even a plugin showing you the review score in real time on a listing.
* [Looria.com](http://Looria.com) used AI to scrape Consumer Reports, r/buyitforlife, and other sources for quality and longevity recommendations. It seems to be dead.
I like [Rtings.com](http://Rtings.com) for TVs, headphones, and other tech reviews
Most libraries have a digital archive of Consumer Reports. I’ve started taking their reviews with a grain of salt with designed obsolescence. Absolutely not their fault.
Trust pilot.com