E.g., if you know nothing about routers, see what the price is of the one(s) they recommend. If you must, consider using Wirecutter as a “going in blind” option to find a rough price class for the item in question. Which I’ve done more times than I should’ve, really. I’ll take this any day over blindly taking Wirecutter’s word for it, then having to return/exchange/put up with/research an alternative when I find out the recommendation was not really any better, in fact probably worse than random choice of a highly customer reviewed item within a price range, while they take a cut for my inconvenience. It sounds like a lot, but for a big purchase this might take me all of half an hour. When I get to my top 2 choices I’ll check Reddit for some final opinions, eg “x vs y site:” Then I do a bit of DDGing to cull the herd. Well, my personal process usually starts with finding the top rated items related to what I’m looking for on Walmart/Target/Amazon/Home Depot/Lowes/B&H. So yeah, they have a very hip presentation geared towards a very particular demo, but everything is not as it seems. If you look at any review category it’s glaringly obvious they appear to either be receiving kickbacks or are just entirely ignoring extremely common products for whatever reason (Armandhammer detergent not tested? P&G/Tide is thrilled at not having to have the extra competition, I’m sure) No mention on WC.Īll of these issues, by the way, are corroborated by various Amazon reviewers, as much as I hate to give them much credence.Īfter that I stopped visiting the site.
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The surge protector I bought reeked of that cheap chemically plastic smell that was especially common about 10 years ago but still apparently exists today. The air purifier I bought on their recommendation makes a loud noise any time the house gets below a certain temperature. The wireless extender I tried was terrible and also constantly dropped connections and was overall poorly made (Wirecutter made no mention of the loud coil whine). The router I bought started dropping connections within a year. The expensive house fan I bought (and exchanged for a new one with the same issue) made a constant rumble noise that made it difficult to fall asleep to - my $15 Honeywell had no issues. While they have the best presentation of any product review site, and I’m a huge fan of the quality of the NYT’s work in general despite being on the opposite end of their bias spectrum, the reality is the site is little more than a prettified Amazon referral link aggregator. I’ve been “burned” by Wirecutter many a time.
![new york times wirecutter productreview paywall new york times wirecutter productreview paywall](https://www.niemanlab.org/images/oyster-600x407.jpg)
Regardless, having the staff go on record that they don't like the Wirecutter and specifically asking the site's fanbase to not use the site feels like the death knell for the site, at least in its current incarnation. Though I have to admit I was a bit shocked to see such a relatively large staff involved in this union given the state of their reviews. I suppose it's not surprising to hear that NYTimes isn't putting much money into the company any more. Lately if I visit Wirecutter I scroll to the bottom and see if there are a lot of comments asking why a better product isn't included in the comparison. Some of the best advice from Wirecutter comes, ironically, from the comment sections, where upset Wirecutter fans seem more interested in tracking down the best products than the site itself. Many of their conclusions seem to draw from testing performed many years ago.
![new york times wirecutter productreview paywall new york times wirecutter productreview paywall](https://s.numrush.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Daily-540x324.jpg)
#New york times wirecutter productreview paywall update#
They try to update reviews periodically, but they're often missing the most recent products on the market. I was a big fan of Wirecutter in the early days, but the quality and coverage of their reviews has plummeted in recent years.