Get access to all of Choice product reviews for FREE!
Normally this site is a total ripoff, but now you have a limited time to view (and attempt to download) every review you can possibly think of ever needing for FREE.
No pathetic Facebook "like" is required. No signup. No credit card. Nothing!
We're doing a minor upgrade to the CHOICE website. As a result, it will not be possible to log in or sign up.
We have made the content freely available for a short time.
Go hard :-)
Nice find!
Awesome, now to look up random stuff I may need soon!
The price to buy individual articles has indeed always been a rip-off, but if the content in general is useful enough to justify going on a Save As… spree, maybe a subscription isn't unreasonable.
I wouldn't even say that the price for individual articles is a rip-off as the advice in them is worth paying a one off charge, I've had a subscription for many years and it's worth the money for the depth of their reviews and articles.
Back to normal now :(
Yeah…..had a good hour of reading it this morning. Good while it lasted.
Looks like the loophole has been closed.. its no longer free.
Good morning early birds.
Just missed it
For those that missed it while free, Choice recommended Ainol as the best flux capacitor.
Which model?
username is appropriate
Damn, just missed it.
Was going to do a website clone.
And was going to suggest you all use HTTrack Website Copier.
Maybe it's abusing the system though, wasn't sure if I should really post it.
Ah, that would have been a good time to use it. I tried several times to clone when I had a choice subscription, but the authentication wasn't compatible.
Wait, they charge you to read their articles?
Perhaps they should review themselves.
And how else does one fund thorough research? I read into washing powders the other day and the depth Choice investigators went into was staggering. The independent lab (a guy in NSW) wrote a tome about phosphorus, agitation, impact on algae in waterways, etc. it was a huge article.
Choice are overall, a great organisation - the only gripe I've ever come up with is they don't test longevity or repairability very well.
The only negative side to this is occasionally they pick electronic items that are no longer stocked. (Phones, cameras, printers etc) by the time the review comes out. I'm all for being thorough, but sometimes I would have liked them to talk to the manufacturers and review items that are just coming on the market.
The only problem with that approach is that they would end up having to source products for the reviews from the manufacturer which creates a conflict and manufacturers would product products that have been selected to perform better.
Choice purchase their products from stores with their own money at retail and they purchase from two different locations so that they get a good representation of what customers would end up purchasing.
Considering just about every review you read on the web is biased by who paid the reviewer, sent them freebies or puts advertising on their page someones gotta pay for an independent review. The only person who can do that is the consumer.
If anyone has reviews to mattresses. Could you PM me? I didn't see this post until too late.
Pocket spring mattresses would be great.
Thanks
check out ozmattress.com.au
pocket spring review complete.. ;)
They are very difficult to review because every retailer stocks different brands, CHOICE mentioned this in their review some years back. They discuss the different technologies (latex/ pocket springs etc) but had trouble recommending a model/ make because they vary so much retailer to retailer.
I'd suggest checking out the star ratings on product review, which also indicates the longevity of the product. For example the scandal that is the Simmons Beautyrest (HN & Bedshed) - http://www.productreview.com.au/p/simmons-beautyrest.html
The trouble with Choice testers is that they are "generic" themselves. They might have expertise in one area but they are expected to give advice on many types of products. I worked with a guy who was a former Choice tester (and he was not very bright, I think he was in charge of "foolproof" testing). He told me a bit about what they do. You are far better off going to specialist websites for good reviews.
And most often their reports are anecdotal rather than a proper scientific analysis. It's a bit hard claim analytical rigour when the sample size is one. If you really want to test a washing machine then test a few from a number of different batches.
Do you mean those specialist website reviews that coincidentally always recommend the products of their heaviest advertisers?
Sounds like they picked the perfect person to do the foolproof testing.
Problem with specialist websites is that they are often biased and you have no idea who is funding them or scratching their back. Specialist websites also don't often review mundane products like microwaves, washing powder etc etc.
Anyone downloaded the website ? please PM me
can someone recommend a good car insurance, those that are claim-friendly! what did choice said i wonder? or would anyone interested in splitting the costs of joining choice?
If you dont have luck here, If your local library is nearby, they might subscribe. My local gets it every month and it's online catalogue says its got past 30 issues. All borrow able except for current issue
hope they restore online library access soon :(
Nice
IWOW - that didn't last long
Anyway, it was a good insight into what they have on the site that normally you cannot see.
And seeing it I realise why it's not worth it. There is no depth. For example, Dishwashers
A review of 35 in July 2013
A SINGLE review of an Aldi dishwasher that was only on a 3-day special back in May - DOH, nobody can EVER buy it!
And that is it for dishwashers. What, wait another 5 years for the next review?
Coffee Machines - ONE review of 23 back in December 2012, and that's it.
There simply isn't any decent content there.
FYI, rather than just bagging the website, maybe you should recommend to consider the the Choice magazine instead. It has a multitude of reviews that are updated quite often. For example, there have been multiple rounds of dishwasher reviews within the last year.
- August 2013
- April 2013
- November 2012
I recently purchased a dishwasher myself and found the Choice magazine reviews non-biased and informative. Their reliability survey also played an important role where brands which are not reliable may be ruled out.
FYI, rather than just bagging the website, maybe you should recommend to consider the the Choice magazine instead. It has a multitude of reviews that are updated quite often
But this thread is about the value of a WEBSITE SUBSCRIPTION.
Why would I recommend a Choice magazine? I don't even know what is in the magazines.
I recently purchased a dishwasher myself and found the Choice magazine reviews non-biased and informative
How would you know if it is biased or not?
They reject most applications for product reviews, so whilst reviewing (say) 10 different models of Miele, they completely ignore other brands who don't ummmm… "support them".
Maybe if you read choice or knew how to use their website you would see they review dozens of products in most reviews including dishwashers.
Choice are not biased, they make it very clear how their system works and there is no little or no chance for anyone to introduce their bias into a review.
As for your claim that they reject most applications for product reviews - well this is just an outright lie - Choice pick the products they review and do not accept products for reviews. They purchase the products they review in retail stores with their own money and review this without any involvement with the manufacturers. They have even exposed manufacturers who have modified their products to pass energy tests with a higher rating - LG is the main offender. So please don't lie and say they they get secret kickbacks from manufacturers because this nothing but an attack on a consumer organisation by someone with a grudge.
Many products really don't change that often. Bosch might bring out a new model but for many years its often just a slight variation on the old model.
I agree though more regular updates would be good, I guess they cover a massive range of products and only have so much budget to work with. As mentioned the mag has more detailed info than their website.
And that is it for dishwashers. What, wait another 5 years for the next review?
You were probably left with a bit of a false impression. For some product comparisons, there's a single periodically-updated article merging content from the latest and previous tests. There won't necessarily be distinct 2010, 2012, 2013, etc. articles that mirror the print magazine.
It would be nice though if online-only members had access to PDF versions of the print magazine. They used to have a site called "Choice Extra" which at least provided this to print subscribers - was a bummer when they took it down.
Choice is immensely biased. It really should be closed down.
I get total paralysis when looking to buy big ticket items such as white goods and entertainment. Buying the cheapest doesnt make sense when your looking for something reliable. That is where something like choice or the O/S equivalents can help narrow down.
The forum feedback reviews are always skewed to the negative. Only unhappy people will complain, which is again skewed by the popularity of the item.
Ok, not entirely sure what you mean by "only unhappy people complain" but if your trying to say only people already unhappy with a purchase provide feedback I think your wrong and even if your right I think you miss the point.
Ozbargains is a shopping site, so people will look for stuff they know and won't necessarily bother with stuff they hate. So the feedback won't be as skewed as you think. (they'll provide input on stuff they like too)
As for choice, a family member is a subscriber. I read them too, but as a person who does detailed research as a job I find choice magazine to be extremely light in the level of research they do. I've many of their reviews and have found only a couple that I would feel comfortable using as a buying guide.
The key issues are:
1. Lack of currency (most are very old).
2. Lack of depth (miss key factors in the decision making)
3. Lack of professional guideance in determining selection criteria.
4. Lack of consideration in the important areas like after sales service
5. Almost no consideration to the build quality of most items, reliability surveys are light weight and do not go into much depth at all. They often review without any consideration of the quality.
One example
Router review. They recommended a router a few years ago that was a no name brand that the company folded shortly after they reviewed it (so company called opennetwork or something) Years went by and the review stood with a company that folded as the recommendation. Technical details of why they selected that unit were so light even a non-IT person could see it was not deep enough in detailed consideration.
Other examples include a review on gas log heaters that excludes the major players, review of coffee machines that again none of the recommended machines exist anymore, grinder review that excluded ceramic grinders and did not consider grinding quality!, reviews on fridges, washing machines etc that exclude key criteria such as reliability, reviews on cameras etc, that don't consider any of the factors that sites like dpreview consider fundamental to deciding on a camera.
We have bought a number of items on choices recommendation that have had to be thrown out because of quality / reliability and particularly quality of service concerns with the manufacturers. Features and usability (how easy are the buttons to read) are not only things to consider!
Choice have a limited budget, hire generalist reviews and this makes their reviews worth very little.
I still occasionally will read them but with about a 10,000 grains of salt.
i.e. sometimes they hit on something important, i.e. UPS review identified power consumption as a factor which I had not considered, but the recommendations again didn't make sense considering the broader factors of UPS usage and anyone that understood the technology would see the recommendation was poor. Similarly again recommendations for washing machines identified energy consumption but the "buy" list had some of the most unreliable / worst service companies, but the energy consumption figures help to pick out the units with low cost if you read only the comparison table data.
Definately not worth buying reports seperately in my opinion and definately risky to make decisions based on choice mag alone. If they were too pool resources with other companies to get back the technical depth things would be different.
I'm always interested in reliability, but how does one cover both "currency" and "reliability"? Don't you need to have used a product for a few years to be able to judge reliability? Is accelerated testing reliable or practical given their finances?
Also, does anyone know what happens to the products they test after they've tested them?
I remember reading about this a few times and from memory it depended on the product but some were given to charity, some were recycled, some were sold and some are kept.
Some methods to save them… Look for link to "View as one page" in the right menu
Then save that page as HTML, or print to PDF
Also, the product comparison tables are multi-page, find the link saying "View Full Table" on the top right of the table, let the popup open then click the printer icon (save to PDF) or r-click ad choose SaveAs > HTML Complete.
It's not 100% perfect, links may not work, etc. But it gets you a reasonably copy to read later.