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by frontiersummit 642 days ago
It has always felt to me that Wirecutter focuses on only one end of the Pareto curve ("what is the very best XXXX that money can buy, within reason") and ignores the middle of the curve where most people are actually shopping ("what is the best XXXX that I can get for $XXX"). It also seems to reliably ignore brands from Mainland China (Hisense, Midea, etc). I guess It makes obvious sense to court rich (or at least price-insensitive) readers.
4 comments
ghaff 642 days ago
Whether or not it started that way, yes, it makes sense to recommend brands that New York Times subscribers are familiar and comfortable with. I'll buy a GE Profile refrigerator or Bosch dishwasher. Not some Chinese brand I've never heard of and have no idea what the service situation will be with. Makes perfect sense to me and I'm in that demographic. Especially with major appliances and things I can buy at the local big box store seems to make perfect sense to not buy things you have to go to Alibaba to obtain.

It's not about being price insensitive but recommending things that are relatively mainstream and that don't seem risky, especially for major purchases that have to be installed and potentially serviced.

(Did have a service issue on my recent GE Profile refrigerator but it took one phone call and was a no-brainer.)

But you're probably right in general. Wirecutter mostly doesn't recommend unknowns it thinks are potentially bargains. Which I probably wouldn't do in its position either.

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bobthepanda 642 days ago
Their top pick for an air conditioner is a Midea: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-conditio...
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brirec 642 days ago
Oh, I had that very model and it very quickly got moldy in places that I couldn’t easily clean. Absolutely wouldn’t recommend it…
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crazygringo 641 days ago
That's not true at all.

They usually have a midrange "top pick", followed by a "budget pick" and an "upgrade pick".

It's not "the best money can buy" at all -- that's what they reserve their "upgrade pick" for. E.g. look at humidifiers:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-humidifi...

Also it's full of Chinese brands. The top two humidifiers are Levoit, from Shenzen. Or if I look at dehumidifiers, Midea is their #1 pick:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-dehumidifier...

So I don't think anything you said is true. Maybe for some individual products, but certainly not for the site as a whole.

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ghaff 641 days ago
I think it's fair that they don't offer real off-brand budget recommendations. I do think they offer a generally reasonable array of choices.
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crazygringo 641 days ago
Well, nor should they because those items tend to disappear from the market within months and not be widely available. So that's a feature not a bug.

You don't want to research and recommend a product from a random seller on Amazon that won't be available six months from now.

Their budget recommendations are, correctly, products that have proven to be reliable and available.

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ghaff 641 days ago
Totally agree. The budget recommendations tend to be reliable budget and not a questionable "steal."
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dghlsakjg 641 days ago
Check out Tech Gear Lab. (I have met the owner)

They are a great review site, and normally do categories like "absolute best", "best value", and "best budget".

They are very thorough, and always buy their own stuff, never take sponsorships or freebies.

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