Brands

  • Blog

    What to Know About Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Brands

    Price per pair: $699 to $999. Where to buy: Lexie, Best Buy, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart. Preset or self-fitting? Self-fitting. Battery type: B1 and Lumen, replaceable battery; B2 Plus, rechargeable. Return policy: 45 days if purchased from Lexie or Walgreens; 60 days if purchased from Best Buy, CVS, or Walmart. Customer service: Phone support and video call support via app. And…

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  • Blog

    Best and Worst Dishwasher Brands of 2024

    To find out which brands make the best dishwashers, we created a statistical model that incorporates the Overall Scores of all the dishwashers in our ratings. We looked at how well the dishwashers of a certain brand performed in our lab tests, how reliable and satisfying they were to the CR members we surveyed, and how easy they were to…

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  • Blog

    Best and Worst Hearing Aid Brands

    We rated 17 prescription hearing aid brands: Audible, Beltone, Bernafon, Jabra/Jabra Enhance, Lucid, Miracle Ear, Oticon, Philips, Phonak, ReSound, Rexton, Siemens, Signia, Starkey, TruHearing, Unitron, and Widex. For the first time, we also received enough responses from people who bought OTC hearing aids to rate three OTC brands: Eargo, Jabra Enhance, and MDHearing. Source link

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  • Blog

    Best Tire Brands of 2024

    Our tests measure performance in braking, comfort, handling, hydroplaning (when water gets between the tire and the pavement), noise, snow traction, and other important areas. We test braking on ice at a local skating rink (shown below), and an outside lab assesses rolling resistance, which affects fuel economy. Plus, we evaluate tread life by driving thousands of miles on a…

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  • Blog

    Most Reliable Appliance Brands – Consumer Reports

    Yet again, Speed Queen sits atop our rankings and is the only brand to achieve a top Overall Score (though it makes appliances for only two product categories, washers and dryers—see chart below). And once again Viking landed at the bottom of our chart, joined this year by another elite brand, Dacor, which also received an unfavorable Overall Score. The…

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  • Blog

    Most Reliable Heat Pump Brands

    Because you’re likely to use your heat pump year-round, you’ll want one from a brand with a reliable track record. That’s why we asked about 10,000 of our members about their experiences with heat pumps installed between 2007 and 2023.  Based on our analysis, we determined that, on average, about half of heat pumps are likely to experience problems by…

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  • Blog

    Most and Least Reliable Dishwasher Brands

    Our predicted reliability ratings are based on data about nearly 70,000 dishwashers, spread across 28 brands. All of the machines in our survey were purchased by CR members between 2014 and 2024. They include models from popular names such as Bosch and Samsung, lower-cost options like Ikea, and high-end companies such as Miele and Thermador. We combed through the responses…

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  • Blog

    Best Refrigerator Brands – Consumer Reports

    Here’s a shopping tip: If you don’t see a given model in our ratings, try checking the ratings for that model’s other color finishes. Every refrigerator has a slightly different model number for each of its finishes. For instance, if you’re considering the black stainless Samsung RS27T5200SG/AA side-by-side, which isn’t in our ratings, use CR’s test results for the stainless…

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  • Blog

    Which Brands Make the Best Used Cars?

    The cars in this analysis are often from another generation, meaning they might not look like the current models or share many common components. Plus, automaker portfolios can change significantly over time, especially this past decade, when many companies replaced sedans and hatchbacks with SUVs and trucks. (This trend is best exemplified by Ford, which currently offers a single car,…

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  • Blog

    Most and Least Reliable Refrigerator Brands

    Whether it’s on the local news or Facebook and Reddit groups, consumers are good at spreading the word on issues with their fridge. Our survey data backs up some of the most widely circulated complaints. Samsung refrigerators have been cited in hundreds of complaints to the Consumer Product Safety Commission because of malfunctioning icemakers and too-warm temperatures, which can lead…

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