Tong Family

Dave asked me what review sites I use as he uses “Consumersearch.com”:http://consumersearch.com, I use a different site for each specialty area. And some notes on what’s the right buys…

1. Camcorders.info. The best reviews on video cameras. Canon HF-10 looks like the winner as HD camcorder
2. Dcviews.com. An overview site with links to the very best photography sites. Dpreview.com is the best amongts them. Recommend the Nikon d40x, Nikkor 18-200 lense
3. Gameranking.com. Another overview site for pc and console games.
4. Pcmag.com. Seems like the last site left with any decent unbiased reviews of computer peripherals like monitors, printers, etc. I cross check with PC World.
5. Ilounge.com. Reviews on ipod and iphone accessories.
6. Car and driver. Where I get best car information for performance. Consumer Reports for reliability.
7 Skiing Magazine. Unfortunately their web site is beyond awful, so I get in print their annual ski guide. They are less good on boots.
8. Bicycling Magazine. Same problems as skiing, their website is awful, but print annual bike guides are good. Mtbrreview.com is decent for mountain bikes.
9. Conde Nast Traveler. Their annual review of top hotels is really good. Website is ok.
10. Wine spectator. Actually I really use what costco shows on their bins. Calculate the lowest cost for each point over 90 (that is, if you find a wine at $15 that is 92 points, I buy it over a $50 bottle rated at 93 🙂
11. Storagereview.com. When I want to buy a new hard drive which is amazingly often.
12. Anandtech.com. When I want to figure out what processor to buy and the theory behind it. A good check on when to buy PCs since PC vendors are essentially on the Intel schedule.
13. Macrumors.com so I don’t end up buying a Mac one week before it is obsolete.
14. Apple.com store ratings for Mac peripheral ratings and Discussions.apple.com isn’t well indexed but is best place to figure out if an Apple-made peripheral or products stinks.