In addition to cataloging all of that—and much more—CR’s test engineers launder swatches of fabric stained with red wine and cocoa, among other things, to see how well each machine cleans. We test top-loaders with agitators, high-efficiency (HE) top-loaders (the type without a vertical spindle), and front-loaders, including compact front-loaders. We also test all-in-one washer-dryers,…
Before you buy a new car battery, know the correct group number for your vehicle, which varies depending on make, model, year, and engine size. Batteries are defined by physical size, type, and placement of the terminals, as well as mounting style. Be sure to replace your battery with one that’s from the same group…
If you’re spending hundreds or thousands of dollars buying an OTC hearing aid, make sure you’re getting a product that offers a sustainable long-term solution to your hearing loss needs. Aside from the obvious things like sound quality, take a few minutes to look into these specs. What size and style works best for you?…
Fourth of July might have you thinking about fireworks and making your family’s favorite summer recipes (mine is my grandmother’s super-vinegary macaroni salad). But don’t sleep on the excellent Fourth of July sales. We usually see mattresses go heavily on sale during President’s Day and Memorial Day, but now these beds are coming to steal…
For those who don’t want to join a gym, a doorway pull-up bar can be a useful exercise equipment at home. And if you don’t have room for an elliptical machine or a treadmill, a pull-up bar, which you can mount above your doorframe, is a great space saver. Exercises that you can do on…
We test them at our track in Connecticut for wet and dry braking and handling, ride comfort and quietness, and resistance to hydroplaning (when water gets between the tire and the pavement). We perform our snow-traction tests at our Auto Test Center and in Michigan. Ice-braking evaluations are performed at a nearby skating rink. We…
In Recent years, Netflix and Apple TV+ have been duking it out to have the most prestigious film offerings, but some of the best movies are on Amazon Prime Video. The streamer was one of the first to go around picking up film festival darlings and other lovable favorites, and they’re all still there in…
Poe, an AI chatbot platform owned by the question-and-answer site Quora and backed by a $75 million Andreessen Horowitz investment, is providing users with downloadable HTML files of articles published by paywalled journalistic outlets. Prompting the service’s Assistant bot with the URL of this WIRED story about the AI-powered search service Perplexity plagiarizing one of…
Daniel Wroclawski Dan Wroclawski is a home and appliances writer at Consumer Reports, covering products ranging from refrigerators and coffee makers to cutting-edge smart home devices. Before joining CR in 2017, he was an editor at USA Today’s Reviewed, and launched the site’s smart home section. In his spare time, you can find him tinkering…
At any retailer, you’ll find dozens of ranges—if not more—to choose from, some with fancier features than others. But what’s most important is a range’s ability to perform its essential tasks really well, day in and day out. That’s why we recommend ranges only if they meet the following criteria. They heat water fast. The…