My husband recently got into juicing, but he never makes a shopping move without asking me which brand did best in our tests. Turns out the top juicer would have set us back nearly 200 bucks—a bit steep since DIYing his own juice may turn out to be nothing more than a passing health fancy. Then we'd be stuck with a pricey dust catcher.But when I told him that the $80 Hamilton Beach did nearly as well in our tests, he went right out and bought one.
The reason I'm telling you this is to make a point: A high price tag doesn't necessarily mean something is better, and a low one isn't necessarily a sign of crappiness. Remember that when you shop.
In our May story, we found that there are times when cheaping out can pay you with a perfectly good product that does its job—no more, no less. But the trade-off is that in most cases, you'll get something pretty basic without the fancy frills.
But hey, if all you want from an iron, for example, is something that flattens the wrinkles, I recommend the $25 Black & Decker Steam Advantage F1060. Most irons are at least double that price.
You can find 32 more examples of ridiculously low-priced items (including skin moisturizers, paper towels, kitchen gear, paint, TVs, computers, and more) that did really well in our tests, in the feature article, "Amazing Cheap Products" in our May issue, on newsstands now.
And we've all been burned by a cheapie clunker every now and then. Our readers shared some of their biggest cheap-out mistakes (like the cheap windows that are now leaking argon gas!). If you're still smarting over something cheap that you regret buying, please write and tell me about it. My biggest lemon was a cheap haircut. I still have nightmares about growing it out.
E Avila Patterson
02:31:29 AM on Fri Jul 13 2012
I know your magazine has been around long before I heard of it, and there are bound to be a number of items and bargains that you have evaluated in past issues that I really want to know about.
How are your archives set up? Can a paying subscriber access information by product name or question? Beating the ad games to get the most for our money is an ongoing battle, and I am glad you are on our side.
Archive access is something important to us, but what can readers do to help you?? That is just as important a consideration.
Please let us know about how to obtain old information, and how we can help you gather and evaluate new information.
Rock on,
Robin Melen
03:11:29 PM on Fri Jul 13 2012
Happy Friday!
Unfortunately, we don't have an archive set up. Believe me, we don't even have one in-house! What you can do is go to our big sister, Consumer Reports, and check ratings and product info there. In fact, you can get a whole month of Consumer Reports online for just $7--a great way to try it out!
Click here:
https://ec.consumerreports.org/ec/cro/order.htm?INTKEY=I0AHATC
Thanks for reading and sticking by ShopSmart!
robin