Consumer's Shopping Comparisons:

Review Price and Buy

Store Locators 

I am working on a new website, which will be called www.ReviewPriceAndBuy.com .  It is based on my own frustration trying to find:

• Objective, factual product specifications and comparisons, like those on Consumer's Reports; together with
• Actual consumer's reviews and appraisals like those on Epinions and Amazon.com, and with
• Price comparisons and a competitive place to buy the product; like

So far, I haven't found a single site that allows me to do this.  Perhaps you do as I do:

Every time I want to purchase something like a DVD recorder, a computer accessory, something for the house or car; whatever, I find that I:

1. Find reliable brands and products: go to Consumer reports for a product review and get only high level information there. I gather the list of manufacturers and leading products there.
2. Find the specs available: Next, I look on the manufacturer's websites to get specifications of the top products I found in step 1.  I try to determine which of the products have specs that I want or need.  I don't yet know which I can afford.
3. Narrow down the list: Now, I can begin to gather recommendations.  Looking on Amazon.com, Bizrate, Epinions and any others that show up in Google for the products I want, I try to get a sense of which brands and models people like and find reliable.  This step is very time consuming, but important.  Many times, I have found that a model that met my specs and received a good review for reliability from Consumer reports, was simply useless!  Many products that look good on paper, or in a testing lab have problems that on become evident when people actually use them, day after day.
4. Shop for the best price from a reputable vendor: Now, that I know what I want, where can I buy it at the best price? Once again, I go back to Google and my usual online shops, and brick-and-mortar shops to shop for price and availability. 
5. Buy!  I finally buy one!

There needs to be a better way!  Look for www.ReviewPriceAndBuy.com in mid to late 2006 to consolidate all of these steps into one website!

Until then, here are some of my own quick reviews:

• Natural Gas Deals in Georgia
• MP3 Players - iPod's Nano's, iRivers, iAudio, RCA Lyra, Creative's Zen Nano, Sandisk, Phillips, Sony Walkman.. there are so many MP3 players to choose from; which is best... and best for the money?
• Teeth Whitening - which is best; laser, trays, strips, or pastes?  Find out here.
• DVD Recorders for your TV - Want to burn your own dvd's of your favorite shows and movies?  Save a fortune by making your own collections, from Monty Python to the Sopranos and HBO movies
• Radar detectors - Is Escort still the best?  Actually there are better alternatives for both price AND function!
• Telephone headset systems - Tired of holding a phone to your ear all day, but your callers don't like the speakerphone?  Here's a better alternative!
• Printers - laser and inkjet, color and black and white
• Travel - find the best travel websites and the best deals