"Matt Langenfeld" wrote in message
k.net...
That is hard to "bite the hand that feeds you". You'd need a magazine
like Consumer Reports that does not accept advertising in order to get
truly objective opinions on products. Then you also need experts to
evaluate it.

Experts are something that Consumer Reports lacks - at least when evaluating
computers, cameras & things like that. They do well at autos & appliances
though.

Ok, as I gave an example of a good canoe review, here's one that I didn't
think passed the test. It was a C&K review of solo tripping canoes. They
tripped over themselves saying something nice & nothing nasty about every
canoe. When they got to one particular boat, they emphasized it's fine
workmanship but didn't say much about it's paddling characteristics. I
thought that was rather strange as this particular canoe design & it's
designer are well respected. Then I noticed that the photo showed a wood
bow handle mounted well off square. So much for good workmanship.

So I wonder - did they emphasize the workmanship simply to discredit it? If
so, was this because the manufacturer didn't advertized in C&K?