[Pioneer]

This is probably old news by now but my November issue of Consumer Reports arrived in the mail today and they are featuring the top 500 products just in time for Christmas. It doesn't look like they realize Pentax even makes cameras. When I checked the list of digital cameras I found 50 cameras listed ranging from subcompact digitals all the way through dslr cameras. Of those, Canon was mentioned 18 times, Nikon 10 times, Panasonic 8 times. There was the occasional mention of a few other brands but Pentax did not show up once. Obviously, since they aren't sold at WalMart, Consumer Reports missed them.

[Adam]

Moving this to general talk - in the future we'll be adding a dedicated forum for general media dicussions, but general photo should be limited to threads related to photographic techniques.

[jimH]

I don't think that "Consumers Reports" is any kind of an authority on photographic gear. They just look at what is most popular in the mass marketing circles. It's an entertaining piece of reading material and will give a sketchy review of popularly used products, but IMHO shouldn't be used to decide the purchase of any esoteric product such as an enthusiast's camera. After all they are just a consumer magazine.

[ChrisPlatt]

I once read a very funny parody of a Consumer Reports auto review in an enthusiast magazine.
They reviewed a Formula 1 racing car as CR would a family sedan.

Among their complaints were that it was cramped and got poor gas mileage.
However they did report that it had excellent acceleration...

Chris

[Odinz]

Chris,

Funny you should mention that, I kept that issue of Car and Driver (March 1979) and I found it stuck inside an old Atlas on my bookshelf last week. I believe that whatever car Car and Driver had picked as their 'Car of the Year' that year, Consumer Reports had come out and said it was a horrible car, as they always reviewed every car as if it was a grocery getter whether it was a sedan, truck or a sports car.

So Car and Driver did a 4 page parody called 'Purchaser Reports' where they tested the Lotus 79 F1 Car as if it was a commuter car. Several of the big gripes were:

"no map pockets, coin tray (the rear wing) mounted behind the rear wheels and too far from driver, exposed exhaust pipes can burn tiny tot's fingers, car must be pushed through automatic car washes, inadequate and possibly dangerous lack of sun visors, car must be disassembled and rebuilt to adjust seat back angle."

I hadn't read that article for 30 years and it had me in stitches the other day.

Steve

[Don From The Radio]

Consumer Reports became irrelevant somewhere around 1994. The availability of reviews on anything anytime on the Internet has put a serious dent into their market. They've also always had their pet brands, anyone who reads their car reviews knows this. Unless it has Honda or Toyota stamped on it, they hate it. I'm going to guess the same is true for photo equipment.

[RioRico]

You can take your copies of CR, roll them up, and insert them into... no, I can't say that here. Don't put them into a shredder; that's a terrible waste of energy. No, just straight to landfill...

Confession: I subbed to CR for a few years. It seemed like a good idea for informing (or ratifying) some purchase decisions. Then I noticed that their reviews of items I knew something about, didn't quite match. Oops. Major loss of credibility. Bye-bye, CR. Have a nice death-spiral.

[jogiba]

This is probably old news by now but my November issue of Consumer Reports arrived in the mail today and they are featuring the top 500 products just in time for Christmas. It doesn't look like they realize Pentax even makes cameras. When I checked the list of digital cameras I found 50 cameras listed ranging from subcompact digitals all the way through dslr cameras. Of those, Canon was mentioned 18 times, Nikon 10 times, Panasonic 8 times. There was the occasional mention of a few other brands but Pentax did not show up once. Obviously, since they aren't sold at WalMart, Consumer Reports missed them.

Blame it on consumers since it only hit #98 on the top 100 selling digital camera list on Amazon with the waterproof WG1.
Amazon Best Sellers: Best Digital Cameras

[Pioneer]

While I appreciate the perspective that Consumer Reports doesn't really matter anymore, as this is the internet age, I have to respectfully disagree to some extent. Consumer Reports still has a very large subscriber base and I see their reviews mentioned by a number of news agencies. Right or wrong they are still seen as giving honest, unbiased reports. This is just another example where Pentax seems to be loosing the media/advertising game in a big way. There were 50 opportunities to get their company and one of their cameras featured, and they missed that list entirely. Heck, Leica even got a mention.

I do enjoy using Pentax equipment and I do believe that Pentax does a lot of things right. I doubt that I will be changing my preferences anytime soon. But if Pentax doesn't start getting serious about getting their cameras favorably reviewed, even in Consumer Reports, then they may end up in the dustbin of history. Consumer Reports may have had a love affair with Toyota and Honda but look where those companies are today. Consumer Reports testing is certainly biased to the everyday user, not the knowledgeable enthusiast, but I don't even see a huge number of knowledgeable enthusiasts packing Pentax gear nowdays.

Besides, if you google for the top 5 cameras on the internet right now you won't find Pentax listed in most of those hits either. And if you pick up your favorite enthusiast publication from the magazine shelf at the supermarket you will be very lucky to find any articles about Pentax cameras, other than the Q. Of course, Google and Popular Photography are probably biased as well.

Instead of appealing to Pentax to make us a nice new lens we should be pounding down their doors to get them to start pushing the products they do have. They gave up the Pro market a long time ago. Now they've seemingly given up on the Amateur/Enthusiast market as well.

And everyone of us should go out and buy one of our kids a Pentax Q for Christmas

[ChrisPlatt]

Consumer Reports provides useful information but you must read critically, as they are not unbiased.

The CR April annual auto issue includes comprehensive frequency-of-repair data compiled from their many members.
I have found this information essential when choosing a new or late model used car.

Chris

[Ed n Georgia]

I stopped believing anything Consumer Reports had to say back in 1970 while employed at a Radio Shack Store.

We marketed a Stereo Receiver under the label of "Realistic". IIRC, the unit sold for around $219. A pretty healthy price for 1970. The Receiver was made for Radio Shack by Harmon-Kardon.

Consumer Reports rated the RS Receiver as a "Best Buy"

Harmon-Kardon marketed a Receiver for $219 as well. In fact, it was the very same Receiver as the Realistic. The Schematics were an exact match. The Realistic was simply the Harmon-Kardon with the Radio Shack label.

Consumer Reports rated the Harmon-Kardon as "un-acceptable"

A letter from the, then, VP or Marketing for Radio shack advised us to use the CR report to help sell the Receiver as RS had gone to a lot of expense to obtain that rating.

and, no, I don't have a copy of the Letter nor do I remember the VP of Marketings name.