08-29-2019, 10:27 AM | #16 |
Passionate Reader
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Another vote for Fakespot. In addition to checking Amazon reviews, I also use it to check reviews on Sephora, TripAdvisor, and Yelp.
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08-29-2019, 01:14 PM | #17 |
Wizard
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Another twist to Amazon ratings is that they sometimes don't show the most highly rated. I was looking for an electric tea kettle and a friend has one by Cuisinart which she says is great so I went looking on amazon for "electric tea kettle" and sorted by ratings and Cuisinart wasn't in the list. Then I navigated to the Cuisinart tea kettles on Amazon and it had 4.75 or something stars.
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08-29-2019, 01:28 PM | #18 |
Grand Sorcerer
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I typically don't "shop" at Amazon.com. I buy there. I tend to shop using "top rated <widget> 2019" or "Top 10 <widget> 2019" Google searches and then read the pros/cons of the tons of various hands-on review articles that are invariably returned. Then I use that knowledge gained to find what I've decided on at Amazon, and buy it (if it meets the fulfilled by Amazon requirement, of course).
This is the electric kettle I recently decided upon, by the way. Last edited by DiapDealer; 08-29-2019 at 01:31 PM. |
08-29-2019, 03:58 PM | #19 | |
Bibliophagist
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Quote:
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08-29-2019, 04:09 PM | #20 | |
Wizard
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08-29-2019, 04:15 PM | #21 |
Wizard
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According to the comments on its amazon page that kettle is made in China so who knows. The stove top one that I got, Pykal, is "designed in Germany" but made in China, which surprised me; I thought the Germans made their own stuff.
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08-29-2019, 04:39 PM | #22 | |
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Neither "Boiling dry" nor freakishly accurate temperature control are things that are relevant to my usage. Make the coffee, empty the kettle and put it away. Last edited by DiapDealer; 08-29-2019 at 04:44 PM. |
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08-29-2019, 04:50 PM | #23 |
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When I'm looking for something, I tend to read the 1-3 star ratings to see what sort of problems other have had. By doing so, I've been able to avoid buying something that I would have otherwise bought had I read just the 5-4 star reviews.
What I really dislike is how different products are lumped together in the same entry and the reviews are all over the place. I should be able to specify that I only want the reviews for the specific item I'm looking at. |
08-29-2019, 07:25 PM | #24 |
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I would not buy based only on an overall star rating. Like JSWolf, I look at low-star reviews to see what the problems might be - did the product break after a few days of normal use, or is the reviewer obviously an idiot who didn't read the description and had unrealistic expectations?
Also, as others have already said, I don't rely solely on store reviews but look for other sources of information - either online or IRL. If someone I know has a product like what I'm looking for I will ask them if they like it. |
08-29-2019, 10:46 PM | #25 | |
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Next time I went to Walmart I found one sold under their housebrand, Mainstay, for $10 and I've been using it now for about 6 or 7 years. Barry |
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08-29-2019, 11:34 PM | #26 | |
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BTW, in the link you gave, Strix is mentioned twice and the ad for the newer version for half the price specifically says "British Strix" though that unit lacks the temperature control functions. Both include an image of the base with the Strix name on the round connector. Last edited by DNSB; 08-29-2019 at 11:41 PM. |
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08-30-2019, 05:40 AM | #27 | |
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08-30-2019, 08:24 AM | #28 |
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It does have the Strix logo on both the base and the bottom of the kettle. I know that's not really proof that it's not fake, but I'm satisfied that someone would have mentioned something about it somewhere in one of the independent review sites I checked before buying (many of which had it listed in their "top 10" budget models). As for Strix being mentioned in the newer model without temperature control... *shrug* . Temperature control was a requirement for my needs.
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08-30-2019, 08:34 AM | #29 |
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Gee, I didn't even know that electric tea kettles were a thing. I've just used traditional whistling tea kettles on the stove all my life. Live and learn.
DiapDealer, how fast does your tea kettle bring the water up to the proper temperature? It might be worth getting if it's noticeably faster than a stove. |
08-30-2019, 08:55 AM | #30 | |
Well trained by Cats
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Sometimes it is clear that the User did not select the correct product to meet their expectations and is blaming the product for not doing what they WANTED (NOT THAT IT CLAIMED TO DO THAT) I've been bit. I failed to heed a few ' operational irregularities ' notices. I also prefer Fulfilled by Amazon over complete 3rd party processing. For those that don't know: Fulfilled means the product still belongs to the seller and Amazon stores and Ships it for them. BTW 'Theducks' harps upon poor editing in his reviews of ebook reviews |
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