We have subscribed to Consumers Report for more than 30 years. We started with the magazine when we were first married and needed to purchase things. And while we didn’t always agree with their findings, at least they pointed out issues to consider when purchasing things.

Over the years, the format of the magazine has changed as have the staff. Some changes are for the good while other changes are for the bad.

In the past, they used to explain their testing procedures. And while this information was a little on the dull side for those who just wanted to know which thing to buy, it did give you insight into possible flaws in their testing procedures. Unfortunately, they have stopped providing that information.

Even prior to the car seat screwup, I questioned the validity of their tests. In particular, I question their testing procedures for ranges.

In all of their range tests, the high end gas ranges always came in last when heating a pot of water. But, I failed to understand how a 2,400 watt burner heated water faster than a 16,000 BTU burner.

Since 16,000 BTU has twice the heat of 2,400 watts, the only thing that I can think of is that the pot that they test with is too small for the 16,000 BTU burners. In short, the big gas burners probably shoot the flame so far out that it never touches the small pot. But, I don’t know since the article makes no mention of the testing procedures.

I can appreciate the need for consistency in these tests. But, if the tests do not reflect reality, what good are they? In reality, no one would put a small pot of water on a 16,000 BTU burner because the flames would completely miss the pot. This is just basic common sense. That is why gas ranges have different size burners for different size pots.

For consistency, I suspect that CR put the same pot on the largest burner of each stove. And in doing so, they have flawed the tests.

I can’t depend on the accuracy of their test results any more because I can’t tell if their testing is flawed. The only reason that I questioned this particular test was because the results just didn’t make sense.

I suspect that we will quit subscribing to Consumers Report. We are at the point where the only thing we believe about Consumers Report is their failure record.  And, the only reason that we believe that is because it is based on their yearly survey.  FWIW.