Consumer Reports articles from October 2006

Consumer Reports archives from October 2006

By the numbers.(Statistical table)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... AUTOS Total tab for the nine cars tested $741,784 WALKING SHOES Pairs of shoes put through their paces 120 SUPERMARKETS Number of store reports reflected in survey results 38,000 VACUUMS...

A small matter of great concern.(Have You Heard?)
October 1, 2006... An advertising postcard from Mr. Carruthers, silver-plater, circa 1923, hangs in a friend's kitchen: "If there be economy in anything, it certainly is in getting the good old silverware properly replated--for when properly replated, it is as...

Bamboo towels reach new level of softness.(up front: News / Trends / Advice)(Buyers guide)
October 1, 2006... Cotton is no longer king, at least when it comes to bath towels. According to our latest tests, those woven from a new, touted blend of cotton and bamboo were about 25 percent softer after laundering, on average, than their all-cotton...

Beverage ingredients can form carcinogen.(food wise)
October 1, 2006... You might have gulped when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in May 2006 that it found benzene, a potent carcinogen, in some samples of five beverages at levels far higher than the 5 parts per billion (ppb) that federal...

Nailing down the facts about an instant manicure.(CLAIM CHECK)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The claim. Avon Instant Manicure Dry Nail Enamel Strips, made of nail enamel plus a base and top coat, are stuck atop fingernails, real or acrylic. There's no drying, and you take them off with polish remover. "Peel. Press. Perfect," the Avon...

New smart phones can be a smart buy.(up front: News / Trends / Advice)(Product/service evaluation)
October 1, 2006... Faster data services, Bluetooth connectivity, and new entertainment capabilities have enabled the creation of a new generation of smart phones, which combine phone, organizer, e-mail, Web, and multimedia functions. To assess their IQ, we...

Devices make fluffy less fluffy.(up front: News / Trends / Advice)(Furminator, device to remove pet har and reduce shedding)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The Furminator is designed to remove pet hair and reduce shedding. So are the ShedEnder and a number of wire pet brushes. But the Furminator, sold at PetSmart and online, costs more: We paid about $34 for a medium-size model, compared with...

Check your laundry savvy.(talk THE talk)
October 1, 2006... When it's time to throw clothing in the wash, are you ever stumped by the hieroglyphs designed to reveal how it should be cleaned? The Federal Trade Commission requires that most clothing have a care label with laundering dos and don'ts. But...

Testing Silvercare's mettle.(up front: News / Trends / Advice)(Samsung SilverCare Washer WF316LAW, washing machine)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Samsung's SilverCare Washer WF316LAW ($1,200; www .samsung.com) promised lower water and energy use and less wear on clothes when it made its debut earlier this year. But the intriguing feature on this front-loader is its SilverCare setting,...

Diesels powered by cleaner fuel hit the road.(up front: News / Trends / Advice)(Volkswagen Touareg)
October 1, 2006... Diesel cars typically get about 30 percent better fuel economy than similar gasoline-powered cars. They also emit more nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate (soot), which has kept them from being sold in all 50 states. But a new blend of...

Inflatable 'flying' watercraft linked to deaths and serious injuries.(Recalls & Safety Alerts)
October 1, 2006... Following two deaths and dozens of injuries, including a broken neck and a punctured lung, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled thousands of inflatable water-sport tubes designed to become airborne when being pulled by a...

'04-06 Lexus and Toyota (various models).(VEHICLES)
October 1, 2006... Retaining clips for center console can loosen, possibly causing carpet cover to interfere with accelerator. That could lead to crash. Models: 367,594 sport-utility and hybrid vehicles, including '04-05 Lexus RX330, '06 Lexus RX400H,...

HP Photosmart R707 digital cameras.(defects)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... When certain nonrechargeable batteries are installed and the camera is connected to an AC adapter or docking station, battery could overheat and catch fire. Products: 679,000 5.1-megapixel cameras with 24x zoom distributed worldwide...

Lexar JumpDrive FireFly and 1 GB Secure II.(ELECTRONICS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Could overheat, posing risk of skin burns and property damage. Products: 66,000 high-speed flash drives used to store and transfer data from one computer to another. The JumpDrive FireFly drives, which came in various colors, were sold...

The ethanol myth: Consumer Reports' E85 tests show that you'll get cleaner emissions but poorer fuel economy ... if you can find it.(SPECIAL AUTO SECTION)
October 1, 2006... The Bush administration has been pushing ethanol as a renewable, homegrown alternative to gasoline. Now, the auto industry is abuzz with the promise of its flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs), which are designed to run on either gasoline or the...

Fantasy sports: ultra-performance and luxury sports cars: for the price of a condo, you can buy a dream machine. But is it worth the price in reality?(SPECIAL AUTO SECTION)(Buyers guide)
October 1, 2006... Owning a high-end sports car is an aspiration for many people. They dream about buying one for years, and when they reach the point when they can afford it, they splurge. But the choice is too often based on dreams rather than real-world...

Win at the grocery game: how to shop smarter, cheaper, and faster.
October 1, 2006... Most Americans shop for groceries at least once a week, but that doesn't mean they like it. Although the 24,000 readers surveyed last year by the Consumer Reports National Research Center were generally happy with the supermarket they used...

Vacuums: don't get sucked in.(Buyers guide)
October 1, 2006... Bagless design, HEPA filtration, and the colorful, high-tech look popularized by Dyson have helped vacuum sales hit 20 million last year. But changes, our tests reveal, aren't always improvements. Some models still leave too much behind, spit...

Walking shoes: get a good fit to stay fit.(Buyers guide)
October 1, 2006... You don't have to buy special shoes to stay fit and burn calories by walking for exercise. But some high-scoring walking shoes we tested will cushion your feet while letting them flex properly. Three of the highly rated shoes in our tests...

Cordless phones: for a cellular world.(Buyers guide)
October 1, 2006... The world may be going cellular at a rapid clip, but the humble cordless phone still has a place in many homes. A handful of models are adapting by letting you make and take calls on your cellphone account, while others try to avoid the...

Phone service: 5 ways to cut bills.(CR Money)
October 1, 2006... When Clark Kent wants to slip into his cape and tights in the most recent Superman movie, he doesn't bother to look for a phone booth. That's a good thing, since he probably wouldn't find one, and even if he did, younger moviegoers might not...

Weathering disaster: generators and saws.(CR Home)(Buyers guide)
October 1, 2006... Tornadoes in the East, power outages in the West, and a raft of tropical storms have probably put preparedness on your radar screen. Along with an emergency plan (see www.ConsumerReports.org/emergency) and a three-day supply of food and...

Vaccines: more reasons to immunize.(Health)
October 1, 2006... A vaccine against cancer, an important new use for the chicken pox vaccine, and updates on how to use existing vaccines could keep thousands of people from suffering or dying each year from preventable diseases. "It's been an...

Barley can reduce heart risk.(Did you know?)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Labels and advertisements for foods that contain whole-grain barley and milled barley products--flakes, grits, flour, pearled barley--may now claim to reduce the risk of heart disease like other grains that contain soluble fiber, the Food and...

New adult concerns on antidepressants.(drug wise)
October 1, 2006... Two new reports have found that some antidepressant drugs can increase the suicide risk for young adults and seniors. Such warnings already apply to children and teenagers, as previously reported. The drug maker GlaxoSmithKline announced...

Guess the test.
October 1, 2006... For 70 years, CONSUMER REPORTS has tested just about everything you can think of. For the rest of this anniversary year, we'll show you a photo each month and invite you to tell us what we were testing. Send one entry per person to...

Winner of the August contest.
October 1, 2006... Some of you thought a Breathalyzer was the test subject in the photo at right, while others thought that we were testing rear-window visibility or car-paint quality (or that the clipboard was being held by an Elvis impersonator). You were...

Tighter protections needed for your ID.(Viewpoint: THE CONSUMERS UNION PERSPECTIVE)
October 1, 2006... If you're a careful consumer, you shred your sensitive mail, safeguard your Social Security number, and keep personal information at home. But even if you take those steps, you can still become one of the nearly 10 million victims of identity...

Come to our annual meeting and tours.(View point: THE CONSUMERS UNION PERSPECTIVE)(Brief article)(Calendar)
October 1, 2006... Visit our labs and meet our experts on Saturday, Oct. 21, during our annual meeting at our National Testing and Research Center, 101 Truman Ave., Yonkers, NY. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. If you'll be coming for a tour only, please arrive no...

Bad dog, good dog.(selling it: Goofs / Glitches / Gotchas)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The product at near right, from the SkyMall catalog, is an alarm designed to keep pets off furniture: "No scolding the dog for sleeping on the sofa," the copy says. The product at far right is on the same page in the same catalog. And what...

Asterisk alert.(selling it: Goofs / Glitches / Gotchas)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Twenty percent off office supplies sounds great, but a New York reader was troubled by the exclusions on the back of the card. "What's left," he asked, "pencils?"

Yessh, that's some, hic, offer.(selling it: Goofs / Glitches / Gotchas)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Here's an impressive successor to the three-martini lunch.

What wheat?(selling it: Goofs / Glitches / Gotchas)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Sure, whole wheat is a good thing. But according to the label, it's not found in this cinnamon bread.

What the *^&@??!(selling it: Goofs / Glitches / Gotchas)(Ice Rocks, manufactured ice)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... And now, for a deeply strange product, check out Ice Rocks. As the company's Web site notes, they're "secured ice cubes made from spring water and ready to be frozen." In other words, you can avoid the incredible hassle of pouring your own...

Auto batteries: price doesn't equal performance.(SPECIAL AUTO SECTION)(Buyers guide)
October 1, 2006... Auto batteries may look identical to you, but under the hood they can perform quite differently from one another.And our tests show that some of the best performers aren't necessarily the more expensive batteries. With many auto parts...

New & notable for 2007 and 2008: better fuel economy is the buzz for many new models.(SPECIAL AUTO SECTION)(Product/service evaluation)
October 1, 2006... After a summer of high gasoline prices, fuel economy is on the minds of many new-car buyers as the 2007 models roll out. Fortunately for shoppers who are thinking "mpg" rather than "mph," automakers are introducing a wide range of more...

Index one year.(Statistical table)
October 1, 2006... This page lists all full reports and selected shorter reports. Bold type indicates Ratings reports or brand-name discussions; italic type, corrections, follow-ups, or updates. An index of the most recent Ratings of products covered over...

Your privacy for sale.(CR INVESTIGATES)
October 1, 2006... Until Valentine's Day weekend 2005, Elizabeth Rosen had never heard of ChoicePoint. But ChoicePoint, it turns out, knew plenty about her. That's when Rosen, a nurse, received a letter and found out that the Alpharetta, Ga., company had...