Outlet stores: where to shop & how to save big bucks.

If your idea of outlet shopping is scrounging through bins of mediocre merchandise, your perception, and perhaps your wardrobe, could use a makeover. And it starts here.

To tell you which outlet stores deliver the best shopping experience, the Consumer Reports National Research Center surveyed more than 6,000 readers about 11,000 outlet outings, rating the value, quality, selection, and service at 33 top stores. We also sent our reporter to hundreds of stores, talked to industry insiders and salespeople, compared outlet- and regular-store prices, and examined $1,500 worth of merchandise to assess its quality. Our major findings:

* The goods are good. Seventy-seven percent of outlet shoppers said the merchandise was of the quality of what they bought at full-price stores. Only 5 percent were disappointed with the quality. And 57 percent said the selection was as good or better than at regular stores.

* Prices are low, but not always rock-bottom. Only one-third of survey respondents said outlet prices were substantially below sale prices at regular stores. That said, you can still find some real bargains. At an L.L. Bean outlet in Flemington, N.J., our reporter saw a pair of women's $30 stretch slacks for $6 and a coat for $50 less than the catalog price.

* Chains that sell kitchen goods were among the top-rated overall.

* VF Outlets (apparel), Coach (handbags and accessories), Lenox and Pfaltzgraff (dinnerware), and Saks Off 5th (clothing) offered exceptional discounts over the prices charged at regular stores for those brands, survey respondents said.

* Outlets seldom carry the same merchandise as full-price stores, catalogs, and Web sites. Everything at The Gap Outlet, Banana Republic Factory Store, and Old Navy Outlet, which share ownership, is made solely for those stores, a spokeswoman told us. Eddie Bauer, Brooks Brothers, Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, and many others sometimes tweak their regular-store apparel for outlet stores. But outlet-only goods aren't necessarily worse.