Buying Advice at Your Fingertips

The Consumer Reports Buying Guide for 2020 is your handy one-stop source for making informed, money-saving purchases. Consult it before you shop, then take it to the store or keep it beside your computer to help you compare brands. Here’s how to make the best use of this guide:

PACKED WITH HIGHLIGHTS from our exclusive buying advice and ratings for more than 2,000 product models, this little book will be an invaluable shopping tool for squeezing the most value from every dollar you spend.

Preceding each ratings chart, you’ll find a Quick Guide with buying advice for that product. You can access our full buying advice by using the website address provided with each category.

But before you delve into the best stuff to buy, be sure to read about the best places to find it—whether online or at a walk-in store—in the Comparing Retailers section, starting on page 6. Our surveys of thousands of Consumer Reports members provide invaluable insight into buying trends, plus the service, selection, and prices offered by dozens of re tailers of appliances and electronics products.

After you’ve honed your shopping savvy, turn to the Product Ratings section, starting on page 11, for guidance from CR’s experts on 34 product categories, in three sections: Home, Electronics and Autos. Here you’ll find exclusive ratings based on our tough in-house tests, and, for many products, brand predicted reliability and owner satisfaction estimates from our surveys of hundreds of thousands of CR members about breakages and problems they’ve had with vari ous brands.

In the market for a car? The Autos section, starting on page 145, has all the information you need to make the right decision on a new or used model. If you’re buying new, start with a look at the Highs and Lows of the 2020 vehicles, check out the Standout Models in each category, and then move on to the full ratings. Used car buyers will find our experts’ picks for Best and Worst models, plus detailed reliability reports. We’ve even got ratings for more than 100 tire models.

In today’s crowded marketplace, this guide can help cut through the endless options, helping you choose the best, safest products—and save money doing it. So keep it with you whenever you shop, and buy with confidence.