I originally wrote this in 2013. I’ve made a few edits and brought it up to date for 2021.

I am often asked “what ______ should I buy?” (Fill in the blank!) 

While I appreciate the vote of confidence that the person asking the question has in my opinions, it does put me on the spot.

Many times I haven’t been keeping up with the gear i’m being asked about and because of that I feel an obligation to get up to speed just to answer the question.

Of course this takes time for me to accomplish and if I don’t take the utmost care in my response, I could give out information that doesn’t serve the person asking!  That would make me feel bad.

I’ve finally found something that I can whole heartedly recommend and that is the website http://thewirecutter.com/!  I ran across this site in 2013 and I think that these guys are on to something.

They only review and recommend the BEST products in a particular category.  They do occasionally review a next best or less expensive item, but in general, they report what in their opinion is the best available product. Their categories cover almost anything that you might want to buy.

If you aren’t careful, you can lose a few hours poking around in this web site!  It’s that interesting!

They support their work by making some commissions if you buy through their links on the site.

You do need to create a free account with them to read their content.  If you have a digital subscription to the New York Times, then use that to log in.  They were acquired b the New York Times in 2016.

Take a look and see what you think.  From now on, when anyone asks me “what ______ should I buy?” I’m going to reply “Go check out http://thewirecutter.com/!  I’ll be happier and I’ll feel like I’ve pointed the person asking in the direction!