On 13/09/13 16:21, Martin wrote:
On Fri, 13 Sep 2013 16:14:05 +0100, Tom Gardner
wrote:

But Which still has advantages:
- breadth of coverage of topics you really don't want to know too
much about (e.g. washing machines) but really do need to know
about once a decade.

Every two decades, if you buy Miele.

And also rapidly changing items that
you need more frequently, e.g. CFL lightbulbs
- general consumer info, e.g. useful "tricks" if you ever
go to the small claims court, plus how to be wise enough
that you don't need to
- long-term reliability and customer service info that simply
cannot be in reviews

because?
Why are Which? any better at providing this? Do they do long term
testing?

Yes, they are *much* better.

They get their subscribers to do it - which is, of course,
the best possible way since it tests real-world conditions.

About once a week they send me an email asking for
my experiences with different equipment (e.g. breadmakers,
cars, TVs etc) and services (e.g. banks, price comparison
websites etc).

Where appropriate they do long-term tests themselves,
e.g. for exterior paints.

They also test brands, which is particularly relevant
where products have a short lifetime.