INSIGNIA TVs: CR Rates High, What's Your Opinion?

Going to buy a 26″ or 32″ for bedroom.

Looking for good quality and dependability mixed with a low price. I know this is a Best Buy product.

Consumers Report (Oct ’08) issue rates the Insignia LCD 26″ as its Number 2 “Recommended” sets (Panasonic #1) Ahead of Sony, Samsung, RCA.

They rate the 32″ model as a “5″. Behind Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and Vizio (which they rate Best Buy)

Cnet review (can’t see how recent) says the 26″ Insignia is good.

I see a lot of comments in the completed answers on this, some going back several years. And some commenting on the poor quality of both Insignia and Vizio. (Others saying OK)

Anyone have RECENT experience with either Insignia or Vizio?

(I rate all answers if info is relevant and hopefully w/link)

Answer by Boston
Insignia is a budget brand. It doesn’t have the newest features or the best quality. Major complaints include: soft or blurry picture compared to other brands, uneven and grayish blacks, and higher than average failure rates. The advantage of Insignias are that they are fairly cheap, compared to other companies.

From the customer service side of it, Insignia’s do horribly. If your Insignia breaks down, it will be weeks or even months before it is repaired. Insignia’s warranty is also very limited – it doesn’t even include LCD screens, which are the most likely part to fail on the entire TV. Some of the repair technicians I work with say that there are human finger prints on the inside of the screens, resulting in a blurry picture. But even though the manufacturer is obviously at fault, Insignia refuses to remedy this problem under the warranty.

Answer by tgm
insignia tvs are great! I have had one for 10 months and have had no major problems with it (i just had to figure out how to get the channels to work cause if it has a weak signal for more than about 1 hour it will delete the channel) the picture is outstanding and has great sound for a off brand great hook ups including hdmi. I love mine and you should really get one! vizios are OK they dont have the bes picture and the sound is TERRIBLE on them if you are considering just those two insignia wins hands down. hope this helps

What do you think? Answer below!

Years ago I was involved with somebody working at Sears’ headquarters. She would often laugh about what tractor or lawn mower or table saw would be in the next consumer reports and at what rank…

From what she was saying Sears was given (depending on product line) 2-4 spots on the top ten and Sears could chose to rank their products themselves and consumer reports would apply in the proper slot… (saw1, saw2, saw3… that is how sears ranked. consumer reports gives sears the 2, 5, 7 slots therefore saw1 is rankded 2, saw2 is ranked 5 and saw3 is ranked 7) I would assume Home Depot, Ace, MEnards, Lowes all have a similar agreement… so are they really fair?

the reason this came up…. I was needing a lawn mower… I asked her to get me a coupon and she comment on which one to buy… not any of the 3 that were on the top ten. She picked out a different one and told me this particular one is their best… they just make very little money on it.

What do you think

Answer by M M T
I don’t think Consumer Reports is “paid off” but I don’t always agree with them. I use the information they put forth as educational but not as gospel. The models they test are often not available everywhere.

I tend to look at the number of units from a particular manufacturer and how well overall those models placed. If a company has several units that have received good ratings, chances are the rest of their product line is pretty good too. Be wary of the manufacturer who only has one good model and the rest of their models didn’t test well.

Features that the tested liked or didn’t like might be subject to personal preferences too.

One area I always seem to disagree with Consumer Reports on is vacuums. They seem to love Hoover and Eureka and the vacuums I had from those manufacturers were absolutely miserable. Weigh personal experiences in you decision.

We’ve had Craftsman mowers and were not that happy with them. Our favorite over the years (and it’s still running great) has been Husqvarna. Yeah, they are expensive but the quality is there to begin with. We had a Yard Man made by MTD that was horrible, it fell apart shortly after we bought it (front axle assembly was defective) and we played hell getting the dealer to stand behind it from day one.

Answer by Damocles
My father used to repair TVs for a living. Often times, one TV manufacturer will make TVs and put another company’s logo on them (i.e. company A hires company B to make their TVs for them). He was curious as to why two TVs that were, in fact, the same TV, coming out of the same factory, etc. were in Consumer Reports – one listed in the top 10, one listed as being in the 10 worst.

He asked someone with the company that manufactures the TVs about this. This is what they told him (mind you, this is “hear-say”). They said that your rating in Consumer Reports is directly proportional to the amount of advertising that you buy. My dad said, “but Consumer Reports doesn’t accept any advertising”, and they don’t. However, they are owned by a company that prints various different magazines. Your rating in consumer reports is proportional to the advertising dollars you spend on their other magazines.

When you read about how that one editor went on a crusade against the Suzuki Samurai (because he bought one, was showing off with it, and rolled it over), trying to make it out to be a roll over hazard, when in fact, it was just as safe as any other vehicle in its class, it makes you wonder how unbiased Consumer Reports really is. If an editor can influence the results for their own personal beef, then why not for personal gain?

I consider Consumer Reports to be dubious, at best.

Answer by Irene Z
There are research and there are research. In this case, it is matching what Sears buy against what their customer base considers to be the best. But if your demographic does not fit the typical Sears buyer, then it might not quite fit your needs. What Sears carry may not be what Best Buy carry. And as consumer, you might pick a bargain instead of the best quality product. So take it with a big pinch of salt, because you still need to choose well. Caveat Emptor – buyers beware!

At the end of the day, I would prefer to rely on product reviews by reputable consumer research and trend spotting firms like GFK. But I would also choose to read reviews by magazines. In this case, a lawn mower – I will check with Gardening magazines and so on. You need to switch and adopt information sources according to the product categories.

Answer by Prosper
Sounds mighty unlikely.

Consumer Report’s niche is giving out unbiased analysis. They don’t accept any ads, nor do they even accept free sample products for testing. It would wreck their whole reputation if this were true.

There are plenty of other magazines that take ads from companies, or are not too cleverly hiddenly run by companies (think of most of the car magazines).

If this were true you’d see a few Gm and Ford cars on the recommended lists.

Answer by Ted
Consumer Reports is not paid off. They buy the things they test anonymously in regular stores for cash (so they can’t be given specially prepared models to test.) They get their money from subscriptions and donations.

Consumer Reports is not owned by a magazine publisher. It is put out by Consumers Union, which is a stand-alone not-for-profit organization.

What do you think? Answer below!
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