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December 2004
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Your all-consuming passions

Consumers Union President Jim Guest hitting a golfball.

KEEPING OUR EYE ON THE BALL The more we learn about you, the more we know about what you want tested--golf balls, for example, and a host of other products you'll see in these pages during the coming year.

Next summer, dozens and dozens of golf balls will land in our offices. You're responsible, if you're among the 18 percent of our readers who play golf regularly. You persuaded us that rating golf balls (a first for us) in Consumer Reports would be a darn good idea.

For those of you staying off the links to do home chores, rest assured you're not forgotten: Because 92 percent of our readers own their homes, and pressure washers are increasingly becoming part of the home-maintenance arsenal, they've been put to the test in our labs on decking, siding, and concrete patios. It made for a great water show. You can read about the washers in 2005.

How do your passions become our programs? Our market researchers dig deep into the details of your interests to get a complete picture of who (besides you) reads Consumer Reports and what you want--and need--to read in its pages. Here's a snapshot.

• You're busy with home improvement. More than 25 percent of Consumer Reports readers remodeled a bathroom in the past two years (it seems that the toilet Ratings in the October 2002 report didn't go to waste). Some 20 percent remodeled their kitchens, and almost a third of those did the work themselves.

• You're cued in to TV. The Ratings of DVD players should come in handy for the 20 percent of you who plan to buy one in the next six months. And you research the purchase thoroughly; 68 percent of you do your homework before you buy.

• But you're not buying VCRs; only 9 percent of you intend to buy one in the next six months. Makes sense, since they're losing ground to new technology, which is why we're not testing them as often as we once did.

• You're racing to seal deals on wheels. You used to spend three to six months on car-buying; now it's about two. But some of you aren't driving a hard bargain; 16 percent paid the dealer's price, without negotiating
at all.

• Safety counts--a lot. Almost all of you (94 percent) list it as a major factor in choosing products, which is one reason we often focus on it in our testing, our Ratings, and our reporting. You also want products that work well: 90 percent of you cite that as more important than style.

As we consider an increasing array of products to rate, we listen carefully to what you tell us is important. Fishing rods (last rated in 1978) and canned ham (last rated in 1982) aren't. DVD players, golf balls, and power washers are. So are digital cameras; they're the top product on many of your shopping lists these days. That puts them among the top on our testing list as well.
Jim Guest's signature.

Jim Guest
President