A DFA Special Report

By Susan Davis, Arlene Rosenberg, Richard Sherwin with Deena Gross and Jennifer Auspitz

Every expert we talked to and every consumer we interviewed hammered Samsung’s large Appliances. From 2014 through today, you can purchase any other brand of dishwasher, refrigerator, washing machine, dryer, oven and microwave and do better than Samsung.

But some good news has emerged for the venerable Korean company. Samsung’s TVs are back into the top five of upper and mid-range TVs  and its Sound Bars, while still overpriced, are delivering better than decent quality.

Even its pricing at Walmart, Costco, BJs and regional consumer electronics stores has come down experts claim that Samsung’s renewed concentration on its TVs quality and size and ease of use on screen and App based instruction are really good.

The Best TVs!

While experts still rank Sony’s XBR line and LG’s OLED of TVs as the finest in the very expensive 4k TV market, and the unheralded TCL (soon to be 8k) has come from nowhere to edge out Samsung in that category.

DFA witnessed a private bake-off sort of between the high end $4,000 and up Samsung and Sony and LG. Samsung still trailed not just in picture quality, but in ease of use from on screen guide to App management.

There are many just like Samsung in the entry or even midrange market, $250 to $650. Some of those brands like Hisense, Vizio, Sceptre, have achieved good ratings with fair tech support. But remember RCA, JVC, Philips, Sharp are NOT the company’s you grew up with, they are owned and operated by offshore companies so buyer beware. When you also see Element, Westinghouse, Insignia, and Toshiba at your favorite big box or CE specialty store remember they all get totally nixed by multiple TV experts.

What specs to check?

• Make sure the TV has two or more HDMI inputs
• Make sure your new TV has HDR (High Dynamic Range) video. According to our friend Jim Willcox at Consumer Reports, HDR is the new buzzword when buying a TV. Simply speaking, HDR adds more pixels giving you a wider range of colors by increasing contrast and brightness at same time. DFA was able to tell the difference in the high-end TVs that had HDR, as opposed to the mid range TVs that didn’t have this technology.
• Check the model number and brand marker. For instance, TCL and Hisence both have many models in each price category. But TCL’s “8” series has more features than its “4” series.

• Sometimes, either on purpose or by accident Walmart and BJs notoriously forget which model they are pushing for its renewed mid to high end offerings. So double check the model and scan the serial number to make sure you are getting top of the line models.
• Look for the date on back or side of the TV. Some deals are really for models long ago discontinued. If unsure, ask a salesman to scan the bar code to tell you when the TV was manufactured. In most cases anything 18 months or older would not be a wise purchase.

         Noise Canceling Headphones could cost you too much

In over the head “traditional” high end head phones, Bose Quiet Comfort models from $400 and up, literally had an edge on famous brands like Plantronics, Sony, Beats, Sennheiser, JBL, Panasonic, and Bowers and Wilkins These models sold

for as little as $100 and up to $500. Now the ZVOX AV50 AccuVoice Headphones, dubbed “The World’s First Noise-Cancelling Headphones Designed for People Over 50,” a category formerly monopolized by Bose, has surpassed the venerable Massachusetts based Bose

The Zvox AV50 is lighter and easier to use and easily matches audio quality of their more famous competitors. DFA recently tested several top sellers: Panasonic RP-HTX90N, Beats Dr. Dre Solo Pro, Bose 700 and the Sony 1000XM3. The ZVOX $149.99 equaled or bettered any of those stalwarts of audio headphones. In fact, my old secret underrated Plantronics Noise cancelling model couldn’t compete with ZVOX. And since half of the staff of DFA is over 50,  

I liked the ZVOX quote: “The big market for headphones is people under 30,” commented ZVOX founder Tom Hannaher. “ZVOX is the first company to design headphones specifically for people over the age of 50. The AccuVoice technology in our AV50 headphones boosts and clarifies dialogue so you hear every word, even if your ears aren’t quite as good as they were in your 20s. They are perfect for baby boomers like me.”

Blue Tooth head phones

Listen to this: Surprises in the Ear

As we said a few weeks ago, in the in- ear blue tooth headphones market, Apple, Sony, Panasonic, Plantronics, Sennheiser are all fine pieces of equipment with some models actually using noise cancelling technology in addition to higher audio quality technologies. What DFA found was that some off brands are easily as good as the very expensive brands.

We purchased a few at Tophatter, the popular auction site and received The T9s… (very similar to the The  Tozo line of in the ear blue tooth headphones and surprise several of us couldn’t tell the difference between these at $15 then the Panasonic’s or Sony’s at $150. The Tozo’s ($75 or less) from Amazon also  matched the hot “Jaybirds” ($125) .

For the final test we took the higher end Tozo T9 ($49) Noise Cancelling model and matched it with the ubiquitous Apple Buds and it was no contest, the Tozo’s were much better and fit better too. Amazon and Walmart also have some knockoffs of knockoffs that performed better than the famous brands in that category.

Subaru Forrester: slightly overrated before,

but now truly best in class

Consumer Reports, Car and Driver, US News and World Report have named the Subaru Forrester as by far the best all-around small SUV for more than four years in a row. DFA owns a Forester and where we live there are more Subaru’s than any other automobile.

DFA has tested Hondas, Hyundai Nissans, Kia  and others in the small SUV class also rented newer Subaru’s during recalls, tune-ups and other non-ownership travels with this bestselling brand.

For four years we have been telling our friends at Consumer Reports that while the safety features are terrific and the mileage average (but not great), the Forrester’s GPS, radio and entertainment features  in the car is abysmal. And the screen-based info system is so troublesome, it can be dangerous to drive with a simple changing of the radio stations. Also the trunk/hatch didn’t always open.

But now we are back in the Subaru fold with the Forester Touring Model. The troublesome radio, GPS and info systems have been totally overhauled. The ride is much more comfortable with a seemingly much larger wheel base feel but actually only a few inches bigger than the 2018 we traded in. The creature comforts now include rear temperature/climate controls, three different GPSs and the usual best in class safety systems.

Best advice to those trying to find a Forester 2020 Touring model, there are hardly any left in stock in all of north America. I think we got one of the last ones.

But we are confused as to why Consumer Reports still bills the 2018 as a top used car choice…since our sources says the GPS-radio and info system is almost dangerous and never been fixed and the rear tailgate door still doesn’t always open.

Is the Epson budget priced printer a boon or bust?

DFA has been purchasing Epson printers since the company (owned by Seiko) started selling high quality computer printers 30 years ago. We have had their top of the line sophisticated printers that don’t even use conventional ink cartridges and we’ve purchased their WorkForce printers that used to carry the load of heavy use small business printing with decent priced units and reasonable priced replacement ink cartridges. Epson was one of the first printer makers to produce an All in One printer that can, print, copy, fax and scan.

Well, lately this former leader of the pact has dropped in quality and ease of use in all of its categories. Epson budget priced all in one, the WorkForce 2850 (under $50)  and its acclaimed Epson EcoTank ET-4750 ($500) both have severe issues. The 2850 uses so much ink even during moderate use for the new cartridges we could have purchased two more printers And  its incessant update and upgrade software seems to pop up every time we are working and its non-touch key operation screen is so hard to use that we need a calming pill before changing typefaces or Wi-Fi connection.

As reported by many analysts, the idea behind the Epson’s EcoTank , a high end feature laden printer is tha uses  refillable EcoTank will give the user way more printing DFA and others say that for the money this printer is very slow and may not be worth the price. And unfortunately like its little brother budget Epson also has the same non ease of use  and the directions are more confusing than they should be.

The best in this still very important division of computer products?

It’s almost a tie between the HP and Canon models in all categories and the comeback kid is Brother, which was so lousy for a while that it wasn’t even rated at all, now its Brother MFC-L5700DW ($300) is considered by many as the top rated printer in the All-in-One category.

We still need a computer! What to buy?

For the first time in decades Apple’s MacBook’s are not the choice of experts and one of the Acers we trashed last year because of lack of tech support has fixed its customer service and rebounded to the top three. Apple’s MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, ($1500 to $2,000) which are very nice devices are nevertheless still the most overrated and overpriced computers you can buy. Just like Mercedes Benz and BMW that were number one until they weren’t, Apple’s trillion-dollar worth is truly due to the fact that billions of people fall for the nonexistent claim that Apple’s products are easier and worth the money.

Microsoft’s Surface Go 2 has become the choice of experts ($500). We still don’t like the fact that you can’t use many third-party programs without a special upgrade, but this laptop is now one of the best rated in that category. Dell XPS 13 Convertible ($1,900) is right up there with the most overrated since some of Dell’s laptops are almost just as good at half that price. The budget Dells are terrific buys along with the fine tech support and product reliability.

HP’s Envy line and Asus ZenBook S UX392FN-XS71 are decently priced $1,000 or so high-end machines, while Lenovo might have the widest selection from budget to high end laptops and All-in-One desktops.

Chromebooks overtaking Tablets, Macs and PCs

(But there are hidden drawbacks.)

Since DFA first pushed Chromebooks as a cheaper more efficient alterative to Macs and PCs, the category has broadened and you need to research the brand and its attributes before blindly plunking down your $200 to $400. But remember, even the $800 or more Google Pixel Chromebooks have some newly discovered drawbacks. For example, they do not run all Android Apps and do fail miserably with many of the Comcast, Verizon, Altice Apps. This makes it difficult to use your Chromebook to watch to watch TV on the road.  But even entry level Chromebook has become de riguer from grammar school to high school and even college. 

Dyson is still overrated and overpriced small appliance maker

Dyson, which makes just about everything: vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, hand dryers, air purifiers, cooling and heating fans, and room lighting devices, has been the darling of the elite product owners. Heck, DFA even purchased a compact room heater-cooling fan when it went on sale one time.

Recently there’s been some talk that Dyson’s hand dryers found in many retail restrooms, may be spreading more germs by blowing out germs with its powerful fans.

Dyson claims it saves the environment by allegedly  saving of the forest because the use of  paper towels results  in tree chopping.

Also, Dyson has been challenged in the room air purifying market by Coway, Blue Air and with TCL entering the market soon with a much lower price, you don’t “have to buy” Dyson.

The best and worse cordless vacuum cleaners

One of our favorite small appliance categories’ changes nearly every year. You can always pay from $300 to $700 for Dyson’s line of cordless vacuum cleaners that’s pretty much constant for its overloud but strong vacuums and Shark Rocket Pet Pro Cordless around $300,  went from worst to best in only three years with  Moosoo, an unheralded and hard to get vacuum winning accolades from nearly every consumer watchdog reviewer. Bissell and Hoover, brands we’ve all grown up with, still maintain the best customer service teams. And maybe because of that popularity, still maintain market share.

Coming in two weeks: The Mobile Phone Bake off. DFA tries the cheap phones all the way to the unaffordable new iPhone.