They can still buy the recommended one (assuming you trust the opinions of those in the UK!). You can't follow the links, I guess, but at least it makes the decision of which one to buy easy.
Yo eof, I hear you're some sort of technology guy.. I really need advice on which toaster to buy, what do you think? Oh I think toasters are overrated, what about a kettle?
It's hard to say. Kettles certainly aren't an expect kitchen appliance/item like a drip brew coffee maker. Though at the same time I don't think I've ever been in a home owned by some one over 30 that didn't have a kettle some where in the house.
I suppose it makes sense that they're targeting people who aren't picky and are just looking to buy something they won't regret in that category, but there's a HUGE gulf to me between buying a Dell with Windows 7 and a Macbook running OSX.
I recommend Kallow (http://www.kallow.com/). I've made 5 purchase decisions based on it. I was very happy with all but one and they've since stopped recommending it.
I'm torn between loving the brutal simplicity and wanting them to add more products. I'm guessing if it's successful there's no way they don't add more products/categories.
Hi Mike. I hope not... I'm a real person. I used this site last week to buy a TV (the entry-level one) and loved it. I have started using it when non-technical people ask me which (TV|netbook|etc) to buy because it's pretty, and you know they aren't going to go that far wrong. If they don't like the one they get: http://www.justbuythisone.com/what-is-roomservice - which is better than my friends normally get from me!
I did find out about it because we work with the guys who built it (http://www.reevoo.com) but I thought the HN crew would enjoy it - it feels to me like a hardware version of this classic XKCD: http://xkcd.com/627/
Samsung? Really?
It says they have reviewed over 54,844 reviews for their choice of digital camera. But are these reviews credible? Are they autoforms filled by bots? No distinction on the quality of review...merely the quantity.
Heya, I work at Reevoo and helped build JustBuyThisOne.
We pick the price we show from Reevoo's price comparison, choosing the cheapest price from the 400 shops we list prices from - so we're pretty confident we're showing the best product at the best possible price. I'd love to know if we're missing somewhere with dirt-cheap prices, though.
One caveat is that we don't use Amazon Used&New prices for JBTO, just cause things tend to be sold in very low quantity there and so go out of stock really quickly.
I kept confusing it with justbythis.com which gives a blank page. Awesome site!! Probably going to buy the compact digital you recommended - but at Costco, not amazon. You might consider rounding up sponsors without losing your organic/objective data to solve the Costco-guy problem.
I would never purchase something like a TV or a laptop without thoroughly investigating it first. Could maybe be useful if you're looking to get a gift and are crunched for time. There should be a way to access the reviews though.
Precisely my thoughts. I want this service for stuff that doesn't matter that much to me but I can accidentally spend too much time researching (easy to do on the internet). Tell me what umbrella to buy, kitchen supplies, etc.
Of course the obvious counter argument is that what's not important to me is to someone else. So of course what this site really needs is just much more coverage.
I agree.. but I love the site.. I feel like it needs some social validation, though. Long term maybe the site will be well-curated enough to get a reputation that makes it unnecessary.. but right now, I feel like I need a peek at some evidence that these products are as awesome as suggested.
Also, having bought my fair share of consumer electronics, I've found that the research and anticipation of buying a product is sometimes as much fun as the afterglow of owning it.
Well configured doesn't mesh into a "just buy that one" mindset. As others have stated. If you are picky about a product this isn't the service for you but if you just need something of X where X is a microwave or toaster, you normally just one one that works well.
I personally wouldn't use this for gadget recommendations - I am too picky and enjoy the research process too much.
However, for buying a toaster or a microwave or something, I can definitely see this site being useful. Usually I end up going to the store and picking something out based on the blurbs on the packaging - not exactly a prime source of impartial data.
I think most geeks like the research process. Joe Average, though, just wants someone to tell him what to buy. I think this site is utterly brilliant - cashing in on "The Paradox of Choice" (http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_ch...) is a rock-solid idea.
I'm with you on the research process.
I find that what appeals to most users doesn't appeal to me, which means that even customer reviews have to be carefully read to determine what was actually positive and negative. In NYC, for instance, I never trust people who say the staff were rude - staff are typically rude if you're rude to them.
Regarding preferneces, read Gladwell's essay - The ketchup conundrum -http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html. It discusses Prego's tomato sauce and highlights something these guys are missing - the concept of customer segmentation. Different people have different preferences. Since when was a one size fits all universally appealing?
Still, I can imagine this being the lazy buyer's dream, I suppose.
I upvoted you cause I like the question, but I guess the answer is that this site is better because it makes a decision for you. I tried your idea on Amazon for televisions and sorted by customer rating, but it just felt very intimidating. The first result was $900, and maybe that's more than I want to spend. So I start scanning down the list, and all of a sudden I'm doing something that feels a lot like researching, which is the whole thing I'm presumably trying to avoid.
Now that said, would this actually be useful to me? For the stuff I care about (like, say, a computer) I definitely would not use this site. So it's for stuff I don't care about. Like a kettle. But I'm fine just buying a cheap-ass old school kettle that you don't plug in. So it's probably ultimately not for me. Super clever though!
1 product vs 1 + 37 related/upsell products Amazon suggests to you. What might seem obvious to us might be voodoo science to this site's primary market.
Well you could say how is "YTinstant.com" different than typing <query> in Youtube and clicking the first result?. I would tell you since YTinstant launched I can count how many times I visited YT. Removing noise is a business.
It's really so you can say "just go to this site" when you have lots of relatives asking you which electronic gadget is best in its class. After all, they really mean "which one should I buy?" Hence the name of the site.
It's worth bearing in mind that people who buy mid-range are also more likely to solidly review a working product than people who buy a high-end product; if I buy high end, I'm going to be a lot pickier, and likely more critical of the product. I wouldn't say it's necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison.
Or you would convince yourself that the widget is pretty awesome since, to be honest you paid a hefty price tag - which a sane person wouldn't do for a sub-par product?
There's a huge problem with user generated reviews in general that makes it very hard to go by top rating. Some peple will give 5 stars to a mediocre product, some will give 2 stars for a perfect product just because they wish it was something else (example: the # of people complaining that the Breville is made of plastic, at least the us verson gets that complaint a lot). At the last office I worked at we had the Breville kettle for a few years. Everyone in the office drank tea, so it was in use nonstop. It lated longer there than I did. I'd say it performed admirably, and if I was going to buy a plastic kettle in that range, I'd buy that one. I'd rather not be boiling water in a plastic container, but I'm not going to reduce the rating for it, unfortunately many other people will, so stars don't necessicarily have a strong correlation to quality/durability.
When I saw the domain name, I thought it was about you giving it a couple e.g. laptops (that someone probably recommended you) and the site would compare them them automatically and tell you in plain english how they stack up.
For this, you'd probably need a huge database of product properties (let alone products), but that's conceivable. See, for example, http://market.yandex.ru/guru.xml?CMD=-RR=9,0,0,0-PF=21425576... – these are all TV models with WiFi and 3D support that Yandex knows about (see there are a lot of filtering options on the right)
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 173 ms ] threadBut their high-end recommendation was a Macbook.
I suppose it makes sense that they're targeting people who aren't picky and are just looking to buy something they won't regret in that category, but there's a HUGE gulf to me between buying a Dell with Windows 7 and a Macbook running OSX.
I did find out about it because we work with the guys who built it (http://www.reevoo.com) but I thought the HN crew would enjoy it - it feels to me like a hardware version of this classic XKCD: http://xkcd.com/627/
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HZ30W-Digital-compact-supporte...
(This is the mid-level recommendation - the top price recommendation is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3).
I'm not a camera guy so I can't vouch for the quality of these cameras, but I'm not seeing the one you linked to.
btw, http://www.justbuythisone.com/best-high-end-tv broke the website.
[edit: I noticed the title has been changed, so the point is moot now.]
We pick the price we show from Reevoo's price comparison, choosing the cheapest price from the 400 shops we list prices from - so we're pretty confident we're showing the best product at the best possible price. I'd love to know if we're missing somewhere with dirt-cheap prices, though.
One caveat is that we don't use Amazon Used&New prices for JBTO, just cause things tend to be sold in very low quantity there and so go out of stock really quickly.
I don't want to be an average guy. ;-)
Of course the obvious counter argument is that what's not important to me is to someone else. So of course what this site really needs is just much more coverage.
Brilliant execution. Just stellar.
However, for buying a toaster or a microwave or something, I can definitely see this site being useful. Usually I end up going to the store and picking something out based on the blurbs on the packaging - not exactly a prime source of impartial data.
Regarding preferneces, read Gladwell's essay - The ketchup conundrum -http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html. It discusses Prego's tomato sauce and highlights something these guys are missing - the concept of customer segmentation. Different people have different preferences. Since when was a one size fits all universally appealing?
Still, I can imagine this being the lazy buyer's dream, I suppose.
I just read the reviews on Amazon. If anything, they are often too negative.
Now that said, would this actually be useful to me? For the stuff I care about (like, say, a computer) I definitely would not use this site. So it's for stuff I don't care about. Like a kettle. But I'm fine just buying a cheap-ass old school kettle that you don't plug in. So it's probably ultimately not for me. Super clever though!
Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't allow this yet.
Considering how much tea I drink, I would have been most disappointed to discover price doesn't always correlate perfectly with quality ;-D
Otherwise I like the site; it fulfills that "family member asking for advice on electronics" niche well.
Not reasuring re. justbuythisone.com
For this, you'd probably need a huge database of product properties (let alone products), but that's conceivable. See, for example, http://market.yandex.ru/guru.xml?CMD=-RR=9,0,0,0-PF=21425576... – these are all TV models with WiFi and 3D support that Yandex knows about (see there are a lot of filtering options on the right)
Anyone would like to implement such a service?