tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48820581939483453212024-02-18T20:03:59.896-08:00the blog @ ConsumerPla.netdeep research for discriminating usersGeorge Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.comBlogger274125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-60293347486511523312012-02-18T10:21:00.000-08:002012-02-18T10:21:00.467-08:00K and N/ High Flow Air Filters: Test #3<b>High Flow Automotive Air Filters Part 3: AnthonyS tests</b><br />
<br />
ton <a href="http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/cms/">bobistheoilguy</a>, probably the best forum site for lubrication issues on net forums.<b> </b><br />
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The <b><span style="background-color: red;">results</span></b> of the Spicer/TESTAND standardized 5011 tests for air filters pointed at a very clear pattern: K&N (cotton gauze) and AMSOIL (foam) filters had less flow restriction when clean, but more flow restriction when dirty than the standard AC Delco OEM air filter replacement, and there was a dramatic difference in filtration efficiency, to the advantage of the AC Delco filter. We wanted to get some corroborative evidence, to avoid the possibility of commercial collusion or test errors. We found <a href="http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm">AnthonyS' tests</a> on <a href="http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/cms/">bobistheoilguy</a>, run in 2003. AnthonyS, a user of K&N filters, decided to conduct a low budget test on air filter efficiency. <br />
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AnthonyS is a forum member of the bobistheoilguy site, which <a href="http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=491537&page=1">archived a discussion thread</a> on his tests. According to what he writes, he is deeply familiar with automotive technology, and has a BS in Mechanical Engineering. AnthonyS conducted both flow and filtration tests on a set of filters, including oiled cotton filters (K&N), foam (Jackson Racing, Racing Beat, AMSOIL previous generation), and paper or similar fiber-based media (Napa Gold, Baldwin, Mazda). <br />
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<b>Air flow</b><br />
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For the <a href="http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest2.htm">flow tests</a>, AnthonyS mounted a Dwyer water manometer on the intake, to measure the pressure drop from the atmosphere across the intake and filter, and took 4 successive measurements for each filter, which he compared to intake pressure drop only.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JA9fWIqGyG8/TXlJUaue99I/AAAAAAAAA_o/PX0lu__y9Ss/s1600/AirFilter+AnthonyS+FlowTest+530+2011-03-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JA9fWIqGyG8/TXlJUaue99I/AAAAAAAAA_o/PX0lu__y9Ss/s1600/AirFilter+AnthonyS+FlowTest+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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Because there are two different sessions where car rpms are different (6,000 rpms vs. 6.500 rpms) as is atmospheric pressure, it is not possible to compare all brands to each other, but the test clear shows that:<br />
<ul><li>all paper filters are roughly equivalent in flow</li>
<li>the K&N filter flows better than the other filters, although the difference is only 1.4% of atmospheric pressure, probably only noticeable in a racing environment.</li>
</ul>Our conclusion on flow tests is that we have corroborating evidence from two tests on the relative superiority of K&N filters as far as air flow is concerned - although it is appears to us that, for regular driving use, the difference may not be noticeable.<br />
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<b>Filtration Efficiency</b><br />
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In order to <a href="http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest3.htm">measure filtration efficiency</a>, AnthonyS inserted a secondary air filter downstream of the primary air filter, and run 500 mile tests with each filter, after which he had a third party (his wife:-) evaluate filter color.The darker secondary filters indicated the filters with worse filtration efficiency.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-pcIC7viT-h0/TXlLv1kEVcI/AAAAAAAAA_s/aQ64tJYYYmM/s1600/AirFilter+AnthonyS+Filtration1+530+2011-03-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-pcIC7viT-h0/TXlLv1kEVcI/AAAAAAAAA_s/aQ64tJYYYmM/s1600/AirFilter+AnthonyS+Filtration1+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>No flash</i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0Pz-ATTJ0as/TXlMETFU6jI/AAAAAAAAA_w/4rXkDthNj-o/s1600/AirFilter+AnthonyS+Filtration2+530+2011-03-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0Pz-ATTJ0as/TXlMETFU6jI/AAAAAAAAA_w/4rXkDthNj-o/s1600/AirFilter+AnthonyS+Filtration2+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Flash</i></td></tr>
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The color judge evaluated all paper filters as roughly the same, and definitely lighter than the foam and cotton filters. She rated AMSOIL and K&N filters roughly at the same level, with a possible advantage to K&N. The pictures tell the same tale.<br />
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We conclude from AnthonyS' filtration tests that paper filter filtration is more effective than cotton or foam, a result which corroborates the filtration findings of the previously reviewed ISO 5011 test. While we do not believe that it ranks at the level of incontrovertible evidence because of weaknesses in experience design, we feel that AnthonyS' air filter test is appropriate as corroborating evidence.<br />
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Next we discuss the conclusions to draw from the data we uncovered on high flow automotive air filters... So come back soon!George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-58161603002461212532012-02-17T20:01:00.000-08:002012-02-17T20:01:00.141-08:00Best Air Filters: SwRI/AEM 2007 Tests<b><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Best Air Filters Review</a> Part 7: SwRI/AEM 2007 air filter tests</b> <br />
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Air filters: how do you prove that your product is superior? In a field where technical performance is critical, you can ask a prestigious third party to test the competitive field for you. This is what AEM did in 2007, when they commissioned a prestigious third party research lab, the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), to compare drop-in filter performance across all its competition. SwRI produced, as expected, <a href="http://www.autohifidiszkont.hu/bmw-tuning.hu/aemszuroteszt.pdf">an outstanding research report</a>, whose only -minor- weakness is that the samples to test were actually provided by AEM. AEM does not provide the link any more, and it took us a lot of research to actually locate it.<br />
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Is AEM's sponsorship of these tests a credibility issue? We spent a good amount of time debating this question at ConsumerPla.net. Our conclusion is that it does not significantly impact the credibility of the report, expect, possibly, in one respect. The test procedure is standard, and was led by SwRI in isolation with no participation from AEM personnel. The samples were provided by AEM, which is the sole significant weakness of the test. From SwRI comments, it appears that competitive samples were not, in general, damaged or skewed, with one minor exception which we discount, where dust spots appeared on one competitive filter. At worst, the only skew in this regard would be that AEM would have made sure to provide a non-faulty sample of its own filter. AEM has a good reputation as a provider of quality hardware, and we do not believe that this introduces a significant restriction to the validity of the tests. As for the possibility of selective quoting form the report, it is non-existent, as SwRI requires that the totality of its reports be quoted when some of it is. Indeed, we had access (as you can too) to the totality of the <a href="http://www.autohifidiszkont.hu/bmw-tuning.hu/aemszuroteszt.pdf">SwRI report</a>. Our conclusion, then, is that the report can be considered a valid third part comparison report.<br />
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SwRI tested the air filters requested by AEM through the whole regular procedure outlined by ISO 5011, using ISO 12103-1, A2 fine test dust (0-80 microns) as a test medium. The choice of the dust is an interesting one. Manufacturers typically ISO 12103-1, A4 coarse test dust (0-180 micron size), because the results are better (coarse particles get filtered more easily). Since AEM paid for the tests, they must have requested fine test dust, which indicates to us that the AEM filter probably tests better against its competitors with fine test dust than with coarse test dust. We find this a very positive attribute for AEM, as fine test dust is more likely to approximate real use patterns. Since both the <i>Jeep Magazine</i> study and the present one use fine dust (as opposed to the Spicer/Testand study), their results can be compared with more validity.<br />
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The selected air filters represented a majority of the high end air filters available in North America, which, unfortunately, does not include good quality throw-away paper filters in AEM's eyes: we would have liked to see some included, as they were in the <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-high-flow-air-filters-test-1.html">Spicer/Testand study</a>. The list:<br />
<ul><li>AEM Dryflow filters are dry element filters that are reusable and washable</li>
<li>AFE Dry Pro S filters are dry element filters that are reusable and washable</li>
<li>AFE ProGuard filters are oiled cotton filters with an additional synthetics barrier to enhance filtration - they are reusable and washable, and need to be re-oiled before use</li>
<li>AIRAID filters are oiled cotton filters, also with an additional synthetic barrier ("Synthaflow") to enhance filtration - they are reusable and washable, and need to be re-oiled before use</li>
<li>K&N filters, the most common premium filters on the market, are oiled cotton filters - they are reusable and washable, and need to be re-oiled before use.</li>
</ul>We already saw performance analysis of K&N and AFE Proguard filters in the <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-high-flow-air-filters-test-1.html">Spicer/Testand study</a>, and of AEM and Airaid in the <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-air-filters-jeep-magazine-2006.html"><i>Jeep Magazine</i> study</a>. It is interesting to note that the results we found for AEM, K&N, AFE and Airaid filters are basically reinforced by the present one, which confirms our analysis that the present study is not damaged by AEM's sponsorship. There are two types of AFE filters in the SwRI study: while the Dry Pro S series consists of dry elements, the ProGuard product line requires oiling. AFE sales people typically recommends AFE ProGuard filters as the best filtration elements their company provides. The results of this study confirm their statements.<br />
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An interesting aspect of this study, which was not performed by any other, is that SwRI also studied the performance of the filters it tested after multiple washes. It is particularly interesting, as these reusable filters are all sold with the expectation that they will last the lifetime of the vehicle - true for all reusable filters we know of expect for AMSOIL filters, which are sold for 100,000 miles or 4 years, whatever comes first. The present study tested clean filters, then used and washed them five times, then tested them again after the fifth wash. The results are interesting:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-fhB04usMla8/TYDdl4NdwzI/AAAAAAAABAI/COh7FigCW60/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+EfficiencyCapacity+530+2011-03-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-fhB04usMla8/TYDdl4NdwzI/AAAAAAAABAI/COh7FigCW60/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+EfficiencyCapacity+530+2011-03-14.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
As already noted in the <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-air-filters-jeep-magazine-2006.html"><i>Jeep Magazine</i> study</a>, the present test highlights the fact that high end filters actually show less capacity than throwaway paper filters as shown in the <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-high-flow-air-filters-test-1.html">Spicer/ Testand study</a>. As in the Jeep Magazine study, AEM scores highest in filtration efficiency. Its capacity appears to have improved since 2006, and tops other filters as well. There is no degradation of either efficiency or performance with the number of washes. As usual, K&N scores lowest in filtration efficiency, but comparatively well in capacity. The AFE ProGuard and AIRAID filters show somewhat comparable performance, with a little edge for the ProGuard. They both lose a small amount of efficiency and capacity with reuse. The AFE Dry Pro filters scores behind all brands except K&N in filtration, and behind all others in capacity. It loses some efficiency with reuse, as does the K&N. Overall, the AEM filter does extremely well in this study so far.<br />
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How much impact does efficiency have on how much dust passes through into your engine? The average filter capacity for all filters surveyed across the present series is 234 grams.Taking this amount as the average quantity necessary to clogging your filter, this is how much pass-through dust would make it into your engine combustion chamber:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-QQ12cNxPC4o/TYDjbUnjWTI/AAAAAAAABAM/OwKoXwKsxkA/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+PassThruDust+530+2011-03-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-QQ12cNxPC4o/TYDjbUnjWTI/AAAAAAAABAM/OwKoXwKsxkA/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+PassThruDust+530+2011-03-14.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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The difference between some of these filters is shocking, given how engine wear directly correlates with the amount of dust particles in the combustion chamber. So far the AEM filter has scored significantly above the others, while the K&N and the AFE Dry Pro S have trailed. For the sake of giving a complete picture, we will also cover what the tests have to say about air flow performance, although we consider it a minor criterion. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-TNRMnEqpzCg/TYDrfCI731I/AAAAAAAABAQ/oL-ASN9u3Z8/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+AirFlowInitialv2+530+2011-03-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-TNRMnEqpzCg/TYDrfCI731I/AAAAAAAABAQ/oL-ASN9u3Z8/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+AirFlowInitialv2+530+2011-03-14.jpg" /></a></div> When looking at initial air flow performance, with a new filter and no dust in the filter, we find the K&N filter significantly ahead in performance, followed by the AFE Dry Pro and the Airaid. It is probably no coincidence that the K&N and the Dry Pro filters also account for the worst filtration performance of the lot - the Airaid performance is all the more meritorious. The AFE Proguard follows, and the AEM Dryllow brings out the rear. The situation changes somewhat when we look at the filters after 5 washes:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B5ZEDVh7GzA/TYD9CwnmjnI/AAAAAAAABAU/D1IBi2dG20o/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+AirFlowAfter5washesv2+530+2011-03-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B5ZEDVh7GzA/TYD9CwnmjnI/AAAAAAAABAU/D1IBi2dG20o/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+AirFlowAfter5washesv2+530+2011-03-14.jpg" /></a></div><br />
After 5 washes, the K&N still handsomely leads the field, followed closely by the AFE Dry Pro. The Airaid's performance has somewhat receded, while the AEM Dryflow's has improved, and they now perform equally well. The AFE ProGuard now trails the others.<br />
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The curves we looked at above assume a clean filter. Another dimension that is worthwhile looking at is airflow vs. clogging: what happens as more dust settles on the filter: what happens as the filter is actually being used? The results are, once again, interesting and surprising:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-RNj0_Q4cMqA/TYD_EXgIeRI/AAAAAAAABAY/oI2g1zeoH6w/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+AirFlowvsCapacityv2+530+2011-03-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-RNj0_Q4cMqA/TYD_EXgIeRI/AAAAAAAABAY/oI2g1zeoH6w/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+AirFlowvsCapacityv2+530+2011-03-14.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This diagram is particularly interesting, as it explains why the AEM filter has the better capacity. The K&N shows by far the better air flow as dust increases, until it reaches close to capacity, at which time it suddenly clogs quickly. The behavior is duplicated by all other filters except for the Dryflow, with the difference that these other filters have a lower capacity than the K&N (and lower airflow as well). The AEM Dryflow starts somewhat high, but it airflow performance worsens only slowly and linearly with dust deposit, while all other filters degrade drastically in performance significantly before approaching capacity. <br />
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Let's face it: the SwRI/ AEM study is a victory for AEM, even if the test format was chosen by that company. The AEM filter showed itself excellent at filtration and with good capacity, while its airflow performance was middling, although improving with use relatively to other filters. The K&N filter, on the other hand, did poorly in filtration, had decent capacity, and showed excellent performance in airflow. The other filters did not excel in either field. There is more discussion on these and other SwRI tests commissioned by AEM on <a href="http://sporttruck.automotive.com/48813/0512st-aem-dryflow-filter/index.html">automotive.com</a>, <a href="http://www.sporttruck.com/techarticles/0512st_aem_dryflow_filter/index.html">sporttruck.com</a>, <a href="http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1639140.html">NASIOC</a>, <a href="http://donsnotes.com/products/air_filter.html">Don McBride's Air Filter Notes</a> and <a href="http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2280729-Conical-Air-Filter-Test-Results-4-tested">VW Vortex</a> (although the links to the SwRI tests are not active any more, following the 2010 acquisition of AEM by K&N).<br />
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Next we discuss the ISO 5011 S&B tests published by S&B... So come back soon!<br />
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<i>Note: accidentally published out of sequence </i><br />
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<i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-air-filters-jeep-magazine-2006.html"><<Previous</a> Next>></i>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-79859458070044165862012-02-16T08:40:00.000-08:002012-02-16T08:40:00.132-08:00Best Air Filters: Jeep Magazine 2006 Tests<b>Best Air Filters Review Part 3: <i>Jeep Magazine</i> air filter tests </b><br />
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In November 2006, <a href="http://www.jpmagazine.com/index.html"><i>Jeep Magazine</i></a> published a series of <a href="http://www.jpmagazine.com/shop4parts/154_0611_jeep_air_filter_upgrades/index.html">air filter tests</a> comparing leading high-end drop-in air filters. Because they dealt with off-road vehicles, they decided not to test paper-based filters, which can collapse with water, and focused on reusable dry elements and oiled cotton filters. We feel that this was a mistake on their part, probably due to the fact that they underestimated the performance of standard paper-based filters.<br />
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Many auto mags spend a lot of time with dynamometer ("dyno") testing to evaluate torque and HP gains from stock modifications. Interestingly, <i>Jeep Magazine</i> discounts such testing for air filters: "<span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz10" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle">if you've got a stock engine, basically any filter will flow enough air to keep it happy. And you aren't going to pick up any power from a filter swap alone. The restriction in the stock Jeep is the stock air-intake system, not the filter</span></span>." Instead, like us, they focus on cumulated efficiency and dust capacity.<br />
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Like the Spicer/ Testand study, the <i>Jeep Magazine</i> team ran ISO 5011 tests. However, they used ISO 12103-1, A2 fine test dust (0-80 microns) in their tests rather than ISO 12103-1, A4 coarse test dust(0-180 micron size), which was used in the Testand tests, because they felt that fine dust matches standard vehicle use better than coarse dust. We agree with them - but we need to note that, as a result, the <i>Jeep Magazine</i> tests cannot be directly compared with the Spicer/Testand tests. Manufacturers typically use coarse test dust because the are allowed by the standard and the results are better.<br />
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<i>Jeep Magazine</i> selected five filters for its tests (the FRAM AirHog is also listed but is not evaluated). All of them are considered premium filters, reusable, and are significantly more expensive than regular paper filters.The list:<br />
<ul><li>The AEM DryFlow is a dry element filter, made of polyester with a nylon cage. Its nominal filtration efficiency is quoted as 99.4%. It is reusable and can be washed.</li>
<li>The Airaid is an oiled cotton filter than uses an additional synthetic fiber barrier to enhance filtration. <i>Jeep Magazine</i> quotes its nominal efficiency at 99.997% down to 10 micron. It is reusable and can be washed, although it also needs to be re-oiled prior to reuse.</li>
<li>The AMSOIL EaA filter is a dry element filter, which mixes cellulose (paper fiber) with synthetic nanofibers (Donaldson technology). It is reusable and can be vacuumed/ air-blown for up to 100,000 miles or 4 years (whatever is less). This AMSOIL nanofiber filter is the present generation of AMSOIL filters, whereas the one reviewed <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-high-flow-air-filters-test-1.html">here</a> was from the previous AMSOIL product generation.</li>
<li>The K&N was already described <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-high-flow-air-filters-test-1.html">here</a>.<i> Jeep Magazine</i> reports its efficiency as 97-99%.</li>
<li>The S&B is an oiled cotton filter similar to the K&N filter. Its efficiency is claimed to be 99% for coarse dust.</li>
</ul>Once again, the results are enlightening, although a bit less surprising to us, since we had already reviewed the Spicer/ Testand tests. The results mostly do not match manufacturers claims, but we should again bring attention to the fact that manufacturers' tests typically use coarse test dust. Coarse test dust leads to better test results, but probably does not match real life use as well as the fine test dust used in the <i>Jeep Magazine</i> tests.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-iBxDZEdikwQ/TX5wclcBmBI/AAAAAAAAA_8/-3Ij9z91wVc/s1600/AirFilter+JeepMag+EfficiencyCapacity+530+2011-03-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-iBxDZEdikwQ/TX5wclcBmBI/AAAAAAAAA_8/-3Ij9z91wVc/s1600/AirFilter+JeepMag+EfficiencyCapacity+530+2011-03-11.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The capacity of all these filters is significantly lower to that of many surveyed in the <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-high-flow-air-filters-test-1.html">Spicer/Testand study</a>. Some of it is due to the choice of filters in both studies: <i>Jeep Magazine</i> did not select any paper filters, which have significantly higher capacity. We suspect, however, that the other reason is the difference in dust: fine test dust probably ends up clogging filters faster than coarse test dust.<br />
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In this test again, K&N ends up last in filtration. It would probably end up first in flow - but the magazine did not conduct flow measurements. Airaid and S&B appear to have similar performance. The AMSOIL nanofiber filter appears to have a shockingly low capacity compared to the others. The AEM filter shows up superior filtration performance, along with low capacity.<br />
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The difference in filtration performance between a filter at 98.5% cumulative efficiency and one at 99.5% might appear small. But each fraction of a percent means more dust showing up in the combustion chamber of your engine and leaving more wear scar in it. We calculated the average capacity of all the air filters we surveyed in this series at 234 grams. If we run 234 grams of dust through these filters (i.e. enough to clog the average air filter in this study), this is how much dust will end up in your engine:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-mtNCqjMPfg0/TX5zdi_j39I/AAAAAAAABAA/NYzY0RcbmAQ/s1600/AirFilter+JeepMag+PassThruDust+530+2011-03-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-mtNCqjMPfg0/TX5zdi_j39I/AAAAAAAABAA/NYzY0RcbmAQ/s1600/AirFilter+JeepMag+PassThruDust+530+2011-03-11.jpg" /></a></div><br />
There is a shocking difference between some of these filters in terms of pass-through dust. <br />
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Next we review the 2007 air filter study and ISO 5011 tests by Southwest Research Institute... So come back soon!<br />
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<a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-high-flow-air-filters-test-1.html"><<Previous</a> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-air-filters-swri-2007-tests.html">Next>></a>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-34518091227697023202012-02-15T08:52:00.000-08:002012-02-15T08:52:00.654-08:00K&N Air Filters: Testand Tests<b><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Best Air Filters Review</a> Part 6: Spicer/ Testand filtration tests</b><br />
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Amazingly, high flow manufacturers have not published third party tests showing the superiority their filtration technology, even for those, such as AMSOIL, who use such tests as a standard marketing strategy for their other products.<br />
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We were still able to find relevant and interesting automotive air filtration tests. In 2004, the company <a href="http://www.testand.com/">Testand</a>, a manufacturer of filter test equipment, collaborated with Arlen Spicer, a Duramax enthusiast, to run a series of standardized ISO 5011 tests (equivalent to the obsoleted SAE J726) test on air filters, using one of their expensive $285,000 test machines. The results were shocking to us, and probably to many high flow air filter users. The test compared K&H (reusable cotton gauze filter), the previous generation of AMSOIL filters (foam filter), and multiple other products made of paper or other fiber combinations, the leading OEM brand being AC Delco. The <a href="http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10372">original thread for this test</a> runs very over 40 pages (<a href="http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=492919">another</a> discussion thread), and the only location where we could actually find the original data is on <a href="http://www.dieselbombers.com/chevrolet-diesel-tech-articles/16611-duramax-air-filter-testing.html">DieselBombers</a>.<br />
<br />
A primary goal of the study was to evaluate if high performance, high flow filters (in particular the K&N filter brand) were worth purchasing. The authors of the study selected a broad swath of filters. Several filters were regular OEM/ aftermarket throwaway paper filters (AC Delco, Baldwin, Wix, and a no-name model, which ended up doing pretty well in the tests). The other filters were all premium filters in different flavors:<br />
<ul><li>Purolator is a premium non-reusable paper filter </li>
<li>AMSOIL foam and UNI are premium, washable and reusable foam filters (the AMSOIL model belongs to a previous product generation, and has been superseded by nanofiber filters)</li>
<li>K&N is an oiled cotton filter, that is reusable: it can be washed and re-oiled</li>
<li>AFE, another oiled cotton filter that can be washed and re-oiled, adds an additional synthetic barrier to the cotton gauze layers to improve filtration efficiency.</li>
</ul>The first part of the test measured flow restriction in each filter, while clean, and progressively increased the volume of air being pushed through: which filter introduced the least resistance to air being brought into the engine? While the differences were not enormous, the winner was the premium-priced K&N filter, as shown in the graph below:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ER2GYhWVkRU/TXkp9tZoewI/AAAAAAAAA_U/fvrP-g6LrMQ/s1600/ISO5011Test+Air+Flow+Restriction+530+2011-03-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ER2GYhWVkRU/TXkp9tZoewI/AAAAAAAAA_U/fvrP-g6LrMQ/s1600/ISO5011Test+Air+Flow+Restriction+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
This result augured well of the success of the K&N filter. The next question was to find out how the filter behaves as it gets progressively clogged by dust, as happens during actual use. The test used a constant 9.8grams/ minute dust flow, using standardized <a href="http://www.powdertechnologyinc.com/test-dust-history/iso-standard.php">ISO 12103-1</a>, A4 coarse test dust, 0-180 micron size. The outcome of this test was the first real shocker -there are several to come. The test below shows that, as dust progressively clogs the filter, many filters, including the K&N and the AMSOIL filters, see the flow restriction (i.e. the resistance to air flow) growing exponentially, to very largely exceed the restriction seen on the standard OEM paper filter made by AC Delco:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wMRBrDZmako/TXksu2BS2_I/AAAAAAAAA_Y/FXhaYDoADTo/s1600/ISO5011Test+Restriction+vs+Dust-Time+530+2011-03-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wMRBrDZmako/TXksu2BS2_I/AAAAAAAAA_Y/FXhaYDoADTo/s1600/ISO5011Test+Restriction+vs+Dust-Time+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The result of this test was a big surprise: the flow restriction advantage for the K&N (or other alternative filters) only existed when the filter was largely clean! Hopefully, this meant that the alternative filters were particularly efficient at removing dust, and, as a result, might have clogged faster. The next step was then to evaluate filtration efficiency, which is when we encountered the next shocker: the most efficient filtration was provided by the AC Delco filter, why the high-end K&N provided the worst filtration of all filters, and the AMSOIL filter mediocre filtration at best, as demonstrated by the test below, using the same standardized dust:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ecoV4TSQrI4/TXkuOnMQFMI/AAAAAAAAA_c/mcTsMfH0Geg/s1600/ISO5011Test+Filter+Efficiency+530+2011-03-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ecoV4TSQrI4/TXkuOnMQFMI/AAAAAAAAA_c/mcTsMfH0Geg/s1600/ISO5011Test+Filter+Efficiency+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Given the proof provided by SAE, more than 15 years before this test, of how critical dust was to engine wear (we discussed it <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">here</a>), we could not understand how it was possible for alternative filter manufacturers to actually market a premium product when its efficiency was significantly below that of the standard, regular price product. We felt that, possibly, other filtration tests would show superiority for the premium priced, alternative filters. The ultimate test would compare the different filters, according to the amount of dust that was being passed up to a specific restriction of air flow, which, in the ISO 5011 test, was set at an increase of 10" of H20 from the original flow restriction as measured with a clean filter. The result was another shocker. The best performing filter, both in terms of time to clog and amount of dust passed, was the standard paper-made AC Delco filter, while the worst was, again, the K&N filter, the AMSOIL filter not being far behind:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1LQBJoJVi-Q/TXkwp9dTALI/AAAAAAAAA_g/kMaVmSRa8_M/s1600/5011Test+DirtPassed+vs+TimeToClog+530+2011-03-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1LQBJoJVi-Q/TXkwp9dTALI/AAAAAAAAA_g/kMaVmSRa8_M/s1600/5011Test+DirtPassed+vs+TimeToClog+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In the test, the standard OEM replacement made by AC Delco took 60 minutes to increase flow restriction by 10" H2O, and passed 0.4 grams of dust to the engine in the process, while the premium K&N filter took 20 minutes to get to the same stage, passing 7.0 grams of dust (!!!) in the process, the AMSOIL filter clogging as fast but passing less dust through in the process. The amount of pass-through dust can be illustrated by the pictures in <a href="http://www.parksoffroad.com/johnsjeep/AEM/AEM.htm">this article</a>.<br />
<br />
Finally, we could not help wondering how much dust overall could accumulate into the filter before causing a clog (measured in ISO 5011 tests as 10" H2O restriction, not quite equivalent to clog):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-lrI5PZJk0K4/TXpk4PsXysI/AAAAAAAAA_4/vaIeu9XyAuU/s1600/ISO5011+Test+AccumulatedDust+530+2011-03-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-lrI5PZJk0K4/TXpk4PsXysI/AAAAAAAAA_4/vaIeu9XyAuU/s1600/ISO5011+Test+AccumulatedDust+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Again, AC Delco was the runaway winner, AMSOIL running last in the tests, and K&N second to last.<br />
<br />
To say that we were shocked by the results of this test would be a strong understatement. We were also surprised by the poor availability of this test, which, while <a href="http://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=492962&page=1">somewhat known on the forums</a>, was not broadly available, as the original archives for the test, along with several replacements, had disappeared off the web. Could there be a problem with the credibility of the test? We did not think so, but felt that corroborating test results would be needed to truly feel comfortable with the outcome.<br />
<br />
Next we review the results of Jeep Magazine's 2006 ISO 5011 air filter study and tests... So come back soon!<br />
<br />
<i>Note: accidentally published out of sequence </i><br />
<br />
<<Previous <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-air-filters-jeep-magazine-2006.html">Next>></a>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-60681852645107755812012-02-10T14:36:00.000-08:002012-02-10T14:36:00.461-08:00Dirty Filters May Impact Performance<b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Best Air Filters Review</a>: <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Air Filter Facts</a></span></b><b> </b><br />
<b>Air Filter Facts Part 10: Dirty air filters and performance</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In our last post on air filters, we reviewed dirty filter air flow and concluded that there was possibly a range of air flow restriction which could impact engine performance. The air flow curves were characteristically shaped, most of them being exponential with dust accumulation, with the exception of a small number being linear. Can we corroborate this data? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Southwest Research Institute published a<b><span style="color: red;"></span></b> <a href="http://www.autohifidiszkont.hu/bmw-tuning.hu/aemszuroteszt.pdf">research report</a> commissioned by AEM on similar tests:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EKMdQD7C8Gg/TZi-XY7xImI/AAAAAAAABB0/fjqO9G5UTK0/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+AirFlowvsCapacityv3+530+2011-04-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EKMdQD7C8Gg/TZi-XY7xImI/AAAAAAAABB0/fjqO9G5UTK0/s1600/AirFilter+SwRI+AirFlowvsCapacityv3+530+2011-04-03.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Regrettably, the SwRI restriction tests occurred at a low flow level of 240 CFM, while the Oak Ridge National Lab tests occurred on the vehicle itself at wide open throttle, and the Spicer/Testand ISO 5011 tests occurred at 350 CFM, a better level to approximate true/ wide open throttle conditions. As a result, the initial restriction shown on the SwTI tests above is significantly lower than in other tests, and restriction under dust load is also affected. The SwRI tests also include filters that have been washed and dried five times: the changes in air flow between new filters and washed filters are interesting to note.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Nevertheless, the same curves show up in both graphs: similarly to the data in the Spicer/Testand study, there is relatively little spread in the change in air flow between filters until the clogging elbow, except, in this study, for K&N, which remains at very low restriction, increasing its advantage in air flow against the other filters until it hits its own clogging elbow. The AEM filter in this study appears to behave similarly to the AC Delco in the Spicer test, having a very linear curve on air flow vs. capacity. As the two tests use different reference dust (coarse test dust for the Spicer/Testand study., fine test dust for the DwRI study) and vehicles, it is not possible to directly compare them quantitatively.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Since we know that, when they reach clogging, filters definitely impact engine performance, it is fair to say, at some point as we move towards the right in these curves, we will start seeing some performance impact. It it is possible that a small number of filters might do worse than others. No filter, however, appears to significantly improve performance as dust accumulates compared to the majority average. it is worth noting that capacity impact on performance appears very significant when you get close to clogging.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Conclusion</div><ul><li>There is no difference in vehicle performance between most dirty air filters </li>
</ul><ul><li>There may be some differences in vehicle performance between some specific dirty - but not clogged- air filters </li>
</ul><ul><li>There is no proof that there is a difference in vehicle performance between any two dirty - but not clogged- air filters </li>
</ul><ul><li>Filter Capacity may have more impact on performance than air flow over the life cycle of an air filter</li>
</ul>Next ......<br />
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<<Previous Next>>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-76722624758101132262012-02-09T18:43:00.000-08:002012-02-09T18:43:00.190-08:00Dirty Air Filters And Performance DRAFT<b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Best Air Filters Review</a>: <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Air Filter Facts</a></span></b><b> </b><br />
<b>Air Filter Facts Part 9: Dirty air filters and performance</b><br />
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We proved conclusively that there is no measurable difference in vehicle performance (i.e. acceleration, horsepower, torque) between clean air filters. Is it possible that there could be more significant differences in vehicle performance between dirty (but not clogged) air filters?<br />
<br />
As filters progressively accumulate dirt, their efficiency improves but their air flow worsens. In fact, Perrin Performance's pitch is that their <a href="http://perrinperformance.com/pages/show/129">filters boost performance after 10,000 miles</a>: "We sell our filters by saying all filters when new flow about the same. But when dirty, foam continues to flow more air. In an example of an OEM filter being replaced with a PERRIN foam filter (on an STI), we see about a 3 wheel Horse Power gain. This is not much at all and not something you can generally notice. So its not that your stock filter when clean is super restrictive, but throw 10,000 miles at it, and the story changes."<br />
<br />
We have already seen that, <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/clogged-air-filters-impact-performance.html">close to clogging</a>, there is impact to performance. There clearly is a great difference between filters when close to clogging, as the capacity of air filters varies widely (later in this series of articles we will show conclusive proof of the widely varying capacity between filters). When one filter starts clogging when another isn't close to it, the clogging filter will certainly worsen engine performance, while the other one should be still able to ensure good air flow. In this case, the advantage will go to filters with higher capacity, assuming that they do not get swapped too early in their life cycle.<br />
<br />
What happens when air filters are not clean any more, but not yet clogged, i.e. for most of their working life? Thankfully, we can look at the results from some comparative tests that we review extensively further in our series. The Spicer/Testand study compared multiple different air filters in a series of ISO 5011 tests, using coarse test dust. This is how the tested air filters compare in air flow restriction when accumulating dust:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XeEsd7-MiyQ/TY1LODOxhfI/AAAAAAAABA4/qHAxmghYthc/s1600/ISO5011Test+Restriction+vs+Dust-Time+530+2011-03-10.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XeEsd7-MiyQ/TY1LODOxhfI/AAAAAAAABA4/qHAxmghYthc/s1600/ISO5011Test+Restriction+vs+Dust-Time+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If we look at the change in air flow restriction between filters, we find out that, among those tested, as long as we remain below the clogging threshold, the difference between filters remains roughly constant, except for the AMSOIL foam filter and the Baldwin filter, where restriction increases significantly faster than other filters. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We know that, around 2-5" H2O of restriction or 0.5-1.25 kPa - that is, for clean air filters-, <b><span style="color: red;">XXX</span></b> there is no difference between air filters <b><span style="color: red;">XXX</span></b>. We also know that, <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/do-clogged-air-filters-restrict-air.html">as you get to 16" H2O or 4 kPa</a>, you may start seeing <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/clogged-air-filters-impact-performance.html">significant performance impact</a>. Therefore, somewhere between 6" and 16" we should see the first signs of performance degradation - where exactly we don't know.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Initial restriction for a clean air filter at wide open throttle (here measured at 350 CFM) typically varies from roughly 2" to 6" H20. If we were to encounter performance impact, we would expect a given engine to see performance impact from all filters at the same restriction level, regardless of their initial restriction, but higher than 2-6" H2O. Let's take, for instance, 12" H2O as a hypothetical restriction level where we might start seeing performance impact. For this example, we see that the AMSOIL filter will get in trouble first, at 125 grams of dust, followed by the K&N and the AFE at 205 grams, the Baldwin at 220 grams, the generic (no-brand) filter at 300 grams, the Purolator at 315 grams, the UNI and the AC Delco at 340 grams, and finally by the WIX, performing very well dirty at 400 grams. But - the order in which we see these filters could be different if performance impact started at a different level of air flow restriction.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At what level do you see performance impact? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.filterminder.com/support.asp">K&N filter minder calibration most gasoline engine powered automobiles 20 inches maximum. </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">pic shows 10" H20 <a href="http://www.knfilters.com/images/l/85-2444.jpg">85-2444.jpg (JPEG Image, 382x550 pixels)</a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.knfilters.com/filterminder.htm">As the air filter gets dirty, the yellow position indicator moves in the clear window of the service indicator and locks at the highest point. It can be read even after the engine is turned off. The air filter should not be cleaned until the yellow position indicator reaches the red zone. Reset the position of the indicator to zero by pushing the yellow reset at the end of the service indicator.</a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.knfilters.com/filterminder.htm">K&N Air filters become more efficient at stopping dirt as they build a dust film. It is recommended that the air filter be cleaned only when the air filter service indicator reaches the red zone.</a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.donaldson.com/en/engine/support/datalibrary/053979.pdf">Donaldson filter service indicator</a> PDF call?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.aemintakes.com/instructions/AEM-30-5111_inst.pdf">AEM filter minder</a> PDF : 10"H20...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.aemintakes.com/news/news.aspx?ID=2465">designed to show a red indication at a pressure of approximately 10 inches of water</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We should expect each engine to have a different level of air flow restriction at which it starts showing performance degradation. This level will depend upon the sizing and design of the air intake, and the engine displacement. Unfortunately, we have no data to tell us at which restriction level engines start seeing performance impact. As can be seen from the graph, the set of filters performing well at a given restriction level varies widely with the restriction level: the filters starting with low initial restrictions typically seem to have low capacity, which results in their showing high flow restriction at low with relatively lower dust weight. As a result, without knowing at which level of flow restriction we see performance impact, it is difficult to rate filters on "dirty performance" - although we will try later in this series.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>These results were all drawn from one single study. Can we find corroborating proof? Next we review supporting evidence on vehicle performance with dirty air filters... So come back soon!<br />
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<<Previous Next>>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-13247672158051336302012-02-08T18:45:00.000-08:002012-02-08T18:45:00.111-08:00Clean Air Filters and Performance<b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Best Air Filters Review</a>: <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Air Filter Facts</a></span></b><b> </b><br />
<b>Air Filter Facts Part 8:</b><b> Clean air filters </b><span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle"><b>and performance- more evidence</b> </span></span><br />
<span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle">In our last post we reviewed <i>Diesel Power Magazine</i> air filter tests, which conclude that swapping air filters alone does not impact performance (for clean filters). Can we confirm this test's results across other tests? We were not able to find other credible tests. But we did find information provided within the industry which corroborates, in our opinion, <i>Diesel Power Magazine</i>'s results:</span></span><br />
<ul><li><span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle">Castrol, of motor oil fame, also sells air filters. Its expert advice section, in a</span></span><a href="http://www.castrol.com/castrol/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9014673&contentId=7037871"> Q&A page ("More Air, More Horsepower)</a><span class="grey2"> states: </span>"<span class="grey2">When it comes to modern engines with electronic ignition and fuel control, an air filter upgrade in conjunction with a cold air intake can yield horsepower gains." This statement clearly implies that an air filter upgrade alone, without a cold air intake, is unlikely to yield horsepower gains.</span> </li>
</ul><ul><li><span class="grey2"> Compt</span>ech, a manufacturer of performance parts for Japanese cars, <a href="http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81660">writes</a> to one of its customers: "Your ECU [Engine Control Unit] shouldn't be affected by changing the filter only." This implies, of course, that a drop-in air filter change will not affect performance. </li>
</ul><ul><li>Perrin Performance, a manufacturer of performance high flow filters, writes in its <a href="http://perrinperformance.com/pages/show/129">Filters Q&A</a>: "We sell our filters by saying all filters when new flow about the same [...] In an example of an OEM filter being replaced with a PERRIN foam filter (on an STI), we see about a 3 wheel Horse Power gain. This is not much at all and not something you can generally notice." In fact, we are no even sure that their measurement (certainly from a dyno) would be statistically significant, as dyno experiments are typically not accurate within 3 hp. What is significant is that the manufacturer recognizes the gain as minor, if any. </li>
</ul><ul><li>While many filter manufacturers claim that their filter will improve performance, none actually publish any third party tests proving such increase in performance. We find it unlikely that such would be the case if an improvement in performance could actually be documented.</li>
</ul>While we find none of these facts sufficient by themselves, we consider that, together, along with <i>Diesel Power Magazine</i>'s tests, they prove conclusively that no notable gain of performance can be obtained from swapping air filters alone. Our conclusion is that changing drop-in air filters does not affect vehicle performance in a measurable way. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
<ul><li><b>Swapping drop-in air filters alone does not improve vehicle performance for a clean filter</b></li>
</ul><br />
But could this conclusion be different when applied to the same filters when dirty? Next we discuss difference in performance between drop-in air filters when dirty... So come back soon!<br />
<br />
<<Previous Next>>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-24215804934398563742012-01-23T08:29:00.000-08:002012-01-23T08:29:00.791-08:0012 Best Blu Ray Media Stores Review<b>The 12 Best Blu Ray Media Stores</b><br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 15: Ranking the 12 Best Stores</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ssrjuJtOCY8/TV1XRWGpADI/AAAAAAAAA70/e2DIs1B2D-Q/s1600/BlueRay+Media+Stores+Rating+Chart+530+2011-02-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ssrjuJtOCY8/TV1XRWGpADI/AAAAAAAAA70/e2DIs1B2D-Q/s1600/BlueRay+Media+Stores+Rating+Chart+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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<b>How we ranked Blu Ray media stores </b><br />
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After screening a large number of contenders, we reviewed in depth the 12 best stores we identified in the Blu Ray blank media industry. We used the data we collected, previously defined <u><span style="color: red;">here</span></u>, to rank these stores with the following weights: 0.5 to the total inventory, 1 to inventory percentage for our sample list of 89 Blu Ray media, 1 for the percentage of selected archival grade media in stock, 0.5 for sorting and binning, 0.5 for site speed, 2.5 for general pricing, 0.5 for archival grade media pricing, 0.5 for best price matching, 0.25 for the ability to write user reviews, 0.75 for the number of user reviews, 1 for the corrected ResellerRatings rating, and 1 for the corrected Google Shopping rating. This gives us an aggregate of 2.5 for inventory, 1 for site usability, 3.5 for price, 1 for user reviews, and 2 for customer service, for a total of 10. We did some sensitivity analysis on these coefficients as well, and found that our resulting ranking was not very sensitive to small changes in coefficients. <br />
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<b>The rankings</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K5pWksv5H6M/TV1d1FbzP9I/AAAAAAAAA74/v_HriF6xLN4/s1600/BlueRay+Media+Stores+Rating+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K5pWksv5H6M/TV1d1FbzP9I/AAAAAAAAA74/v_HriF6xLN4/s1600/BlueRay+Media+Stores+Rating+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<b>Analyzing the rankings </b><br />
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The 12 best stores can be neatly arrayed in three tiers. The top tier includes traditional favorites Amazon and NewEgg, along with the very surprising MediaMegaMall, which scores extraordinarily well despite having no user reviews and a short CS track record, because of great inventory and prices. Amazon scores well because it has no weaknesses, although it does not do extraordinarily well anywhere, except in reviews. NewEgg has a great combination of low prices and great CS, but poor inventory, particularly in the archival grade media we selected. MediaMegaMall, the great surprise of our rankings, has excellent inventory and overall prices, but, by some curse of fate, provides poor pricing to the basket of archival grade media we selected. <br />
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The next tier, some 15 rating points below, gathers Meritline, TapeOnline, Beach Audio, and SuperMediaStore, and constitutes, like the first, a comedy of contrasts. Meritline, a traditional online electronic media store, scores decently in service and well in reviews, with mediocre inventory and fair to average pricing. TapeOnline, another well known digital media site, has outstanding customer service and very good prices, but a remarkably small inventory, and carries almost none of the archival grade media we consider best. Beach Audio, by being average in all arenas, but neither truly poor nor truly good at any criterion, avoids the last tier. SuperMediaStore excells everywhere except in pricing, where it does so badly that we cannot recommend it at this time.<br />
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Finally, the trailing tier gathers Rima, RunTechMedia, Buy.com, BHP Photo Video and Provantage. Rima has excellent customer service, fairly good prices, no user reviews and a narrow inventory. RunTechMedia has a very short track record, very good inventory, and poor to fair prices. Buy.com has fair customer service, good inventory, and a broad spectrum of prices, but carries a good number of our selected media with excellent prices. B&H Photo has excellent support, but a narrow inventory and poor pricing. Provantage has marketing and support issues, a somewhat small inventory and on average high prices, but does provide some of our selected archival grade media at excellent prices.<br />
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Unfortunately, as much as we would want to be able to settle on a single store, at this time we cannot get all we want in one store: none of our contenders gives us a broad inventory, most of our archival grade media, good site usability, good prices, lots of user reviews, and a great customer service record. While we feel strongly that the three highest ranked stores are good enough to be primary long term suppliers for blank Blu Ray media, we also feel that each has some specific, significant drawback. MediaMegaMall prices our favorite media a bit too high, although its average prices are very good across its whole inventory. NewEgg, with great prices and outstanding service, does not carry most of our favorite media. Amazon does not have good usability for an easy selection of the right media, and often carries higher prices as well.<br />
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<br />
<b>The right shopping process</b> <br />
<br />
In our opinion, it is best, at this time, to primarily shop for Blu Ray media on MediaMegaMall, NewEgg, Amazon and TapeOnline, but to price check for specific media on Beach Audio, Rima, Buy.com and Provantage (or use Google Shopping to find best pricing). If MediaMegaMall, NewEgg, Amazon (non-marketplace), TapeOnline, or Rima have good pricing on the media, the ordering decision is clear. If Amazon marketplace, Beach Audio, Buy.com or Provantage have best pricing, if customer service is not a critical part of the purchase decision, ordering from any of these stores would be appropriate. if, on the other hand, customer service for the purchase is critical, (for instance if delivery time is critical) , then you will have to decide if good pricing is worth some service risk. <b></b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Conclusions</b><br />
<ul><li><b>#1 recommended Blu Ray media store: MediaMegamall. </b>Outstanding inventory, very good prices overall but high prices on our favorite archival grade media, good service, no user reviews. Price check on other stores before ordering.</li>
</ul><ul><li><b>#2 recommended Blu Ray Media store: NewEgg. </b>Outstanding customer service, excellent prices, great user reviews, narrow inventory missing high quality archival grade media. You may need to go to another store if NewEgg does not stock your favorite media.</li>
</ul><ul><li><b>#3 recommended Blu Ray media store: Amazon.</b> Outstanding inventory, great user reviews, prices are only fair, poor site ergonomics make media selection difficult. Avoid marketplace purchase if customer service is important.</li>
</ul><ul><li><b>#4 recommended Blu Ray media store: TapeOnline. </b>Outstanding service, excellent prices, very narrow inventory, no user reviews. You may need to go to another store if TapeOnline does not stock your favorite media.</li>
</ul><ul><li><b>Price checks only: Beach Audio, Rima, Buy.com, Provantage</b> </li>
</ul>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-25514969659865955422012-01-22T09:50:00.000-08:002012-01-22T09:50:00.584-08:00Blu Ray Media Stores: TapeOnline Review<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 14: TapeOnline Review</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.tapeonline.com/blu-ray">TapeOnline</a> is another specialized electronic media site with an excellent reputation on the enthusiasts' forums as a trustworthy supplier of CD and DVD media, with high quality customer service. We always enjoy reviewing sites with a long and positive track record in similar industries, and were expecting TapeOnline to do well. It did. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HLQmCe42tjA/TVsf3gqncsI/AAAAAAAAA6c/GASlTSZvbz8/s1600/BluRay+Stores+TapeOnline+530+2011-02-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HLQmCe42tjA/TVsf3gqncsI/AAAAAAAAA6c/GASlTSZvbz8/s1600/BluRay+Stores+TapeOnline+530+2011-02-12.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<b> Site and usability </b><br />
Blu Ray media can be found on the TapeOnline site under <i>Disc Media -> Blu Ray.</i> Site speed is very good, with an average of 1.7 seconds per page to display a right-clicked SKU. Of our wish list of 13 types of sorting and binning, TapeOnline offers the least amount of capabilities in the category, providing the user with only 3: it is not possible to select the manufacturer, speed, quantity or printability, user ratings are not displayed on the category listing page, and there is no sorting whatsoever. On the other hand, there is a Blu Ray media category, and it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE), and single/ dual layer. TapeOnline has such a narrow inventory (it all fits in one page) that sorting and binning are not as useful as they could be for a site with broad media availability.<br />
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<b>Inventory and price</b><br />
TapeOnline carries a tiny inventory of 28 Blue Ray media, narrowest in the category. It stocks 13% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, also worst in the category, even with B&H Photo Video. TapeOnline prices are on average 9.4% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, an excellent score which ranks second best in the category after MediaMegaMall. TapeOnline matches best price for three SKUs, for a media stocked by more than one store, in the lower half of the category. We are very pleased with the pricing offered by TapeOnline, but are disappointed in the very small inventory. TapeOnline only stocks one of the 6 media we selected as best Blu Ray archival grade media, which it sells 14.5% more than the best price across the category, an overprice we find reasonable.<br />
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<b>User reviews</b><br />
TapeOnline offers users the opportunity to submit user reviews, but we could not find one across all Blu Ray media on the site. <br />
<br />
<b>Customer Service</b><br />
TapeOnline has an excellent reputation for customer service when selling optical media. Its customers count a lot of professionals who are demanding when coming to customer service. TapeOnline gathers over 150 reviews on ResellerRatings, with an outstanding 100% rating. On Google Shopping it gathers another 145 reviews, again with an excellent 98% rating. We gave TapeOnline an excellent 97% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_SZjrXaGGBU/TVyjAvK34XI/AAAAAAAAA7s/xGfCnERI220/s1600/BluRay+Stores+TapeOnline+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_SZjrXaGGBU/TVyjAvK34XI/AAAAAAAAA7s/xGfCnERI220/s1600/BluRay+Stores+TapeOnline+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Table: TapeOnline Blu Ray media review (see legend below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
TapeOnline turns out to be a small but clean site, with a narrow inventory but excellent prices and outstanding customer service. If it has the media you need, it is an excellent supplier for ongoing Blu Ray media orders. high usability, a large set of user reviews, and a very good customer service record. Its very small inventory may not, however, give you the choice you need.<br />
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Next we compare all online stores for Blu Ray media and pick our selections... So come back soon! <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Table Legend: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our<span style="color: black;"> Blu Ray Media review</span> for archival grade<br />
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)<br />
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed<br />
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> # lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)<br />
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media<br />
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store</i><i>, explained <u><span style="color: red;">here</span></u></i></span>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-3655297944673805762012-01-16T09:41:00.000-08:002012-01-16T09:41:00.310-08:00Blu Ray Media Stores: Meritline Review<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 8: Meritline Review</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.meritline.com/">Meritline</a>, a well known CD and DVD media provider, largely specializes in a limited set of computer accessories. It carries a very small but well chosen Blu Ray media inventory which mixes low and high end products, with a preponderance in the low end.Its reputation in the CD/DVD world is very good, and we were interested in figuring out how well it would fare in the Blu Ray world. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jiXix0Xi2Zg/TVwj2hbmcyI/AAAAAAAAA7U/1gWRs7VH3BA/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Meritline+530+2011-02-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jiXix0Xi2Zg/TVwj2hbmcyI/AAAAAAAAA7U/1gWRs7VH3BA/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Meritline+530+2011-02-12.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<b>Site and usability </b><br />
Blu Ray media can be found on the Meritline site under <i>CD/DVD Media</i> -> <i>Blu Ray Media</i>. Site speed is good, although not blazing fast, with 2.2 seconds per page average to display a right-clicked SKU. Of our wish list of 13 types of sorting and binning, Meritline provides a 5.5 of them: there is no way to select single/dual layer, quantity or printability, and only some speeds can be selected (2x and 4x), sorting cannot use best rating, most reviews or best selling, and it is not possible to view unit price. On the other hand, there is a Blu Ray category, it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE), manufacturer, and some speeds, sorting can be done by price, and user ratings can be viewed on the listing pages. To be fair, Meritline's inventory is so small that all products can be viewed in 2 short pages, so selecting and sorting are less needed than for stores with larger inventories. <br />
<br />
<b>Inventory and price</b><br />
Meritline's inventory is limited to 47 Blue Ray media, at the low end rage of the industry, yet it still stocks 22% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, which ranks Meritline in the middle of the pack. Meritline prices are on average 19.6% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, again roughly in the middle of the pack. Meritline has the best price for 4 SKUs, for a media stocked by more than one store, rating in the middle of the pack again. While Meritline's original inventory is truly very narrow, its selection is clearly well chosen, and prices are reasonable overall. Of the 6 media we selected as best archival grade Blu Ray media, Meritline stocks 3, for an average 40.9% over the best price across the industry, a very high overage that we cannot endorse.<br />
<br />
<b>User reviews</b><br />
Meritline has an excellent set of user reviews for its size, totaling 250 reviews across it Blu Ray inventory. Many of its products (although not all) can be solidly evaluated based on its own user reviews.<br />
<br />
<b>Customer Service</b><br />
Meritline is a proven source of optical media with a very well documented track record. It gathers more than 4,000 reviews on ResellerRatings with a very good 91% rating. On Google Shopping it gathers over 13,000 reviews, again with a very good 88%, although not perfect. Meritline receives a solid but not perfect 89% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating, also placing it in the middle of the pack.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GLKHPRFf-Tc/TVwikIn51XI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/9B1pQLDUzvg/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Meritline+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GLKHPRFf-Tc/TVwikIn51XI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/9B1pQLDUzvg/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Meritline+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Table: Meritline Blu Ray media review (see legend below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
Meritline is a specialized computer accessories site with a good reputation for optical media, and a limited but well chosen inventory. It scored in the middle of the pack among the stores with surveyed for all criteria - this is a very good result, as our deep survey sample gathered the best media stores we found. Meritline does not have a significant weakness. While its price are not the best in the industry, they are fair - and its customer service is good. However, the actual price of our basket of Blu Ray media selected for archival grade is unacceptably high. Altogether, Meritline would constitute a solid choice as a Blu Ray media store supplier, were it not for the problem of archival grade media pricing.<br />
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Next we review for NewEgg Blu Ray media... So come back soon! <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Table Legend: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our<span style="color: black;"> Blu Ray Media review</span> for archival grade<br />
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)<br />
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed<br />
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> # lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)<br />
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media<br />
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store</i><i>, explained <u><span style="color: red;">here</span></u></i></span>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-5914901294386660532011-05-18T12:45:00.000-07:002011-05-18T12:46:16.566-07:00Blogger Outage is Still Affecting usUnfortunately, last week's very damaging Blogger outage is still affecting us.<br />
<br />
The outage has left us with data loss and missing content for the past week and more. We have been awaiting service restoration day after day, but are coming to the point where we will soon conduct manual restoration. While we have not lost our research data, our final publication data is missing and will require some work to restore.<br />
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We are not happy campers, Blogger:(George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-56531139311598304842011-05-03T08:39:00.000-07:002011-05-04T15:50:28.591-07:00OS Market Share April 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NcACChwhbYI/TcDLE7bRxKI/AAAAAAAABDo/r6mmRcSF0Mw/s1600/OS+Market+Share+CP+2011-04+530+2011-05-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NcACChwhbYI/TcDLE7bRxKI/AAAAAAAABDo/r6mmRcSF0Mw/s1600/OS+Market+Share+CP+2011-04+530+2011-05-03.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
How much market share do Windows, MacOS, Unix, Linux, iPad, iPod, or iPhone represent on the net? In order to contribute to global knowledge on browser and operating systems market share on the net, we share our own site statistics with the community:-) <br />
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Our OS market share statistics appear to be reflective of the global marketplace when you compare them to NetApplications' reported <a href="http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8">OS market share data</a>, which is still not true of our browser stats... Windows dominates, as expected, with over 83% of the platforms, followed by MacOS with approximately 10.5% (lower again this month) and Unix (including Linux) with 3% (lower again this month). Apple mobile devices represent approximately 2% of traffic. We still don't see significant Android presence.<br />
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Want to learn more about platform trends? Check out our <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/05/browser-market-share-april-2011.html">browser statistics</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/os-market-share-march-2011.html"><<Previous</a> Next>>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-83056427748074745202011-05-03T08:25:00.000-07:002011-05-03T20:48:56.620-07:00Browser Market Share April 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xR4uXQbLRA8/TcDJc4MXDTI/AAAAAAAABDk/O9RtRkU0ZQ0/s1600/Browser+Market+Share+CP+2011-04+600+2011-05-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xR4uXQbLRA8/TcDJc4MXDTI/AAAAAAAABDk/O9RtRkU0ZQ0/s1600/Browser+Market+Share+CP+2011-04+600+2011-05-03.jpg" /></a></div><br />
How much market share goes to Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Opera? In order to contribute to global knowledge on browser and operating systems market share on the net, we share our own site statistics with the community:-)<br />
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On the ConsumerPla.net site, April 2011 market share statistics still show a skewed distribution. Firefox, at 29%, is still over-represented compared to Internet Explorer (IE), as it has been ever since we have tracked browser stats. Safari, at 10%, is probably close to representing the regular Apple audience. We still see Chrome behind Safari, and we still don't map very well to the <a href="http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0">stats provided by NetApplications</a>.<br />
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Want to learn more about platform market share? Check out our audience's <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/05/os-market-share-april-2011.html">OS market share</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2009/02/browser-market-share-march-2011.html"><<Previous</a> Next>>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-19615023708128396982011-05-02T09:38:00.000-07:002011-05-02T19:39:35.187-07:00Blu Ray Media Stores: SuperMediaStore Review<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/01/best-blank-blu-ray-media-review-guide.html">Blu Ray blank media guide</a> : <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">Best Blu Ray media stores</a></i></span><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 13: SuperMediaStore Review</b><br />
<br />
Like MediaMegaMall, MeritLine and TapeOnline, <a href="http://www.supermediastore.com/category/u/blank-recordable-blu-ray-bd-r-re-disc-discs-media?filter=all&max=15&offset=0&sortBy=-&maxView=50">SuperMediaStore</a> is a specialized electronic media site, with an excellent reputation on the enthusiasts' forums as a trustworthy supplier of CD and DVD media, and with high quality customer service. We felt there was very good potential in this highly usable site, and had high expectations for SuperMediaStore. They all turned out to be true, yet we still were a bit disappointed by one attribute of this excellent retailer. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--b8KopeZr8E/TVr1B-oUYSI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/v0PKrCct0kw/s1600/BluRay+Stores+SuperMediaSales+530+2011-02-12.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--b8KopeZr8E/TVr1B-oUYSI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/v0PKrCct0kw/s1600/BluRay+Stores+SuperMediaSales+530+2011-02-12.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<b>Site and usability </b><br />
Blu Ray media can be found on the SuperMediaStore site under <i>Blank CD/DVD Media -> Blu Ray Media.</i> Site speed is good, with an average of 2.0 seconds per page to display a right-clicked SKU. Of our wish list of 13 types of sorting and binning, SuperMediaStore provides the second broadest set of capabilities in the category, after RunTechMedia, as 10 of these modes are available: it is not possible to sort by best rating or by most reviews, and unit price is not displayed on the product pages. On the other hand, there is a Blu Ray media category, it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE), manufacturer, single/ dual layer, speed, quantity and printability, sorting can be done by price and best selling, user ratings are displayed on the category listing pages, and price per disk is displayed on the product pages. Because SuperMediaStore actually has many customer reviews, we find its sorts and bins more useful than RunTechMedia's (even though RunTechMedia has more of them), because we can actually use meaningful quantities when selecting "most reviews" and "best rating" criteria.<br />
<br />
<b>Inventory and price</b><br />
SuperMediaStore carries a somewhat small inventory of 47 Blue Ray media. However, it stocks 29% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, slightly better than average. SuperMediaStore prices are on average 32.2% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, which is very high, and ranks second worst in the category, immediately after Provantage. SuperMediaStore matches best price for two SKUs, for a media stocked by more than one store, also very low in the category. We are very disappointed in the pricing offered by SuperMediaStore, in particular because it has a reputation for fair pricing in the CD/DVD arena. We couldn't help noticing that SuperMediaStore prices are, relatively speaking, lower for low-priced products, and higher for high quality products, making the price equation even worse when we consider high quality brands like TDK. SuperMediaStore stocks 5 of the 6 media we selected as the best Blu Ray archival grade media, for an average of 48.1% over the best price across the category for this basket of media - an overprice of a magnitude that we find simply unacceptable.<br />
<br />
<b>User reviews</b><br />
SuperMediaStore uses user reviews well, and has many of them on the site. We found 333 user reviews across all Blu Ray media on the site, third highest in the category after Amazon and NewEgg - nice job!<br />
<br />
<b>Customer Service</b><br />
SuperMediaStore has an excellent reputation for top notch customer service in other optical media. Its track record shows it: it gathers over 9,000 reviews on ResellerRatings, with an outstanding 96% rating. On Google Shopping it gathers another 30,000 reviews, again with an excellent 94% rating. We gave SuperMediaStore an excellent 95% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8EiyQttfFQ4/TVygkgBTPgI/AAAAAAAAA7o/qUXHwUeoUfE/s1600/BluRay+Stores+SuperMediaStore+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8EiyQttfFQ4/TVygkgBTPgI/AAAAAAAAA7o/qUXHwUeoUfE/s1600/BluRay+Stores+SuperMediaStore+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Table: SuperMediaStore Blu Ray media review (see legend below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
SuperMediaStore turns out to be a excellent site with high usability, a large set of user reviews, and a very good customer service record. Where it falls short is in pricing, being within 0.5% of the worst ranking in the category. This is all the more surprising since its CD and DVD prices are typically very good. We would enthusiastically endorse it if its pricing structure was, on average, 15% lower, and 30% lower on our basket of selected media. As it is, while we consider it a very trustworthy supplier, we feel that SuperMediaStore is simply too pricy to recommend as a primary supplier for ongoing Blu Ray media purchases.<br />
<br />
Next we review TapeOnline for Blu Ray media... So come back soon!<br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/blu-ray-media-stores-review.html"><<Previous</a> Next>></i> <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Table Legend: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our<span style="color: black;"> Blu Ray Media review</span> for archival grade<br />
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)<br />
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed<br />
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> # lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)<br />
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media<br />
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store</i><i>, explained</i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="color: red;"><u> </u></span></i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">here</a></i></span>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-35229136563250294322011-04-21T08:53:00.000-07:002011-05-02T19:40:57.433-07:00Blu Ray Media Stores: RunTechMedia Review<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/01/best-blank-blu-ray-media-review-guide.html">Blu Ray blank media guide</a> : <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">Best Blu Ray media stores</a></i></span><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 12: RunTechMedia Review</b><br />
<br />
In the process of doing comparative shopping for Blu Ray media, we frequently encountered <a href="http://www.runtechmedia.com/disc-blank-media.asp?a=11&CategoryID=200901071434041&Blue-Blu-ray-bluray-bd-r-re-double-layer-dl-recordable-discs">RunTechMedia</a> on shopping engines. We were impressed by the site's broad inventory, and were hoping that we could qualify it as a primary or main supplier for Blu ray media. We were a bit disappointed, but are keeping some hope for the future. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PeDQ3ZujbVM/TVrpKhSsGGI/AAAAAAAAA6U/nvXlPyJNgFw/s1600/BluRay+Stores+RunTechMedia+530+2011-02-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PeDQ3ZujbVM/TVrpKhSsGGI/AAAAAAAAA6U/nvXlPyJNgFw/s1600/BluRay+Stores+RunTechMedia+530+2011-02-12.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<b>Site and usability </b><br />
Blu Ray media can be found on the RunTechMedia site under <i>CD/DVD/Blu Ray Media -> BD-R/RE, BD-R/RE DL.</i> Site speed is very good, with 1.8 seconds per page average to display a left-clicked SKU, but the site made the huge mistake of not allowing right-clicks on category pages, resulting in a very painful browsing experience. This caused us to change our speed test, to start with 10 store tabs and use one left click in each tab, since we were not able to spawn new tabs from right-clicks on products. Of our wish list of 13 types of sorting and binning, RunTechMedia provides the most choice in the category, as 12 of these modes are available. The only missing capability is sort by best selling. On the other hand, there is a Blu Ray media category, it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE), single/ dual layer, manufacturer, speed, quantity and printability, sorting can be done by price, rating, and most reviews, and user ratings are displayed on the category listing pages. These are very good site capabilities for RunTechMedia, although, unfortunately, there are too few user reviews at this time for the review-based criteria to be useful. <br />
<br />
<b>Inventory and price</b><br />
RunTechMedia carries a large inventory of 13 Blue Ray media, 4th lowest in the category after Amazon, MediaMegaMall and Buy.com - a very good performance when one considers that both Amazon and Buy.com are merchant marketplaces on top of being retailers themselves. RunTechMedia stocks 43% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, 3rd best in the category, barely behind MediaMegaMall and Amazon - another excellent score. RunTechMedia prices are on average 23.4% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, which is on the high side in the category. It matches best price for 4 SKUs for media stocked by more than one store, which is in the middle of the pack. RunTechMedia stocks 5 of the 6 media we selected as best Blu Ray archival grade media, for an average price 24.5% higher than the best price across the category for this basket of media - we find this a bit too high.<br />
<br />
<b>User reviews</b><br />
RunTechMedia lets its users file product reviews. At this time, however, we only found 20 user reviews for all Blu Ray media, which does not allow for any significant evaluation of user feedback for its SKUs.<br />
<br />
<b>Customer Service</b><br />
RunTechMedia does not have any ResellerRatings review, a very disappointing finding which can only be due to small retail volume for the site at this time. We were able to locate <a href="http://www.google.com/products/seller?hl=en&q=runtechmedia&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=shop:1&source=og&zmi=runtechmedia.com&cmi=71159653561204736&sa=X&ei=cWVQTb-RJImjtgfDwOi1AQ&ved=0CDAQqQwwAA&biw=1181&bih=922">a bit over 400 reviews</a> on Google Shopping (they were hard to find) for the site, for a very good rating of 94%. However, while Google Shopping aggregates user reviews from multiple locations (including ResellerRatings when they are available), our experience is that its ratings are often significantly better than ResellerRatings and do not always give us a full picture of the CS issues for a site. As its ResellerRatings rating is nonexistent, RunTechMedia receives a low 46% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating, which we expect to go up rapidly when the site starts aggregating ResellerRatings reviews. Until then, we do not believe that we can properly estimate RunTechMedia's strength in customer service.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fKp8KIUdR1Q/TVye7ZkHMeI/AAAAAAAAA7k/YTNSDNXyC6c/s1600/BluRay+Stores+RunTechMedia+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fKp8KIUdR1Q/TVye7ZkHMeI/AAAAAAAAA7k/YTNSDNXyC6c/s1600/BluRay+Stores+RunTechMedia+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Table: RunTechMedia Blu Ray media review (see legend below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
RunTechMedia appears to be a recent entrant in online electronic media retailing. The site capabilities are impressive, and the inventory is excellent. We are less impressed by the average price, that we find a bit high. We are awaiting a reasonable track record for the store on ResellerRatings to finalize our judgment on customer service. Until then, we consider RunTechMedia a site to look at and experiment with, but we are not ready to recommend it as a primary supplier for ongoing Blu Ray media purchases.<br />
<br />
Next we review SuperMediaStore for Blu Ray media... So come back soon! <br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/blu-ray-media-online-stores-rima-review.html"><<Previous</a> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/05/blu-ray-media-stores-supermediastore.html">Next>></a></i> <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Table Legend: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our<span style="color: black;"> Blu Ray Media review</span> for archival grade<br />
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)<br />
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed<br />
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> # lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)<br />
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media<br />
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store</i><i>, explained</i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="color: red;"><u> </u></span></i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">here</a></i></span>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-86899740359834527092011-04-20T09:13:00.000-07:002011-04-21T20:25:44.498-07:00Blu Ray Media Online Stores: Rima Review<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/01/best-blank-blu-ray-media-review-guide.html">Blu Ray blank media guide</a> : <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">Best Blu Ray media stores</a></i></span><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 11: Rima Review</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.rima.com/CTGY/BRM.html">Rima</a> specializes in electronic media, and is a frequent reference on the forums as a good place to go to for CD or DVD media. It also advertises extensively on Blu Ray media keywords, and is commonly encountered the right right side of your search screen in paid results.While we are generally leery of those sites who feel the need to pay for search results, we were not horrified by what we found on Rima.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IOesfX4Ka6A/TVriYvSg4PI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/xYnRikzQF6E/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Rima+530+2011-02-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IOesfX4Ka6A/TVriYvSg4PI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/xYnRikzQF6E/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Rima+530+2011-02-12.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<b>Site and usability </b><br />
Blu Ray media is a top tab on Rima, and can be found both on the top menu bar and on the left navigation bar. Site speed is very good, with 1.7 seconds per page average to display a right-clicked SKU - no surprise there, as the site is VERY simple and should not take any time loading. Of our wish list of 13 types of sorting and binning, Rima provides only 4 modes: it is not possible to select manufacturer, speed, or quantity, no sorting is available, and user ratings are not shown on the main category pages. On the other hand, there is a Blu Ray media category, and it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE), single/ dual layer, and printability. While site usability may appear low, because the inventory is very narrow sorting and binning are less important. The site does not carry a lot of functionality, but it is truly very simple, something which comes with some advantages.<br />
<br />
<b>Inventory and price</b><br />
Rima carries a very small inventory of 38 Blue Ray media, 2nd lowest in the category before TapeOnline. It stocks 21% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, also low in the category. Rima prices are on average 19.4% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, which is in the middle of the pack. Rima has the best price for only 1 SKU, for a media stocked by more than one store, last in the category with B&H Photo. While Rima has a large sample of low price media, it also carries some high quality products as well, for a well balanced inventory as a whole. Of the 6 media we selected as best Blue Ray archival grade media, Rima stocks 2, which it prices on average 15.2% over the best price in the category - a fairly good performance.<br />
<br />
<b>User reviews</b><br />
Rima allows it users to file reviews, but we did not find a single review across the Blu Ray media category. <br />
<br />
<b>Customer Service</b><br />
Rima does not have a very numerous track record, but what there is is very good. It gathers approximately 80 reviews both with ResellerRatings and with Google Shopping, scoring 100% with both, and receiving an excellent 98% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating, almost on a par with B&H Photo Video and NewEgg despite the low number of reviews.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Iwp47kfFSIs/TVycsCVrk0I/AAAAAAAAA7g/BdKtCi0adcg/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Rima+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Iwp47kfFSIs/TVycsCVrk0I/AAAAAAAAA7g/BdKtCi0adcg/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Rima+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Table: Rima Blu Ray media review (see legend below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
Rima, a small entrant with a tiny inventory and a very simple site, succeeds in providing a reasonable customer experience because of a well balanced inventory, decent prices and very good customer support. While we cannot recommend it as a general purpose choice for ongoing Blu Ray media purchases because it simply does not provide enough choices, we think that Rima can be a good choice for one-off purchases.<br />
<br />
Next we review RunTechMedia for Blu Ray media... So come back soon!<br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/blu-ray-media-stores-provantage-review.html"><<Previous</a> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">Next>></a></i> <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Table Legend: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our<span style="color: black;"> Blu Ray Media review</span> for archival grade<br />
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)<br />
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed<br />
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> # lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)<br />
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media<br />
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store</i><i>, explained</i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="color: red;"><u> </u></span></i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">here</a></i></span>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-5073251551099875822011-04-14T09:20:00.000-07:002011-04-20T21:35:03.530-07:00Blu Ray Media Stores: Provantage Review<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/01/best-blank-blu-ray-media-review-guide.html">Blu Ray blank media guide</a> : <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">Best Blu Ray media stores</a></i></span><b></b><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 10: Provantage Review</b><br />
<br />
We often found <a href="http://www.provantage.com/%7E67BLURMD.htm">Provantage</a> on shopping engines when doing comparison shopping on specific Blu Ray media products, sometimes with compelling prices. We wanted to investigate if it could become one of our regular online providers for Blu ray media. We were somewhat disappointed by our findings.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ixjoLjNaXVo/TVrdkFFYV1I/AAAAAAAAA6M/PdWIBnJ5WbM/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Provantage+530+2011-02-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ixjoLjNaXVo/TVrdkFFYV1I/AAAAAAAAA6M/PdWIBnJ5WbM/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Provantage+530+2011-02-12.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<b>Site and usability </b><br />
Blu Ray media can be found on the Provantage site under <i>Storage -> Storage Media -> Blu Ray Media.</i> Site speed is good, with 2.0 seconds per page average to display a right-clicked SKU. Of our wish list of 13 types of sorting and binning, Provantage provides only 5: it is not possible to select Single/ Dual layer, speed, quantity or printability, sorting cannot use best rating or most reviews, ratings are not displayed in the category listing pages, and it is not possible to view price per disk. On the other hand, there is a Blu Ray media category, it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE) and manufacturer, and sorting can be done by price and best selling. We found a disturbing issue on several products, as price changed (up, unfortunately...) as we were adding an item to the cart. We also found circumstances when sorting was not enabled, depending upon browsing history. Finally, we encountered several broken product pages on the site.<br />
<br />
<b>Inventory and price</b><br />
Provantage carries a small inventory of 46 Blue Ray media, 4th lowest in the category ahead of NewEgg, Rima and TapeOnline. It stocks 16% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, 3rd lowest in the category, ahead of B&H Photo and TapeOnline. Provantage prices are on average 32.70% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, highest in the category - bar none. Surprisingly, despite the very high average prices, Provantage still matches best price in the category for 4 SKUs present in more than one store, showing a wide variation in its prices across media. As Provantage is often present in shopping engines, we believe that some of these prices may be set as "call" prices to get traffic through shopping engines, while prices on other items remain somewhat high. Provantage carried 2 of the 6 media that we selected as best archival grade Blu Ray media, and matched the best price across the category for both - that was quite a positive surprise.<br />
<br />
<b>User reviews</b><br />
Provantage allows its users to post reviews, but we could not find a single one across Blu Ray media SKUs.<br />
<br />
<b>Customer Service</b><br />
Provantage gathers over 1,200 reviews on ResellerRatings, with an fair 86% rating. On Google Shopping it gathers a little over 2,000 reviews, with an good 94% rating - although Google Shopping ratings tend to be more forgiving. Provantage receives a fair to good 89% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating, in the middle of the pack for the category.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7wO3nCFpW58/TVx47fv5xRI/AAAAAAAAA7c/-z0MmOo7q4Y/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Provantage+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7wO3nCFpW58/TVx47fv5xRI/AAAAAAAAA7c/-z0MmOo7q4Y/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Provantage+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Table: Provantage Blu Ray media review (see legend below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
Provantage carries a small inventory of Blu Ray media, with a mediocre site experience and a somewhat buggy site, no user reviews, decent customer service, and the highest prices in the category. Because Provantage occasionally shows excellent prices on specific items, we feel that it is worth checking the site for specific SKU prices before making a purchase, but, at this time, we do not consider Provantage a good regular supplier for ongoing Blu-Ray media purchases.<br />
<br />
Next we review Rima for Blu Ray media... So come back soon! <br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/blu-ray-media-stores-newegg-review.html"><<Previous</a> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/blu-ray-media-online-stores-rima-review.html">Next>></a></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Table Legend: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our<span style="color: black;"> Blu Ray Media review</span> for archival grade<br />
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)<br />
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed<br />
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> # lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)<br />
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media<br />
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store</i><i>, explained</i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="color: red;"><u> </u></span></i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">here</a></i></span>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-89099403550139153712011-04-13T09:35:00.000-07:002011-04-14T20:43:34.131-07:00Blu Ray Media Stores: NewEgg Review<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/01/best-blank-blu-ray-media-review-guide.html">Blu Ray blank media guide</a> : <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">Best Blu Ray media stores</a></i></span><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 9: NewEgg Review</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=71&name=CD-DVD-Blu-ray-Media">NewEgg</a> does not need any introduction as the leading online supplier of electronics and computer parts, with an outstanding reputation and service record in the industry. Being accustomed to check it first for much of our online purchasing when dealing with electronics, we were particularly interested in finding out how well it does as a supplier of Blu Ray media. NewEgg did not disappoint in its primary attributes, but did not totally fulfill our expectations. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PGPg6ayNSP4/TVrRs4tTlTI/AAAAAAAAA6I/sRwa3n1ICqU/s1600/BluRay+Stores+NewEgg+530+2011-02-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PGPg6ayNSP4/TVrRs4tTlTI/AAAAAAAAA6I/sRwa3n1ICqU/s1600/BluRay+Stores+NewEgg+530+2011-02-12.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<b>Site and usability </b><br />
Blu Ray media can be found on the NewEgg site under <i>Computer Hardware -> CD/DVD Burners and Media -> CD/DVD/ Blu Ray Media.</i> Blu Ray media are mixed with other optical media, but can be selected by type, with a choice of BD-R/ BD-RE/ BD-R DL (BD-RE DL media are found under the BD-RE selection). Site speed is very good, with 1.7 seconds per page average to display a right-clicked SKU. Of our wish list of 13 types of sorting and binning, NewEgg provides the third most choices in the category, after RunTechMedia and SuperMediaSales, as 9.5 of these modes are available: there is no way single Blu Ray media category, sorting cannot use best selling, it is not possible to view price per disk, and, while it is possible to select BD-R Dl media, it is not possible to do so with BD-RE DL. On the other hand, it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE), manufacturer, speed, quantity and printability, sorting can be done by price, rating, and most reviews, and user ratings are displayed on the category listing pages.Because NewEgg actually has many customer reviews, we find its sorts and bins more useful than RunTechMedia (even though RunTechMedia has more of them), because we can actually use meaningful quantities with most reviews and best rating criteria.<br />
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<b>Inventory and price</b><br />
NewEgg carries a small inventory of 45 Blue Ray media, 3rd lowest in the category before Rima and TapeOnline. It stocks 19% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, also low in the category. NewEgg prices are on average 13.5% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, which is a very good score, and ranks third best across the category after MediaMegaMall and TapeOnline. NewEgg has the best price for 8 SKUs, for a media stocked by more than one store, second best across all stores after MediaMegaMall and before Amazon. However, while NewEgg carries a good number of low-price media SKUs, it does not have a good inventory of high quality Blu Ray media. NewEgg stocks only 2 of the 6 media we selected for best Blu Ray archival grade media, and prices them 4.2% higher than the best price across the industry, a very low price.<br />
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<b>User reviews</b><br />
NewEgg, like Amazon, is known for its excellent user reviews and their integration to the site. It does not disappoint, and registers 349 user reviews across all Blu Ray media, second only to Amazon.<br />
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<b>Customer Service</b><br />
NewEgg is known for its excellent customer service in Electronics and Computer parts. Its track record is clear: it gathers over 33,000 reviews on ResellerRatings, with an outstanding 97% rating. On Google Shopping it gathers another 36,000 reviews, again with an exceptional 98% rating. NewEgg receives a category-high 98% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating, even with B&H Audio Video and ahead of Rima.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dj8pWpqZd8I/TVwoGrID5kI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/x_Sn5w5OAmA/s1600/BluRay+Stores+NewEgg+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dj8pWpqZd8I/TVwoGrID5kI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/x_Sn5w5OAmA/s1600/BluRay+Stores+NewEgg+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Table: NewEgg Blu Ray media review (see legend below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
As usual, NewEgg impresses by its excellent site, its good prices, its abundant user reviews, and its outstanding customer support. While it has good numbers of low-priced Blu Ray media, NewEgg is however missing a good inventory of high quality media. A small change in inventory could make it the top site in the category. As it stands today, it is an excellent choice for low-priced media, but it cannot provide a good choice of quality Blu Ray media at this time - what a pity!!<br />
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Next we review Provantage for Blu Ray media... So come back soon!<br />
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<i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/blu-ray-media-stores-meritline-review.html"><<Previous</a> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/blu-ray-media-stores-provantage-review.html">Next>></a></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Table Legend: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our<span style="color: black;"> Blu Ray Media review</span> for archival grade<br />
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)<br />
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed<br />
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> # lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)<br />
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media<br />
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store</i><i>, explained</i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="color: red;"><u> </u></span></i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">here</a></i></span>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-90327612961287287642011-04-12T07:34:00.000-07:002011-04-13T01:40:05.191-07:00ConsumerPla.net's Best 34 Political Sites<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yF00URR_BZY/TM-yBC_UYaI/AAAAAAAAAww/SNw3HZCBxK4/s1600/Electoral+Map++2094504@1N06+2940554173++2010-01-01.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yF00URR_BZY/TM-yBC_UYaI/AAAAAAAAAww/SNw3HZCBxK4/s1600/Electoral+Map++2094504@1N06+2940554173++2010-01-01.JPG" /></a>What are the 34 best political web sites on the net? The 2012 political campaigns are starting to organize - where do you go to stay informed and make up your mind? ConsumerPla.net has put together a guide of the best political sites on the web for the ramp-up to the 2012 elections. <br />
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In the following selections, we use "non partisan" to label sites which declare themselves non partisan, and which we found out to be non partisan. We use "left of center" and "right of center" to label sites with liberal or conservative leanings, but which retain reasonable objectivity and which are not, in general, advocates -as an average- across their many writers. We use "liberal" or "conservative" to label sites which we believe are significantly partisan or advocates for a side.<br />
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<b>Best Site to Figure Out Where You Stand</b><br />
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Political labels are harder to use than ever. When you are a liberal, are you a social or a fiscal liberal? When you are a conservative, are you a social or a fiscal conservative? Where do you fit if you are a libertarian? Do you believe in strong or weak government? Where do your beliefs slot you?<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://politicalcompass.org/index">Political Compass</a> gives you a questionnaire of basic questions, and interprets your answer to give you a better graphical understanding of where you stand in several dimensions. For many of us at ConsumerPla.net, the outcome of the analysis from Political Compass was at first surprising, yet, in the end, made very good sense. </li>
</ul><br />
<b>Best Political Fact Checking Sites</b><br />
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Do you trust political ad campaigns to get to the truth? We have all become jaded, and sometimes cynical, about facts, truth, and politics. Our research has uncovered several outstanding sites to fact check political assertions, and figure out where your candidates stand.<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.politifact.com/">Politifact.com</a> is our #1 pick, and an outstanding site. A Pulitzer Prize winner, and a non partisan project of the <i>St Petersburg Times</i>, it looks at the big national picture, as well at specific stories. It rates how true political assertions are, and whether campaign promises are being met. It specifically tracks the fulfillment of presidential election promises. <i>Politifact</i> is an outstanding site, which you will find interesting regardless of where you live.</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.factcheck.org/">FactCheck.org</a>, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, the recipient of several Webby Awards, is another excellent non partisan project. Like <i>Politifact</i>, it looks at significant stories and evaluates the truth of political assertions. A neat feature: you can ask <i>FactCheck</i> about specific assertions. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://votesmart.org/index.htm">VoteSmart.org</a> aims to provide you with specific local information you can use. Another non partisan project which relies on many volunteers, it gives you the lists of candidates you will vote on, depending upon your address, and their positions on significant issues when they are known. One major way in which it obtains information is by asking candidates' organizations to fill questionnaires on major issues. Many organizations are not ready to openly discuss their positions on difficult issues, so, as a result, you do not always get the information you need (these candidates are downgraded by <i>VoteSmart</i>). </li>
</ul><ul></ul><br />
<b>Best Campaign/ Ad Funding Source Analysis </b><br />
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Following a recent Supreme Court decision, interest groups can now significantly influence election outcomes by funding ads in a campaign without disclosing the origin of their funding. As a result, some races see third party interests actually outspending the candidates themselves.<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/index.php">Open Secrets</a>, a non partisan organization, gathers, analyzes and publishes information about which organizations fund what political campaigns or directly finance "independent" ad campaigns. <i>Open Secrets</i> uses volunteers and paid staff, and is the best at what it does, but cannot, of course, be expected to unearth all of of the significant players, in an election which may end up costing $4B across all candidates and influence organizations.</li>
</ul><br />
<b>Best Spin Control Watch </b><br />
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The origin of information in a political campaign is often as important as the information itself, and camouflaging this origin often is a part of the game. How do you figure out whether the source of an information is credible?<br />
<ul><li> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch">SourceWatch</a>, a left of center organization, focuses on identifying the source of critical campaign stories, along with the possible bias of the source. It attempts to remain reasonably objective in its analysis, and does track stories from both sides. On the whole, however, it should be counterbalanced by a right of center organization. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a credible organization with equivalent strengths right of center. We find the two big spin analysis players on on the right, <i>Accuracy in Media</i> and <i>Media Research Center</i>, to play too much of an advocacy role to be truly credible organizations when truth in politics is concerned. </li>
</ul><br />
<b>Best Political News Flashes</b><br />
<ul><li><a href="http://politicalwire.com/">Political Wire</a> provides brief news flashes - many of them every day - and links to reference posts or raw data.</li>
</ul><br />
<b>Best Vote Projections</b><br />
<ul><li><a href="http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/">FiveThirtyEight</a>, named for the presidential electors, is part of the <i>New York Times</i>, and tracks the progress of voting projections throughout the campaign. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.electoral-vote.com/">Electoral Vote</a>, funded and staffed by the same organization as <i>The Political Wire</i>, also provides real time tracking of all country polls, and publishes non-stop large numbers of stories that are related to election projections.</li>
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<b>Best Political Coverage Sites (excluding major newspapers)</b><br />
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Where should you get your political news? In this section, we feel that it is better to classify from the get go all sites with their political affiliation, overt or implied. We made the final determination as to what political affiliation should be assigned to each site.<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.politico.com/">Politico</a>, a non partisan site, is a stellar example of what new media can be. It represents in 2011 what good newspapers must have been at the turn of the 1900s, a vibrant new media full of excitement and value, where the man on the street got the latest information. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://thehill.com/">The Hill</a> is a non partisan newspaper with an excellent site, unaffiliated with the major news organizations, and largely focused on federal politics. Somehow it never gets mentioned in any of the lists we have seen - good writers, timely info, excellent coverage - worth being a lot better known. <br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/">CNN: Politics</a>, non partisan to slightly left of center: one cannot discuss political coverage without mentioning CNN. They have the largest organization, always up to date, well organized and well presented. Their analysis does not match their information coverage. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2065896/view/2057069/">Slate: News and Politics</a>, slightly left of center, is of <i>Politico</i> quality but with less breadth, a great example of new media in the 2010s, lively, interesting, up to date, good analysis. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics">The Atlantic: Politics</a>, part of a left of center site, could also be classified under the "thinking person" category. The site has decent coverage, but also provides stories, and probably as much analysis as coverage. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/">RealClearPolitics</a>, right of center, another excellent example of new media for the 2010s, aggregates stories but also carries its own. A lot of information, moves fast, dense presentation, conservative sympathies but overall tries to keep a neutral tone. </li>
</ul><br />
<b>Best Liberal Blogs and Commentaries</b><br />
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There are many excellent and opinionated blogs on both sides - but we decided to focus on sites rather than individual blogs. When we talk about blogs, we mean blog sites covering multiple authors and streams.<br />
<ul><li> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/">The Huffington Post</a>, with an outstanding set of bloggers and a large audience, started with a strong liberal leanings, but has now moved much closer to the center. It is seen as a center organization by liberals, and as left of center by conservatives. Highly recommended for the quality of the bloggers and the spirited tone of the publication. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/">Talking Points Memo</a> started with a single blogger. It has become, over the past 10 years, a major site of broad political coverage. It started left of center but has moved closer to a neutral point in the political spectrum. Famed for deep investigative reporting.<br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li> <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/">The Daily Kos</a>, a strongly liberal site, is a traditional flag bearer for its side, and provides unashamed liberal opinions and commentaries. Fun and opinionated. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/">TruthDig</a>, openly liberal, gathered a large handful of awards at the last Webbies. Excellent stories, a lot of new content all the time, interesting look - altogether a great package if you want to read people who think like you (if you are on the left) and are not afraid to be advocates. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsmaker/politics/">Daily Beast: Politic</a> left of center, softer tone, more neutral coverage, interesting opinions and articles.</li>
</ul><br />
<b>Best Conservative Blogs and Commentaries</b><br />
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Again, when we talk about blogs, we mean blog sites covering multiple authors and streams.<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://townhall.com/">Townhall</a> is the right wing counterpart to the <i>Huffington Post</i>, with an strong stable of bloggers, large amounts of content, influential and interesting voices. <br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.humanevents.com/">Human Events</a> is the old man on the block. Around since the 2nd World War, it has steadily maintained its conservative orientation. Its tone might have sounded a touch strident in the 80s, but now it seems to be the wise old man of the right wing, with strong advocacy and, occasionally, sound analysis as well. <br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.newsmax.com/">Newsmax</a> is really a conservative news site with a strong advocacy voice. We had originally classified it as a news site, but it carries such a partisan voice that we ended up moving it to the commentary section.Wide breadth of reporting, good entertainment value.</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://drudgereport.com/">The Drudge Report</a> is in your face. A flag bearer for the right wing, awful presentation, aggressive content, it is never afraid to shock, and no stranger to hyperbole. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/">Hot Air</a> entertains as much as it informs, a la MTV. It combines aggregation with its own stable of bloggers, and never hesitates before using screaming headlines. Highly partisan and proud of it. </li>
</ul><br />
<b>Best Thinking Man's Political Sites</b><br />
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These sites provide deep analysis and provocative thoughts. They represent the best of the best in political reporting, although not always so in news coverage. To them we could add <i>Slate</i> and <i>The Atlantic</i>, already listed in different categories.<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.tnr.com/">The New Republic</a>, also a print publication, used to be left leaning, but has moved to the center, and is not considered by the left to be a liberal site any more. Outstanding analysis, deep thinking, provocative writers.</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.thenation.com/">The Nation</a> is the traditional flag bearer for the left, and has been for the past 40 years. While it used to be, many years ago, in competition with <i>The New Republic</i> in this role, the latter's move to the center has left <i>The Nation</i> as sole proprietor of the nation's left leaning soul. Excellent writers, strong voices, thoughtful but partisan writing.</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/">The Weekly Standard</a>, also a print publication, comes with a strong conservative bent. It was started by William Kristol, and has gathered a small number of very influential voices on the right. Excellent opinion papers.</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/">The National Review</a> wants to speak for the right where <i>The Nation</i> wants to speak for the left. Neither of them, of course, can speak for whole political wings which have, in the past few years, become more fractured than ever. <i>The National Review</i> speaks for the traditional right and gives it a strong voice. </li>
</ul><br />
<b>Best Traditional Newspaper Sites in Political Reporting </b><br />
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These entries do not need to be introduced:-) <br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/">The Christian Science Monitor</a>, a non partisan online-only paper, represents what is best about objective American journalism, with good news coverage, strong analysis. and excellent writers and newsmen.</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://online.wsj.com/home-page">The Wall Street Journal</a>, the preeminent conservative organ in journalism, is the traditional voice of business. While the bulk of the paper focuses on business issues, the very strong <i>Opinions</i> section focuses primarily on politics, and has free range to engage the enemy. Its writers are influential, and carry strong ties with the most powerful conservative think tanks. </li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/index.html">The New York Times: Politics</a>, left of center, is possibly the most influential newspaper in the world. Its site provides excellent, up to date coverage, with deep analysis and remarkable opinion pieces from major players in the political life of our country.</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/">The Washington Post</a>, also left of center, is the primary rival of the <i>NYT</i> as the representative of the liberal elites, and manages to play equally with it in almost all domains. The <i>Washington Post</i> has an outstanding stable of top notch writers, great daily coverage, and penetrating analyses.</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://nationaljournal.com/">The National Journal</a>, a non partisan site, paper and magazine, focuses on Beltway issues. With less breadth on national news than the entries above, its focus on Washington politics is insightful, with frequent pieces of deep analysis.</li>
</ul><br />
<b>Some Good Sources of Data on Political Sites</b><br />
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Beyond the present article in ConsumerPla.net, a few sources have published, in the past few years, relevant and interesting data, some of which has made its way into this presentation. The most influential is PC Magazine's <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329084,00.asp">top 20 political web sites</a> (2008). CNET/ Webware published an excellent <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10151227-2.html">top 10 report</a> in 2009 on the top 10 political sites of the time. The PD Report blog published, in 2008, a <a href="http://pdreport.blogspot.com/2008/02/10-best-political-sites.html">top 10</a> list. As usual, XMarks, with its <a href="http://www.xmarks.com/topic/fact%20check?sid=gcp9iu7b&product=xmarks&featured=81162791&xplat=SearchBoost001:C&cid=serp.shmear.rating&mid=fvgdrkut">top 10 fact checking sites</a>, is the king of the hill. <a href="http://toppoliticalsites.org/">Top Political Sites </a>keeps track of political sites demographics, while Right Wing News published, in 2009 its <a href="http://www.rightwingnews.com/special/rank.php">top 100 </a>list of right and left wing sites. eBiz also keeps tracks, every month, of the best <a href="http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/political-news-websites">top political sites</a>. The NYT published, in January 2011, an article on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/business/media/30blogs.html">political blogs and the 2012 campaign trail</a>. And, of course, the <a href="http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?media_id=96&season=14">Webby Awards</a> always bring in the yearly share of interesting, and sometimes surprising, sites.<br />
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This post is an updated version of a <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2010/11/top-34-political-electoral-sites.html">previous analysis</a>.George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-22818697959591899762011-04-11T09:15:00.000-07:002011-04-13T09:25:51.303-07:00We are now on Twitter!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bUNRGGVENEw/TaXNbiwxAOI/AAAAAAAABDA/-Msng096QH4/s1600/CP+Microscope+and+Amber+michaelRhys+42988250+2320x320R+011-04-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bUNRGGVENEw/TaXNbiwxAOI/AAAAAAAABDA/-Msng096QH4/s1600/CP+Microscope+and+Amber+michaelRhys+42988250+2320x320R+011-04-13.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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You can follow us there <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/ConsumerPla_net">@Consumerpla_net</a><br />
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<i>Thanks to Michael Rhys for a truly stunning picture of a bead of ants in amber under a microscope, which we are using for our Twitter pic.</i>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-28543660712464597732011-04-08T09:10:00.000-07:002011-04-13T21:38:47.649-07:00Blu Ray Media Stores: Meritline Review<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/01/best-blank-blu-ray-media-review-guide.html">Blu Ray blank media guide</a> : <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">Best Blu Ray media stores</a></i></span><b> </b><br />
<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 8: Meritline Review</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.meritline.com/">Meritline</a>, a well known CD and DVD media provider, largely specializes in a limited set of computer accessories. It carries a very small but well chosen Blu Ray media inventory which mixes low and high end products, with a preponderance in the low end. Its reputation in the CD/DVD world is very good, and we were interested in figuring out how well it would fare in the Blu Ray world. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jiXix0Xi2Zg/TVwj2hbmcyI/AAAAAAAAA7U/1gWRs7VH3BA/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Meritline+530+2011-02-12.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jiXix0Xi2Zg/TVwj2hbmcyI/AAAAAAAAA7U/1gWRs7VH3BA/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Meritline+530+2011-02-12.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>Site and usability </b><br />
Blu Ray media can be found on the Meritline site under <i>CD/DVD Media</i> -> <i>Blu Ray Media</i>. Site speed is good, although not blazing fast, with 2.2 seconds per page average to display a right-clicked SKU. Of our wish list of 13 types of sorting and binning, Meritline provides 5.5 of them: there is no way to select single/dual layer, quantity or printability, and only some speeds can be selected (2x and 4x), sorting cannot use best rating, most reviews or best selling, and it is not possible to view unit price. On the other hand, there is a Blu Ray category, it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE), manufacturer, and some speeds, sorting can be done by price, and user ratings can be viewed on the listing pages. To be fair, Meritline's inventory is so small that all products can be viewed in 2 short pages, so selecting and sorting are less needed than for stores with larger inventories. <br />
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<b>Inventory and price</b><br />
Meritline's inventory is limited to 47 Blue Ray media, at the low end rage of the industry, yet it still stocks 22% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, which ranks Meritline in the middle of the pack. Meritline prices are on average 19.6% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, again roughly in the middle of the pack. Meritline has the best price for 4 SKUs, for a media stocked by more than one store, rating in the middle of the pack again. While Meritline's original inventory is truly very narrow, its selection is clearly well chosen, and prices are reasonable overall. Of the 6 media we selected as best archival grade Blu Ray media, Meritline stocks 3, for an average 40.9% over the best price across the industry, a very high overage that we cannot endorse.<br />
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<b>User reviews</b><br />
Meritline has an excellent set of user reviews for its size, totaling 250 reviews across it Blu Ray inventory. Many of its products (although not all) can be solidly evaluated based on its own user reviews.<br />
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<b>Customer Service</b><br />
Meritline is a proven source of optical media with a very well documented track record. It gathers more than 4,000 reviews on ResellerRatings with a very good 91% rating. On Google Shopping it gathers over 13,000 reviews, again with a very good 88%, although not perfect. Meritline receives a solid but not perfect 89% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating, also placing it in the middle of the pack.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GLKHPRFf-Tc/TVwikIn51XI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/9B1pQLDUzvg/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Meritline+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GLKHPRFf-Tc/TVwikIn51XI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/9B1pQLDUzvg/s1600/BluRay+Stores+Meritline+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Table: Meritline Blu Ray media review (see legend below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
Meritline is a specialized computer accessories site with a good reputation for optical media, and a limited but well chosen inventory. It scored in the middle of the pack among the stores with surveyed for all criteria - this is a very good result, as our deep survey sample gathered the best media stores we found. Meritline does not have a significant weakness. While its price are not the best in the industry, they are fair - and its customer service is good. However, the actual price of our basket of Blu Ray media selected for archival grade is unacceptably high. Altogether, Meritline would constitute a solid choice as a Blu Ray media store supplier, were it not for the problem of its pricing for archival grade media.<br />
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Next we review NewEgg for Blu Ray media... So come back soon! <br />
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<i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/blu-ray-media-review-mediamegamall.html"><<Previous</a> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/blu-ray-media-stores-newegg-review.html">Next>></a></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Table Legend: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our<span style="color: black;"> Blu Ray Media review</span> for archival grade<br />
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)<br />
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed<br />
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> # lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)<br />
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media<br />
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store</i><i>, explained</i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="color: red;"><u> </u></span></i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">here</a></i></span>Dani Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02605954880086948548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-14803744431913078502011-04-07T10:11:00.000-07:002011-04-07T19:51:12.815-07:00Laptop Battery Life: Avoid Heat and Storage at Full ChargeHow to prolong and maintain the life of your Lithium (Li-Ion) laptop or phone batteries? <a href="http://batteryuniversity.com/">Battery University</a>, a battery-specific knowledge site affiliated with <a href="http://www.cadex.com/">Cadex Electronics</a>, <a href="http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries">discusses the life of Lithium-based batteries</a>. The conclusion is surprising: you should expect them to die quickly in normal conditions of use. It is possible, however, to make them last for the life of the laptop by making some minor changes to your working habits.<br />
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Battery University bases its findings on research done by Cadex Electronics, some of which was published in book format by its founder Isidor Buchman. Some of the data presented is striking.<br />
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<b>Keep the battery as cool as possible</b><br />
Going from an operating temperature of 75°F to 140°F doubles -or more- the yearly loss in battery capacity, depending upon the average charge. While the statement that heat damages batteries is not very original, the data given by Battery University is shocking:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fIWKAFIXG2A/TZ40G6YfchI/AAAAAAAABCk/62j0Y7Z9wFU/s1600/LaptopBattery+CapacityVsTemp2+532+2011-04-06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fIWKAFIXG2A/TZ40G6YfchI/AAAAAAAABCk/62j0Y7Z9wFU/s1600/LaptopBattery+CapacityVsTemp2+532+2011-04-06.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
A laptop battery functioning at at 140°F, when normally left at full charge, will drop to 36% of capacity in two years, or to 42% if working at 104°F. On the other hand, if we are able to keep it cooled to 77°F, it will still have 64% of its original capacity left after 2 years. How likely is it for laptop batteries to run significantly hotter than 77°F? Using our trusted lab thermometer gun, we did an informal survey around the office, and found that most of our laptops' batteries were at or above 104°F, and some of them were close to 140°F. Based on Battery University data, this means that most laptops may lose 60% of their capacity in two years: shocking! <br />
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Battery University also advises against leaving the laptop in the sun, and warns about using laptops in a bed or pillow due to restricted air flow. It suggests putting objects such as rulers under the laptop to improve heat transfer. We find this suggestion impractical -ever tried typing on an unstable keyboard?- but figure that a good laptop cooler should be standard operating procedure when at home or in the office. Some open space near the laptop intake and exhaust is obviously beneficial.<br />
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<b>When not using your laptop, leave it at partial charge</b><br />
We just discovered that, even if we are able to cool our laptop to 77°F at all times, as long as we store the laptop at full charge (i.e. plugged in), we are still left with a pithy 64% of battery capacity after two years. Can we improve this number? Leaving your laptop at 100% capacity when not in use can triple the rate at which your lose your maximum battery capacity: "Lithium-ion suffers stress when exposed to heat and kept at a high charge voltage." While the site does not suggest that disconnecting your laptop is necessary, it is not clear to us how else to leave it at partial charge (40% recommended). The good news is that, based on Battery University data, it should be possible to keep a laptop battery in very good shape, and usable for 4 years or more, by keeping its operating temperature around 77°F, and by always storing the laptop at partial charge:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NmGyqvhfNSo/TZ5Su3Zi-SI/AAAAAAAABCs/2YazmPoOPlA/s1600/LaptopBattery+CapacityVsStorageCharge2+532+2011-04-06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NmGyqvhfNSo/TZ5Su3Zi-SI/AAAAAAAABCs/2YazmPoOPlA/s1600/LaptopBattery+CapacityVsStorageCharge2+532+2011-04-06.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
Based on the conclusions from the articles, it appears that a good practice would be to disconnect your laptop some time prior to terminating use for the day, and leave it disconnected while not in use -unless, of course, you need your battery topped off the next time you use it.<br />
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<b>Deep discharges shorten your battery life</b><br />
Despite all the advice we have heard in the past, it is NOT good practice to fully discharge your battery: "similar to a mechanical device that wears out faster with heavy use, so also does the depth of discharge (DoD) determine the cycle count. The smaller the depth of discharge, the longer the battery will last. If at all possible, avoid frequent full discharges and charge more often between uses." The data is clear and impressive:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fj0cWI_Ikt4/TZ4mTqh3XgI/AAAAAAAABCg/wT2yy58kb7o/s1600/LaptopBattery+DischargeCyclesVsDepthOfDischarge+530+2011-04-06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fj0cWI_Ikt4/TZ4mTqh3XgI/AAAAAAAABCg/wT2yy58kb7o/s1600/LaptopBattery+DischargeCyclesVsDepthOfDischarge+530+2011-04-06.jpg" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There is no room for ambiguity - if we want to prolong the life of a Li-Ion laptop battery, we had better be very careful about deep discharges. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<b>Lithium batteries do not suffer from memory effect</b><br />
There has often been some concern expressed ("memory effect") about specific battery types where partial discharges may decrease total battery capacity. Battery University dispels that concern for Li-Ion: "Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine; there is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles other than to calibrate the fuel gauge on a smart battery."<br />
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<b>Beware wireless chargers</b><br />
Battery University discusses the higher temperatures generated by <a href="http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_without_wires">wireless charging</a>: "Batteries are also exposed to elevated temperature when charging with wireless chargers. The energy transfer from a charging mat to the portable device is 70 to 80 percent and the remaining 20 to 30 percent is lost mostly in heat. Placing a cellular phone on the heat generating charging mat stresses the battery more than if charged on a designated charger."<br />
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<b>How to easily measure your laptop temperature</b><br />
You can easily check out your laptop temperature without any temperature sensor. First put your hand below your throat, right under your shirt. Then touch your laptop casing around the battery. If it feels warm to the touch, it is likely to be at or above 104°F. It it feels hot to the touch, it is likely to be at or above 140°F.<br />
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Beyond the pure physics discussed by Battery University, <a href="http://lifehacker.com/">Lifehacker</a> also has some good advice on <a href="http://lifehacker.com/#%215566020/how-to-maximize-the-battery-life-of-your-windows-laptop">how to make your battery last longer</a>.<br />
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<b>Conclusions</b><br />
<ul><li><b>Use a laptop cooler when possible</b></li>
</ul><ul><li><b>Disconnect your laptop AC charger sometime before finishing work for the day, and store it at partial charge</b></li>
</ul><ul><li><b>Avoid deep discharges</b></li>
</ul><ul><li><b>Only use wireless chargers when no traditional charger is available</b></li>
</ul><br />
<i><a href="http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries">Battery University</a> via <a href="http://lifehacker.com/#%215789794/avoid-frequent-discharges-to-extend-your-phone-or-laptops-battery-life">Lifehacker</a></i>Dani Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02605954880086948548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-58166960174833434402011-04-06T11:57:00.000-07:002011-04-08T16:29:22.897-07:00Blu Ray Media Stores: MediaMegaMall Review<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/01/best-blank-blu-ray-media-review-guide.html">Blu Ray blank media guide</a> : <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">Best Blu Ray media stores</a> </i></span><br />
<b>Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 7: MediaMegaMall Review</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.mediamegamall.com/">Media Mega Mall</a> specializes in electronic media, and is often recommended among digital media forums as a good source for CD and DVD media. Because of its small volume, it is not often tracked by shopping engines. We were interested in finding out how well it would do against some of our powerhouses - we ended up being very positively surprised. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O2blBTJnuzg/TVrGoQkrmdI/AAAAAAAAA6E/zaaClJuZmyc/s1600/BluRay+Stores+MediaMegaMall+530+2011-02-12.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O2blBTJnuzg/TVrGoQkrmdI/AAAAAAAAA6E/zaaClJuZmyc/s1600/BluRay+Stores+MediaMegaMall+530+2011-02-12.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<b>Site and usability </b><br />
Blu Ray media can be found on the MediaMegaMall site under <i>Blank Media</i> -> <i>Blu Ray</i>. Site speed is excellent, with 1.5 seconds per page average to display a right-clicked SKU. Of our wish list of 12 types of sorting and binning, MediaMegaMall provides nine of them: there is no way to select quantity, sorting cannot use best rating or most reviews, and, as there are no user ratings, it is clearly impossible to view average ratings in the category listing pages. On the other hand, there is a Blu Ray category, it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE), single/ dual layer, manufacturer, speed and printability, sorting can be done by price and best selling, and price per disk is provided.The missing piece, of course, is user ratings and reviews.<br />
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<b>Inventory and price</b><br />
MediaMegMall's very large inventory extends to 141 Blue Ray media, second only to Amazon. MediaMegaMall stocks 44% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, also top across all stores, even with Amazon. MediamegaMall prices are on average 7.0% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, and score best across the category - this is a shockingly low number. MediaMegaMall has the best price for 9 SKUs, for a media stocked by more than one store, again rating best across all stores. MediaMegaMall records the lowest prices across the stores we surveyed. When looking at the 6 media we selected for Best Blu Ray media, MediaMegaMall stocks 5 of them, but for a disappointing 22.3% over the best price in the category for the media basket.<br />
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<b>User reviews</b><br />
There are none - a huge gap in in otherwise very promising site.<br />
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<b>Customer Service</b><br />
MediaMegaMall does not have a well established track record, possibly due to small comparative sales volume, despite having been in operations for 15 years. It gathers only 10 reviews on ResellerRatings, with a very good 88% rating. On Google Shopping it gathers 140 reviews, again with the same 88% rating. because of the low number of reviews it has accumulated so far, MediaMegaMall receives a low 75% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating, which we expect will go up as the number of reviews increases.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cB5QkWfKrl4/TVwfRYXXqVI/AAAAAAAAA7M/QkZQxN74aGY/s1600/BluRay+Stores+MediaMegaMall+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cB5QkWfKrl4/TVwfRYXXqVI/AAAAAAAAA7M/QkZQxN74aGY/s1600/BluRay+Stores+MediaMegaMall+Table+530+2011-02-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Table: MediaMegaMall Blu Ray media review (see legend below)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
MediaMegaMall is an extremely promising site, with an excellent inventory -second only to Amazon,- good site usability, and the lowest prices across the industry. Where it is weakest is in user reviews - it does not have any. It also lacks an established CS track record. In another 6 months it could simply be the best overall site for Blu Ray media purchases. We are very impressed. We are, however, disappointed that our selected media basket is priced significantly higher than the stores' average overprice.<br />
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<i><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/blu-ray-media-stores-buycom-review.html"><<Previous</a> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/blu-ray-media-stores-meritline-review.html">Next>></a></i> <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Table Legend: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our<span style="color: black;"> Blu Ray Media review</span> for archival grade<br />
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)<br />
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed<br />
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> # lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)<br />
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media<br />
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store</i><i>, explained</i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="color: red;"><u> </u></span></i></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/best-blu-ray-media-stores-review.html">here</a></i></span>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-60049477358967482832011-04-05T16:16:00.000-07:002011-04-05T20:49:56.901-07:00Can Air Filters Improve Performance?<b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Best Air Filters Review</a>: <a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/03/k-and-n-air-filters-worth-it.html">Air Filter Facts</a></span></b><b> </b><br />
<b>Air Filter Facts Part 7:</b><b> Performance differences between clean air filters</b><br />
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Average atmospheric pressure at ground level is typical estimated at 101.325 kPa. The difference between no filter and the least flowing clean filter, as measured by the Oak Ridge National Lab, is less than 0.7 kPa. This represents less than 0.7% of atmospherics pressure, although it is over 25% of the increase in pressure drop that is considered characteristic of a clogged filter (increase in pressure drop of 2.5kPa). Is this pressure differential enough to cause differences in performance?<br />
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Unfortunately, we have no data on this point from Oak Ridge. <i>Diesel Power Magazine</i>, however, commissioned <a href="http://www.dieselpowermag.com/tech/general/0610dp_aftermarket_air_filters/index.html">this test</a> from Westech Performance, which compared<span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle"> K&N (typically measured as the best flowing air filter on the market), Volant, AFE, Airaid, True Flow, and S&B aftermarket air filters on a 2004 1/2 </span></span><span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle">Dodge Ram 2500 equipped with a manual transmission:</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zqchtJ-FbcE/TXmevZAIldI/AAAAAAAAA_0/vwwrwxAdJwM/s1600/AirFilter+DieselMagazineTest+530+2011-03-10.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zqchtJ-FbcE/TXmevZAIldI/AAAAAAAAA_0/vwwrwxAdJwM/s1600/AirFilter+DieselMagazineTest+530+2011-03-10.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>Diesel Power Magazine</i>'s<span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle"> conclusion: "</span></span><span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle">don't bother trying to tell them apart, the average results of the dyno runs ranged between 308.7 and 310.4 hp, and each filter had at least one run that was in the 309s." Differences of 5 hp or less or typically not statistically significant on dynos, due to the sensitivity of the tool, so the differences in results are not significant. </span></span><span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle"> </span></span><br />
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<span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle">The test's conclusion, then, is that drop-in air filters do not result in any performance difference when tested clean. Can we get corroborative proof to confirm this conclusion?</span></span><br />
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<span id="intelliTXT"><span class="body_link sz12" id="ctl00_ctl09_ctl00_lblArticle">Next we look at other supporting evidence on air filters and performance... So come back soon! </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://blog.consumerpla.net/2011/04/clogged-air-filters-impact-performance.html"><<Previous</a> Next>>George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4882058193948345321.post-52543963497726276472011-04-04T09:28:00.000-07:002011-04-06T09:13:31.354-07:00VAR Tire Levers: Cool Gear<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0FnYfCss98Q/TZqU8Qhwv9I/AAAAAAAABB4/sC5-47cgIlk/s1600/VAR-TireLever+RandonneurExtra1+500+2011-04-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0FnYfCss98Q/TZqU8Qhwv9I/AAAAAAAABB4/sC5-47cgIlk/s1600/VAR-TireLever+RandonneurExtra1+500+2011-04-04.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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VAR Tire Lever: the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-TL-1-Tire-Lever/dp/B001B6NFH2/">Park Tool TL-1 Bike Tire Levers</a> (or tyre levers, as our friends in the UK call them) and the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kool-Stop-Bicycle-Tire-Levers/dp/B000AO9T8K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1301974048&sr=1-1">Kool Stop Bicycle Tire Levers</a> are the most common of all bike tools in existence, ubiquitous, in practically everyone's kits. They probably are also the most hated: "I'm sick and tired of having these things break just when I need them. With modern stiff wall tires, [...] they just snap off the tip when you try to lever the tire off the rim. And yes, I know what I am doing having worked in a bike shop through college and changed about 7,485,433 tires. I'm upgrading to something metal or indestructible for good."<br />
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Haven't we all had this experience once (or many) times in our life, to see the head of our plastic tire levers snap under pressure when we are 15 miles away from home? This must be the #1 source of frustration when getting a tube changed or patched out on the road... The second source of frustration, right after this one, has got to be trying to put back a stiff tire on top of an intolerant aluminum wheel without pinching the tube, and seeing it pop at the last second, after 15 minutes of hard work, when you have no strength left on your thumbs: "Trying to get [my stiff tires] on my [...] wheels[...] produces an absolute meltdown on my part - complete with screaming, crying, pleading, darn-near throwing the wheel across the room, and an absolute refusal to ride the bike on the road without DH nearby, in case I get a flat tire and have to actually change the blasted thing."<br />
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Is there a portable tool out there that can help us put our tires back on quickly and efficiently, when the right M.O just does not seem to be working for us? This question is a perennial theme on bike forums such as <a href="http://www.cyclingforums.com/">CyclingForums</a> or <a href="http://www.bikeforums.net/">BikeForums</a>, as shown by this typical example: <a href="http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-555609.html">Best tire lever? [Archive] - Bike Forums</a>. Well, we found one - and only one - result to this query so far: the <a href="http://www.sheldonbrown.com/var/pages/var0051.html">VAR Bicycle Tire Lever</a>, or VAR tyre lever (<a href="http://www.vartools.com/fr/index.php">VAR tools</a> are French, but this tool is popular in the UK and often carries British spelling in on-line comments). <br />
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The VAR Tire lever looks like an aluminum wishbone, although it is made of plastic. Once you have most of your tire in position, You use it by putting one side of the wishbone inside the tire rim, between the rim and the tire:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FDSKoC9ymNo/TZqa9BIrYkI/AAAAAAAABB8/djBj4R22D2I/s1600/VAR-TireLever+RandonneurExtra2+320+2011-04-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FDSKoC9ymNo/TZqa9BIrYkI/AAAAAAAABB8/djBj4R22D2I/s1600/VAR-TireLever+RandonneurExtra2+320+2011-04-04.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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... then by grabbing the opposite side of the tire with the hook, and leveraging the tire in by pulling sideways on the wishbone:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GMo5o3EaAAY/TZqbfl6a4nI/AAAAAAAABCA/u4GkT_ydBpo/s1600/VAR-TireLever+RandonneurExtra3+320+2011-04-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GMo5o3EaAAY/TZqbfl6a4nI/AAAAAAAABCA/u4GkT_ydBpo/s1600/VAR-TireLever+RandonneurExtra3+320+2011-04-04.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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The VAR tire tool weighs about 60 grams. The tool is made of plastic, although, because of its mode of sue, it is not as prone to breakage as standard plastic tire levers. It is just small and light enough to be carried in a small bike pack. and includes an extra lever, independent from the wishbone, that is fitted inside it. How do the VARs users like their tool?<br />
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<b>Able to easily mount stiff tires</b><br />
Users of the VAR tire lever see it as successful in enabling them to easily mount tough tires: "I've been very happy with my VAR tyre lever. It's reduced the time spent messing about mounting a [Conti Gatorskin] from 2 hours to under 15 minutes. Well worth the dollars", "success!!! I tried it out on my very difficult Hutchinson Equinox tire on my Axiom's front wheel. I took the tire off completely AND was able to put it back on...with no screaming, cursing, crying, or hurling objects across the room! A little bit of leverage is a good thing", "I've NEVER had a problems > > mounting any clincher tire on a rim with this tool", "I have used the VAR lever for over 20+ years and tried most other levers on the market. The VAR lever is truly the best for tight kevlar bead tires", "It's hard to be patient when there are 20 hungry cyclists looking forward to their next tea stop waiting for you to finish mending the puncture. I'll stick to my VAR lever", "allows you to refit tyres without pinching that inner tube even when the tyre is a nice tight fit on the rim, "great for putting on tight fitting tires, particularly on road rims", "I'll second the suggestion of the VAR lever","they make a super-tight fitting clincher a breeze to mount","allows you to refit tyres without pinching that inner tube even when the tyre is a nice tight fit on the rim","It works for me on the toughest of rims and tires", "I'll second the VAR Super Tyre Tool. They make a super-tight fitting clincher a breeze to mount", " the best lever for putting on stubborn tires such as Specialized Armadillos whose sidewalls are extremely stiff and thus difficult to put the last 2 or 3 inches of the tire on by hand or by regular tire irons", "Makes putting on a tough tire sooo easy", "the way the lever works makes it impossible to pinch a tube, or damage a tire or rim." <br />
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<b>Just small enough for a kit bag </b><br />
The VAR's users use it on the road: " [...] The VAR lever can fit into your tube/patch kit bag", "The VAR levers will be for my saddle bag", "so good I have one in each of my tool kits","it takes up a lot of room in a seat bag but is great to have as a shop tool and on tours", "small enough that it fits into a standard seat bag"<br />
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<b>High build quality</b><br />
Users consider the tool a quality tool with good fit and finish: "There are better tools like this out there [than the Kool-Stop Tire Bead Jack], I'd recommended paying a few dollars more and getting one [...] like the VAR Tyre tool."<br />
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<b>Difficult to find </b><br />
The VAR tire tool is hard to find in the US: " Quite hard to come by in the USA though", "Can't find a place to buy them at anymore", "amazing that such a good and simple product is so hard to get hold of", "greatest [weakness] is the difficulty of finding a place that sells them anymore."<br />
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<b>Brittle in cold weather</b><br />
While the VA tool is seen by its users as strong and robust, some warn that manhandling it in very cold weather has to be done carefully, as it may get more brittle in cold weather: "I generally break a VAR > every 3-4 years."<br />
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<b>Stats</b><br />
We found 29 reviews of the VAR tire levers, with a 99% approval rating, for a low 4% margin of error with 95% certainty. These are outstanding numbers that we have only rarely encountered.<br />
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<b>Where to buy</b><br />
Very few places carry the VAR tire levers. Thanks to <a href="http://www.randonneurextra.com/">RandonneurExtra</a>, from whom the very helpful pictures illustrating the present article were obtained (he also has a great post on the VAR: <a href="http://randonneurextra.blogspot.com/2009/02/making-life-easier-var-tire-lever.html">Making life easier: VAR tire lever</a>), we also found sources for the hard-to-find tool:<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cgi?id=993090511305&d=single&m=top_ten&item_id=VR-425C">Bike Tools Etc.</a>, periodically out of stock</li>
</ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.northroadbicycle.com/index.php">North Road Bicycle Imports</a>, not displayed in inventory, need to call </li>
</ul><br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
The VAR tire lever would be the absolute perfect tire tool if it were made of aluminum. As it is, we still recommend it, as its mode of operation does not promote breakage similarly to a regular tire lever. In the words of its users: "$30 AUD delivered to the land of Oz. That sounds like a lot for a tyre lever, and it is. But I'd rather spend the dollars and not have to waste another two hours of my life", "bottom line: if you have tight rims and/or tires, this is the lever to carry."George Gearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14236815507658749492noreply@blogger.com0