Hi All
Is there a way to extract the review data from choice ? CSV / Excel / even an API ?
As a data analyst I find it easier to read this way as opposed to manually clicking the “compare” button
Thanks
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Welcome to the Community @C.Y
You could ask CHOICE if you are a member to make the data available to you in a format that suits your purpose. They may agree to doing so, and it will most likely require a new request for every one of the comparisons you want access to. As far as I am aware there is no ‘in place’ method of doing what you require.
Another faintly possible way would be to use OCR on the web based magazine or scan of the printed magazine and capture the data that way, a lot of work in my opinion.
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Which product or products are you interested in?
It may be of some interest to others to hear which features of these products are most valued for your needs? Other members may be able to offer some tips or share their experiences with those products.
I’ve found the overall Choice comparison tables useful in identifying the better performing products based on ranking. Often a particular feature or scored characteristic is important to have or not have. We usually select from the better products at least 2 and preferably 3 or 4 products and assess each on its own merits. In particular the summary of good and bad points is very helpful. Note these points are not individually tabulated as they tend to vary between products and product types.
The final decision refers to any available product reviews from Choice members, or more reputable public sites. (Assume you are a paid member?) And for most items a final hands on at a local retailer/s, armed with the best prices including online options.
We recently purchased a new range hood. Of the many choices of type, design features and styling our approach delivered a great result at a good price with a product from Bosch. Ultimately many of these decisions are a compromise. The product needs to fit one’s kitchen and to be styled accordingly without breaking the budget. The product also needs to perform to an acceptable standard.
The Choice review tools allow one to make some basic selections on price, etc. The general buying guides on what to look for are useful in eliminating choices that may not be a good match to needs. I really like to keep at least one of the best rated products in the comparison selection. Even if it does not meet the size, style or some other essential requirement. One can then see just how close the choices one might make are to the best performing products.
Hope you find this helpful. Purchasing consumer goods for many of us has an emotional component as well as hard headed logic.
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Im doing a reno atm … and up to the kitchen appliances stage.
Fundamentally what I was thinking of was using the “expert rating score” / RRP … which would give me a theoretical “value” rating (which only really works for me cause I can ascertain what is “valuable” to me). Then i can chose the ones I want and go into more detail. (EG: Ikea’s induction cook tops seem quite value for money)
ATM … i am manually doing both Score & Price (separately) then going into the detail … which is time consuming so just hoped there was another way.
I think using the recomended retail price as part of your calculation may lead to some misleading metrics, in my view.
Quite often the RRP does not represent real world prices.
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It will, but is it meaningful?
A product, in this instance an induction cooktop with a better than average “Choice Expert Rating”, but not high enough to be recommended is likely to rate at the top if it is cheap enough. Some of the Choice recommended cooktops are very expensive. They can only score poorly on your suggested value rating.
The Choice Expert rating typically prioritises the most important product performance requirements, - my personal thoughts. To note the best of the IKEA induction cooktops in the recent reviews did not score well enough to be recommended. It may appeal to some on a tight budget given its price point. For me the most important question would be whether the compromises in performance or function/features are acceptable compared to the cheapest recommended product, or the other more expensive alternatives with similar Choice Expert ratings!
To note the product most likely to score highest on your theoretical value rating might be the two lowest cost cooktops one of which has the second lowest Choice Expert rating.
A value rating is an interesting concept. Is it over complicating the process? Statistically the products all score in a relatively narrow Choice rating band 75-92%. This compares to the rrp which varies by a factor of 8 - $699 to $5549. Hence any theoretical value rating will be biased towards cost over performance.
If I’m looking for value and a reliable product simply sorting by lowest to highest on rrp is enough to find the cheapest Choice recommended product. And from there to compare with similar priced products on features and performance. A second key question is whether the brand favoured by any analysis is reliable and has an excellent warranty with efficient service support. Having lived distant from major townships and service agents these later points were worth rating a product with a premium price more highly. It’s added value for the product likely to last longer or not need service/warranty. How does that factor into the theoretical ratings?
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I agree … but it is a starting point. It would be heaps better if I could use real world prices but there is no easy way to obtain that info
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I agree with you points …. But that’s why the “value rating” would only work for me cause I know what I am after.
There is no way it could be rolled out to everyone and if there was … I would be sceptical as it would have to be based on bias in some way.
Alas … I can’t get the info easily from choice so I think the easiest way is to sort by price and go from there then by recommended and work out what is best for me.
Thanks for the insight though
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Hope you find what best meets your needs. The community is a useful resource if looking to ask questions on products reviewed or not.
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