Extra Extra: Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide is on sale

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It may be a tad early to start your holiday shopping, but there’s a good chance you’ve at least been thinking about it. Maybe you’ve had a big-ticket gift—like a new TV or home theater—in mind for a while now, but are putting off the purchase till November or December. If it’s sales you’re waiting for, you probably know what you want and how much you’re willing to pay. On the other hand, you might just a teeny bit leery of throwing so much cash at something you know very little about. Which is better: a plasma or LCD TV? Should you upgrade to a Blu-ray player or stick with standard-def DVDs?

If you find yourself in need of expert advice, consider the newest edition of the Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide. Inside you’ll find a wealth of information on everything from televisions and computers to smart phones, GPS units, and much more. For each product, the Consumer Reports editors walk you through the basics, explaining what’s available, which features matter, brand profiles, and offering tried-and-true shopping tips.

In addition to product information, the guide offers advice on how to shop smarter, including:

• Netting the best deals online, and protecting yourself when you shop on the Web


• When to repair and when to replace a broken item


• How to haggle effectively


• Finding the best electronics retailer based on our comprehensive annual survey


• How to save—and what to be wary of—with refurbished or open-box products on store shelves


• Where to get free office software, free computer security programs, and more useful freeware

GPS: Gifts for drivers—and the outdoor adventurous types

Portable GPS navigation units have become a hot gift item for holiday shoppers this year. In our latest Ratings of GPS units (available to subscribers), you'll find our colleagues over at the Cars Blog have bought and tested models that cost as little as $150, and prices are likely to be even lower during holiday sales. Some are very capable performers, making our list of Recommended GPS navigation units (available to subscribers).

But GPS isn't just an aid for drivers navigating the paved paths of urban and suburban travels. Portable, handheld personal navigation devices (PNDs) also make great gifts for hikers, boaters, and others who prefer going off the beaten path. (After all, the GPS system was designed to help the U.S. military more accurately navigate the vast seas and trackless terrain of desert and woodland battlefields.)

Still, the navigation needs of hikers can be vastly different from drivers. As such, our colleagues in the CR Cars section have further refined our GPS Buying advice and produced a new report on handheld hiking GPS.

Our video on handheld hiking units (click on the embedded player above to watch) will help you see how such units differ from the portable GPS units used by drivers. More importantly, the video will show you how you can use portable navigation units for "geocaching."

It's a real-life adventure game that's often described as a "high-tech treasure hunt" where participants use the Internet and PNDs to find hidden caches of goodies—often small-valued trinkets—in all sorts of places, including the urban jungle! More information can be found in our video and at http://www.geocaching.com.

If you're looking to cash in on geocaching or need to find that perfect gift for the "directionally challenged" person in your life, there's more good news. The new Consumer Reports Value Index™ on GPS units can steer you to a PND that gives you the most bang for the buck. See the latest CR Cars Blog entries, Best GPS values: Traffic-ready navigators and Best GPS values: Basic navigators for more information.

—Paul Eng

Laptop Ratings: The latest models are impressive

If a new notebook computer is on your shopping list, check our latest laptop Ratings (available to subscribers), where you'll find out everything you need to know about 35 models, including a great Sony system and the latest MacBooks.

That 13-inch Sony, the highest-rated Windows-based laptop in our Ratings, weighs only 3.3 pounds, yet has a battery life of 6¼ hours. Although it's pricey at $1,800, that's still the best ratio of battery life to weight we've seen. Battery life for other brands is getting better, too, we found. Eight of the new models, including at least one in every size category, lasted at least 5 hours on a charge.

The new MacBooks are available in 13.3- and 15.4-inch sizes. The larger one is tops in its class. If you're looking for a MacBook bargain, consider the classic White MacBook; Apple recently reduced its price to $1,000.

For help getting started, take a look at our Laptop Buying Guide, where you'll find advice on what size is best for you, what computer features are important, and more.

—Donna Tapellini

Headphone Ratings: Noise-canceling models

Headphones seem to be everywhere these days. Whether you're looking for a pair to use on the go with an MP3 player or at home when you're watching a DVD movie, you have a growing variety of options for keeping the decibels to yourself.

At Consumer Reports, we've been trying to keep up with the various types and models that have become available over the past few months. While we're still working on finalizing the new information, we can offer some help if you're shopping for headphones this holiday season.

We've completed testing and Ratings of noise-canceling headphones (available to subscribers). This is a more complete list of models than those mentioned in our January 2009 issue, which featured only selected, Recommended noise-canceling models. (Subscribers clicking on either of these links will also give you a sneak peek at the new online format for all our information about headphones, coming soon.)

We also have Recommended headphones from our annual Electronics gift guide, along with other great ideas for holiday shoppers. For more shopping information, see our video: Buying guide to headphones.

In our video (right), expert tester Rich Sulin discusses the types of headphones available, from the small buds that joggers tuck inside their ears to the over-the-ear, noise-canceling models seen on frequent flyers trying to drown out engine noise.

Rich also talks about our methods of testing headphones—we get a lot of help from our mannequin friend, KEMAR—and how performance can vary by type.

Related: 10 money-saving shopping tips for electronics Which video game system: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or Wii? Our review of six netbooks Black Friday deals on HDTVs Our first impressions of the BlackBerry Storm cell phone

For more detailed information on the performance of specific headphones, check out our full Ratings.

—Nick K. Mandle

Get in the game

There are big differences among the top-three video-game consoles: Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. But those differences actually make it easier to choose which is best for you. Grab the Wii if you're looking to get off the couch and play games with the family; the Xbox 360 if you're a hard-core gamer; and the PlayStation 3 if multimedia and movie-watching are as high a priority as popping in a game. Your preference in games could also come into play, since some consoles are better known for particular games than others.

How much you’re willing to spend might also sway you. The Wii, from Nintendo, costs the least at $250. Microsoft's Xbox consoles range from $300 to $400 (we don't recommend the stripped-down Xbox Arcade). And the Sony PlayStation 3 costs the most, from $400 to $500.

A couple of the consoles let you watch high-definition movies: The PlayStation has a built-in Blu-ray player; you can also download standard- and high-def movies via Sony's PlayStation Network video service. Though it doesn't play Blu-ray movies, a recent Xbox Live enables Xbox to stream high-def movies from the Netflix video service, making it the first Netflix-enabled device capable of accessing high-def content.

Cool camera accessories for the holidays

Point-and-shoots and SLRs weren't the only products on view at the recent PhotoPlus Expo show in New York. Here are some cool camera accessories you may want to take a look at, some of which may make a great gift during this holiday season.

• Frames. Sony announced two new photo frames—the 10-inch DPF-D100 ($280), seen at the top right, and the 8-inch DPF-D80 ($180). (Click on both images for a closer look.) Both have 800x600 pixel screen resolution. Their aspect ratio is also 4:3, which is closer to the aspect ratio used on most digital cameras. Sony's other frames use a more rectangular 16:9 aspect ratio, which is what most HDTVs use. Unlike two other Sony frames, the new pair don't include HDMI outputs that let you hook up to an HDTV. The two new frames also accept most types of memory cards and support select RAW files.
• Lensbaby. Some of my favorite accessories at the show were at the Lensbaby booth. These lenses, known as selective focus lenses, let you purposely blur most of what you see in your compositions. It's a technique often used in Martha Stewart Living magazine, where you might see just one item in a still life in sharp focus, and then the rest of the composition has this wonderfully blurred quality. Recently, Lensbaby announced a new type of selective focus lens, called the Composer ($270), which has a ball-and-socket design that I think is an improvement over previous lenses, such as the Muse ($100 for plastic lens and $150 for glass lens) and the Control Freak ($270). Plus, all Lensbaby lenses have a new optic-swap system. For more, go to www.lensbaby.com.
• Photo viewers. If you're looking to spend a little more cash for the photo-enthusiast in your life, Epson recently announced two photo viewers: The P-6000 ($600) and the P-7000 ($800). These devices have two purposes: They offer a very large, 4-inch LCD that's very accurate in terms of color. So, you'll get a better idea of exactly what you're shooting, especially when traveling. They also provide you with a quick and easy way to back up your shots. The P-6000 has an 80GB hard drive capacity and the P-7000 has 160GB. Both also offer various slide-show features.
• Inkjet paper. The show had many printers on view and different photo papers, which can really affect how people view your images. Canson, which has a long history of making fine-art paper, has introduced 14 new papers for photo inkjet printers, including four new surface textures (for example, smooth, ultra smooth, textured and canvas). For more, go to www.cansoninfinity.com.

—Terry Sullivan

Wal-Mart Saturday specials: Why wait for Black Friday?

If you just can't wait for the three-day Black Friday holiday shopping period to kick off, get over to Wal-Mart this Saturday for some special deals.

Among the noteworthy TV specials: a 46-inch Sanyo 1080p LCD HDTV for $798, which is several hundred dollars cheaper than most 1080p LCDs of this size we've seen. Sanyo models haven't been the best performers in our LCD TV Ratings (available to subscribers), but may be a decent choice for those on a budget.

Other Saturday-only deals include a 15.4-inch Compaq notebook computer (CQ50-139WM) for $298, a Sony PlayStation 3 (80GB) game system, along with a $100 gift card, for $399, a 2GB Sony Walkman MP3 player for $49, a Sony PSP portable game system, with a Ratchet and Clank game and $30 gift card, for $199, and a Samsung 7MP digital camera (S760) bundle, which includes a case, rechargeable battery and charger, for $89.