Getting Started with Consumer Reports Online
Consumer Reports Online contains advice, ratings and recommendations on products and services:
- appliances
- babies' and kids' products
- cars
- electronics
- garden products
- health
- home products
- money
This online version of the magazine includes the product ratings from the magazine but only about half of the articles. Prices are in US dollars.
How to access Consumer Reports Online
- Go to tpl.ca and enter "consumer reports" in the search box
- Click on Access Online under Consumer Reports Online
- Enter your library card number and PIN
Common tasks
Search
Search using the search box at the top of the home page or product pages where the search box appears when you click on the magnifying glass.
Browse
Browse by clicking on All Products A-Z to the right of Search for an index of products; or by rolling your cursor over Product Reviews at the top left for categories of products, e.g. Appliances, Cars, Electronics.
Understanding product pages
Information on the product pages is organized under the following tabs (though for some products only a Buying Guide is available, no ratings).
Under Ratings or (Ratings & Reliability) models are listed by rating - highest to lowest - with the results of specific tests on the right. Click on the Features & Specs tab of the ratings chart to replace test results with specifications. Click Ratings to go back to test results.
Print ratings by clicking on the print button in the upper left.
Compare Models
To select models (maximum selection is 3) for side-by-side comparison;
- click 'Add to Compare' under the model's Overall score box
- click on Compare at the top or bottom right corner of the chart
Car research
Search for specific models, new and used, by rolling your cursor over Product Reviews and clicking on Cars. Specify a make, model and year using the menus below. Select Year is the year of the newest model or years of used models that there are ratings for.
Browse by clicking on a category of a car such as SUVs under the above menu. To browse used cars in the selected category, click on Ratings & Reliability, then 'Used' on the left.
New cars are listed by rating. Used cars are listed alphabetically by make.
For more information or for help, please contact our Answerline service.
Revised December 14, 2020