Are you in the market to buy a new LCD/LED HDTV?
If so, beware of misleading video performance terms like:
Sony Motionflow XR 240, 480 or 960
Vizio SPS (Scenes Per Second)
Samsung CMR (Clear Motion Rate) 120, 240, 480, 840 or 960
Sharp AquoMotion
LG TruMotion
These are NOT the same as real screen refresh rates. Typically these numbers are exact multiples of the standard 60 Hz refresh rate, so they are designed to deceive the customer and make you think you are getting a higher refresh rate.
Why should you care? Because refresh rate, the number of times a second the screen is refreshed, directly determines how clear and smooth your screen action appears. The more rapid the action being displayed, such as sports, auto racing, video games, etc., the more blurry the action will be at a standard 60 Hz refresh rate, and the more you will want to have a higher refresh rate, such as 120 Hz or even 240 Hz.
The problem is, the higher refresh rate is more expensive to manufacture, so the HDTV will cost more. HDTV manufacturers have come up with these phony numbers to make you think you are getting better performance at a lower price. If you cannot find out the true refresh rate, make sure you can return the HDTV if you are not satisfied with the screen image.
Some HDTV manufacturer websites will tell you the real screen refresh rate, and it may be available at BestBuy or on BestBuy.com.
By the way this is only a problem with LED/LCD HDTV, not with plasma HDTV, which typically runs at a screen refresh rate of 480 Hz.
Beware Of Phony LCD HDTV Refresh Rates; posted March 26th, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Carpeting your home? Beware of carpet relabeling.
Recently we decided to re-carpet our living room and dining room. We started by visiting a large carpet retailer, one who has several stores in our local area, as well as a large advertising budget. We first looked at Karastan SmartStrand carpet, but rejected it because we did not think it would wear well.
Next we looked at Shaw nylon carpeting. Shaw is apparently the largest carpet manufacturer in the U.S., and nylon is recognized as the best synthetic material for carpet, plus it is much less expensive than wool.
Despite the best efforts of the salesman, we decided not to buy from that retailer, and the reason why can be expressed in one simple word:
RELABELING
Relabeling refers to the retailer practice of demanding that carpet manufacturers provide them with unique, custom labels. This is done primarily so the customer cannot price comparison shop for the same carpet at different retailers.
Relabeling is widely practiced across the consumer economy, for example in inexpensive consumer electronics, small appliances like coffee makers and toasters, clothing, gasoline and other auto-related products, and, of course, in food products, whether fresh, frozen or canned. In fact, large grocery chains rely on house labels, or brands, to attract value-conscious shoppers. Basically, any product that is so widely available that it has become an undifferentiated commodity, and is sold mainly on price, is likely to be relabeled. Consumers understand this, of course, and we have learned to rely on our physical senses, comparing visual appearance, product features and specifications.
The difference with carpet is that it is an investment, an expensive purchase that we buy infrequently. When we purchase carpet, we cannot walk out of the store with our purchase. Instead, the retailer orders it from the carpet mill, and it arrives in a roll. There is no product code embedded in the backing, to confirm that what we bought is what the installers are installing. So we really have to trust both the manufacturer and the retailer.
After spending some time with the first carpet retailer and then going on-line to learn more about the different carpets I was comparing, I learned several things:
(1) Relabeled carpets cannot be found on the manufacturer's website, in this case on the Shaw Floors website.
(2) Beyond the name of the fiber, and a durability rating, it is generally impossible to find any data on relabeled carpets - such as face weight, total weight, tuft twist, gauge or stitches per inch. So you cannot compare a relabel with a standard carpet label. This is by design.
(3) The carpet salesman will deflect your inquiry, refusing to provide any data.
(4) Carpet relabels may be intentionally chosen to be widely used generic phrases in order to frustrate an on-line search, and disguise the fact that many regional carpet chains use them. For example, the following are actual names of Shaw carpet relabels: Dividing Line, Highland Cove, Invite Possibility, San Carlos and Truly Modern.
As a result of the above, I've come to these conclusions:
(1) Carpet relabeling is a deceptive practice designed to prevent a customer from price comparison shopping. It allows the retailer to maximize profits at the customer's expense. It is definitely NOT in the customer's best interest.
(2) A carpet retailer who relabels has a CAVEAT EMPTOR - LET THE BUYER BEWARE business philosophy.
(3) A carpet retailer who engages in one deceptive practice might well engage in others, such as substituting, delivering and installing a lesser grade of carpet than the one for which the customer paid.
So, we've decided to work with a carpet retailer that we trust, that uses standard Shaw labels. Standard labels have a large amount of publicly available information. Also, I feel comfortable knowing that if I contact Shaw directly, and give them the label, they will know what I am talking about.
Regardless of which carpet manufacturer you prefer, before you sign a contract simply go on-line and search for the manufacturer and the label. If you cannot find it on the manufacturer's website, you can assume that your retailer is relabeling, and their business philosophy is: LET THE BUYER BEWARE.
These retailers may continue to be successful, preying on unsuspecting customers, but you do not have to be among them.
So, which local carpet retailer did we finally decide to hire? You can find them on this national list of trusted carpet retailers. I'll give you a hint... It's Koeber's Carpet in Beaverton, OR, found on this list:
ABC Carpets Preferred Carpet Dealers
References:
When is the best time to buy carpet?
How to buy carpet wisely - the ABCs of Carpet
Next we looked at Shaw nylon carpeting. Shaw is apparently the largest carpet manufacturer in the U.S., and nylon is recognized as the best synthetic material for carpet, plus it is much less expensive than wool.
Despite the best efforts of the salesman, we decided not to buy from that retailer, and the reason why can be expressed in one simple word:
RELABELING
Relabeling refers to the retailer practice of demanding that carpet manufacturers provide them with unique, custom labels. This is done primarily so the customer cannot price comparison shop for the same carpet at different retailers.
Relabeling is widely practiced across the consumer economy, for example in inexpensive consumer electronics, small appliances like coffee makers and toasters, clothing, gasoline and other auto-related products, and, of course, in food products, whether fresh, frozen or canned. In fact, large grocery chains rely on house labels, or brands, to attract value-conscious shoppers. Basically, any product that is so widely available that it has become an undifferentiated commodity, and is sold mainly on price, is likely to be relabeled. Consumers understand this, of course, and we have learned to rely on our physical senses, comparing visual appearance, product features and specifications.
The difference with carpet is that it is an investment, an expensive purchase that we buy infrequently. When we purchase carpet, we cannot walk out of the store with our purchase. Instead, the retailer orders it from the carpet mill, and it arrives in a roll. There is no product code embedded in the backing, to confirm that what we bought is what the installers are installing. So we really have to trust both the manufacturer and the retailer.
After spending some time with the first carpet retailer and then going on-line to learn more about the different carpets I was comparing, I learned several things:
(1) Relabeled carpets cannot be found on the manufacturer's website, in this case on the Shaw Floors website.
(2) Beyond the name of the fiber, and a durability rating, it is generally impossible to find any data on relabeled carpets - such as face weight, total weight, tuft twist, gauge or stitches per inch. So you cannot compare a relabel with a standard carpet label. This is by design.
(3) The carpet salesman will deflect your inquiry, refusing to provide any data.
(4) Carpet relabels may be intentionally chosen to be widely used generic phrases in order to frustrate an on-line search, and disguise the fact that many regional carpet chains use them. For example, the following are actual names of Shaw carpet relabels: Dividing Line, Highland Cove, Invite Possibility, San Carlos and Truly Modern.
As a result of the above, I've come to these conclusions:
(1) Carpet relabeling is a deceptive practice designed to prevent a customer from price comparison shopping. It allows the retailer to maximize profits at the customer's expense. It is definitely NOT in the customer's best interest.
(2) A carpet retailer who relabels has a CAVEAT EMPTOR - LET THE BUYER BEWARE business philosophy.
(3) A carpet retailer who engages in one deceptive practice might well engage in others, such as substituting, delivering and installing a lesser grade of carpet than the one for which the customer paid.
So, we've decided to work with a carpet retailer that we trust, that uses standard Shaw labels. Standard labels have a large amount of publicly available information. Also, I feel comfortable knowing that if I contact Shaw directly, and give them the label, they will know what I am talking about.
Regardless of which carpet manufacturer you prefer, before you sign a contract simply go on-line and search for the manufacturer and the label. If you cannot find it on the manufacturer's website, you can assume that your retailer is relabeling, and their business philosophy is: LET THE BUYER BEWARE.
These retailers may continue to be successful, preying on unsuspecting customers, but you do not have to be among them.
So, which local carpet retailer did we finally decide to hire? You can find them on this national list of trusted carpet retailers. I'll give you a hint... It's Koeber's Carpet in Beaverton, OR, found on this list:
ABC Carpets Preferred Carpet Dealers
References:
When is the best time to buy carpet?
How to buy carpet wisely - the ABCs of Carpet
Friday, March 23, 2012
Yahoo! Home Buying
Renting a home or apartment, and thinking about buying? This Yahoo! piece could be useful. Be aware that some values are monthly and some are annual. Annual home maintenance costs typically run from 1% to 2% of the value of the home.
Click the following link:
Should I Rent or Buy A Home?
Click the following link:
Should I Rent or Buy A Home?
Monday, September 5, 2011
... make a little worse and sell a little cheaper...
There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.
- John Ruskin, 1819-1900.
- John Ruskin, 1819-1900.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
New Vehicle Woes...
There are few decisions in life that have the potential to cause more grief and woe, more wailing and gnashing of teeth, than the decision to buy a new car or pickup truck. Why is this? There are several reasons:
(1) We buy more car or truck than we need... or we buy one that has too many expensive options that we don't need or won't use; or, worst of all, we buy one that doesn't fit our needs at all.
(2) The monthly payment is more than our budget can handle because we did not have a large enough down payment (or our trade-in was not worth much), or our credit rating was so low that the interest rate on the auto loan was too high;
(3) We do not keep the vehicle long enough to fully amortize the loan, and so we end up rolling the remaining loan balance into the loan on the next vehicle we buy.
Even in the simplest of cases, in which we don't have a trade-in, and we're paying 10% down, we could still end up underwater... owing more on the auto loan than the vehicle is worth. As an example, let's imagine we're buying a new economy vehicle for $24,000. The vehicle is expected to depreciate steadily over the next ten years and be worth $6,000 at the end of ten years. We have a 10% down payment ($2,400), so we'll be financing $21,600 for 84 months (7 years) at 8% annual percentage rate (0.67% per month on the remaining loan balance). Our monthly loan payment will be $337.09. You can confirm this for yourself by entering the following values into this FINANCIAL CALCULATOR:
Present Value: -$21,600 (NOTE: money paid out is NEGATIVE)
Future Value: $0.00
Number of Payments: 84
Interest Rate per period, %: 0.67
Payment At: [End]
Click [PMT] to compute the monthly payment amount of $337.09.
The following graph shows what this transaction looks like. The RED LINE is the value of the vehicle. Notice how it steadily depreciates from $24,000 when new, to $6,000 when it is ten years old. The GREEN LINE is the remaining loan balance. Notice how it starts at $21,600 at year zero, when the vehicle is new, and declines to zero at the end of seven years.
The important thing to notice is that at the one-year point the car value and the loan balance are the same, $19,200. However, for the next three years, the car depreciates faster than the loan balance declines, so you are underwater on the loan. Sometime in year five, the loan balance has declined enough that the car is worth more than the loan balance, and you are no longer underwater.
The problem is that we frequently sell or trade-in our vehicle during this underwater period, rather than keeping it until the loan is paid off, at the end of year seven, or at least until the car is worth more than the loan balance.
(1) We buy more car or truck than we need... or we buy one that has too many expensive options that we don't need or won't use; or, worst of all, we buy one that doesn't fit our needs at all.
(2) The monthly payment is more than our budget can handle because we did not have a large enough down payment (or our trade-in was not worth much), or our credit rating was so low that the interest rate on the auto loan was too high;
(3) We do not keep the vehicle long enough to fully amortize the loan, and so we end up rolling the remaining loan balance into the loan on the next vehicle we buy.
Even in the simplest of cases, in which we don't have a trade-in, and we're paying 10% down, we could still end up underwater... owing more on the auto loan than the vehicle is worth. As an example, let's imagine we're buying a new economy vehicle for $24,000. The vehicle is expected to depreciate steadily over the next ten years and be worth $6,000 at the end of ten years. We have a 10% down payment ($2,400), so we'll be financing $21,600 for 84 months (7 years) at 8% annual percentage rate (0.67% per month on the remaining loan balance). Our monthly loan payment will be $337.09. You can confirm this for yourself by entering the following values into this FINANCIAL CALCULATOR:
Present Value: -$21,600 (NOTE: money paid out is NEGATIVE)
Future Value: $0.00
Number of Payments: 84
Interest Rate per period, %: 0.67
Payment At: [End]
Click [PMT] to compute the monthly payment amount of $337.09.
The following graph shows what this transaction looks like. The RED LINE is the value of the vehicle. Notice how it steadily depreciates from $24,000 when new, to $6,000 when it is ten years old. The GREEN LINE is the remaining loan balance. Notice how it starts at $21,600 at year zero, when the vehicle is new, and declines to zero at the end of seven years.
The important thing to notice is that at the one-year point the car value and the loan balance are the same, $19,200. However, for the next three years, the car depreciates faster than the loan balance declines, so you are underwater on the loan. Sometime in year five, the loan balance has declined enough that the car is worth more than the loan balance, and you are no longer underwater.
The problem is that we frequently sell or trade-in our vehicle during this underwater period, rather than keeping it until the loan is paid off, at the end of year seven, or at least until the car is worth more than the loan balance.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Tires: the most important components on your vehicle (edited 10 January 2022)
THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENTS
If asked what they think the most important components on their vehicle are, most people will answer 'the engine' or 'the engine and the transmission' or 'the brakes'. I would argue that the most important components on any vehicle are the tires, and specifically the four tiny contact patches (or two on a motorcycle) on the tires that touch the road. Why? Because any input - acceleration, braking, steering - go through these four tiny contact patches. Here is a link to the subject of The Tire Contact Patch at the Vehicle Dynamics Institute.
ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT (the tires that came with your new vehicle)
Have you recently bought a new car, or are you in the market for one? Then you should know that Original Equipment (OE) tires, the tires your automobile manufacturer put on your new vehicle are usually CRAP - they're noisy, harsh-riding, short-lived, and poor-handling, especially in wet weather and snow.
For example, let's say you recently purchased a new 2022 Honda Pilot EX-L AWD. The tire size is 245/60-18 and according to TireRack.com the OE tire is a Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS which is a Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season tire, a light truck tire. This tire gets 3 out of 5 stars from TireRack users. So, how good is it?
Click this link for the Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season tires survey by TireRack customers. Notice that the Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS tire ranks close to the bottom of this table.
If you're a Costco customer, the simplest thing to do is to use TireRack to find BFGoodrich, Bridgestone and Michelin tires available at Costco for your vehicle. There are several Grand Touring All-Season tires to choose from, and my favorite is the Michelin CrossClimate2.
So, what can you do about the mediocre Original Equipment tires that you have on your new car? Well, you have three choices: (1) live with them until you wear them out, (2) replace them immediately with good tires, or (3) for $80 or so have them dynamically balanced and siped. Siping improves quietness, tread wear and handling. I would NOT sipe high-quality replacement tires because (1) it will void the warranty and (2) the tires don't need it, but I usually sipe the Original Equipment tires when I buy a new car. Here is the link to Les Schwab for siping information.
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