I've been a CR subscriber in the past (usually signing up for a year when I am looking for a car or buying large appliances).

I signed up after I had blown $800 on a dish washer on the recommendation of a friend who had purchased (what I thought was) the same model and was very happy with it. Unfortunately, I purchased almost the same model; it was the following year's updated one and had I gone out and plopped down the money for a subscription, I would have learned that the model that followed received a very poor rating. I replaced it with a less expensive Bosch model, which also had a model immediately preceding it with a poor review and I'm going on 10 years and very happy. My washing machine and dryer had a mixed review but ticked the right boxes for what I was looking for[0] and I've had those for 15 years with the washer failing about a month ago. CR didn't give it a stellar review -- actually, the review was pretty poor IIRC, but I needed a small front-loader due to constraints with where it was being put and I had a limited budget, so I had to pick between about 3 different bad choices and out of the three, this one scored high in getting clothes clean[0].

After that I haven't purchased a major appliance without paying for access. If it's not reviewed, I don't even consider it. The one that receives the best review that I can afford ends up being the one I buy. The only problem I ran into is that I frequently found that the model I was looking for was already discontinued. And because of how badly I was burned on the dish washer, it's not a foregone conclusion that its replacement is "better". This, however, worked out in my favor in the end. Yeah, it takes a bit longer to locate the specific model, but if I can find it new, it's on closeout and usually 20-30% less expensive. I just have to avoid the temptation to look at the new model or I'll end up wishing mine had the touch-screen with Twitter integration or whatever new, odd, feature they put in to justify updating the models every 4 months.

The thing that I don't understand is why they're so hesitant to let companies advertise "Consumer Reports #1" on their products. I understand the conflicts they're trying to avoid by not accepting advertising revenue, and by buying products at retail[1], but I think a lot of people aren't even aware of how great Consumer Reports really is. Some may not even be aware that they exist. So allowing a company to indicate that they've been rated highly in the publication serves a couple of good purposes -- it brings awareness to CR, and it tells consumers that the manufacturer thinks that being rated highly by CR is a valuable thing. That last bit might encourage a subscription more-so than the risk that someone would skip subscribing if they could just go to the store and see who's number 1. In my case, I've never purchased the "#1" product -- it's often out of my price range -- I've purchased the #1 that happens to fall in line with what I can afford. They could strike a happy medium by allowing manufacturers who rank at the top to publicize that fact.

And while I commend them for their idealism in this area (it's, frankly, rare to see an organization be so idealistic[2]), and it's entirely possible there's a reason for this which I am unaware, it'd be a lot worse, for me, if they disappeared or lacked the money to keep up the quality of the reviews that they perform.

[0] And to this day, I joke that my 4 kids can do whatever they want to their clothes. As long as I toss some Tide and Oxy in the load, it comes out. Yeah, it occasionally rips a T-Shirt, and the delicate cycle is ... anything but ... but it works a thousand times better than what it replaces and uses almost no water.

[1] Accepting "loaners" or "discounted review" products is less of a concern for me, it's the issue that some companies have been caught giving reviewers "fixed" versions of products. By buying retail, there's the added assurance that they picked up the product that you'd get off the shelf.

[2] Though the whole bit about selling subscriber information strikes me as a whole lot more anti-consumer than merely allowing companies to specify a ranking on a product, but I digress...