Is Consumer Reports a truly objective and reasonably reliable source for product evaluation?

It’s a good question to which I have no answer.

I doubt if it would be possible for anyone not on the inside of CR (or involved with any corruption directly) to say “they’re pristine”, but their editorial and publication policy has always been to refuse all advertising, for example, to avoid the appearance of favoritism. So I think I would trust their “lack of bias”. After that, I suppose, you need to ask whether you trust them to evaluate products and services in the ways that they’re most likely to be used and to fail.

Yes. Independent laboratory testing. Just don’t get it mixed up with the bought and paid for Consumer’s Digest.

I trust them. They don’t take advertising and they buy all the stuff they test.

My only complaint is that they don’t go much off the middle of the road about what they evaluate. You will find out if the thing is reliable and safe, and what sort of value it has relative to similar products. Don’t get me wrong I think reliability and safety and value go a long way.
But some super amazing feature available on only one of the products in a category will get the merest of mention. And usability has to genuinely awful before they’ll complain about it.

I find them to be reliable and I also like that they don’t accept advertising. I usually will check other resources to get a “second opinion” to CR’s ratings, though.