I like Consumer Reports, but many times they do come across as old fuddy-duddies. I don't always agree with them.
What I much prefer when researching is a cross-section of actual consumer reviews. Good, bad, indifferent. If you can wade through a bit of that, you learn to quickly separate the wheat from the chaff. For example, when shopping for sugar-free gummy bears, this page helped me immensely:
https://www.amazon.com/Haribo-SUGAR-Classic-Gummi-Bears/product-reviews/B006J1FBLM