What to Buy (and Not Buy) at Home Depot

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Before you fill up your orange shopping cart with Home Depot goodies, you might want to check out some product reviews from Consumer Reports.

CR featured a variety of Home Depot products – ranging from lawn mowers to paint – in its recent Get It or Forget It series.

In addition to brands and products you can find at other retailers, the popular home center features a number of Home Depot exclusives. “Many offer standout performance at a competitive price,” CR noted. But not every product the Depot sells is a winner.

Below, we’ve highlighted three studs and three duds from CR’s list.

These products were labeled winners:

  • Behr paint. At $32 to $34 per gallon, Behr Premium Plus Ultra, a Home Depot exclusive, is a top-rated satin/eggshell and flat/matte interior paint. The Behr Premium Plus Ultra exterior paint, priced at $31 to $40 per gallon, also gets high marks from CR.
  • EcoSmart light bulbs. While not all EcoSmart bulbs get superior ratings, the EcoSmart 100W soft white CFL and EcoSmart 6 inch 9.5-watt 65W LED Downlight ECO 575L are highly recommended by CR.
  • Ridgid cordless drill. If you’re looking for a good drill, the Home Depot exclusive Ridgid R86008K is listed as a CR Best Buy, “combining superb speed with solid power, handling, and run time,” CR said.

The items below are Home Depot losers, according to CR:

  • Brinkmann grills. The economy line of grills from Brinkmann didn’t earn high marks. CR said the grills have “so-so high and low heat performance.”
  • Home Legend flooring. “We haven’t tested all the flooring materials sold at Home Depot, but we would advise you to think twice about several products from the exclusive Home Legend line,” CR said. The Home Legend Lisbon Natural HL9311LN was one of CR’s lowest-rated engineered wood floors. The flooring had poor resistance to fading, denting, and scratching, it said.
  • Glidden paint. While Behr received high ratings from CR, the Glidden exclusives at Home Depot didn’t fair nearly as well. CR said the High Endurance and Duo lines were subpar.

Check out ConsumerReports.org for a full list of the studs and duds at Home Depot.

What are your favorite Home Depot products? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.

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