Perfect Rec takes challenge out of buying technology, recommends fit for you

ATLANTA - Trying to buy electronics today can be overwhelming. There are so many options. But a new start-up called Perfect Rec wants to simplify the process for you.

"I’ve been helping friends and family buy these products forever," Joe Golden, the CEO and founder of Perfect Rec, told the FOX 5 I-Team. 

He says it's not your imagination that buying new technology is a bit hard for the average consumer. 

"Search results have top 10 lists that aren’t very useful," he noted. "We don’t use affiliate links, so we are not paid a commission for any of our recommendations." 

The reviews are long, and they have a lot of complicated acronyms, but for him the research is fun. So he created a site to help buyers navigate this techie world. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you need a computer. Pick your poison: Mac or PC? Then break down a few things you will need like portability, screen size, battery power - that sort of thing. Perfect Rec gives its recommendation for you.

And here’s a great take-away from perfectrec.com on buying TVs. Generally speaking, if you spend more than $1,500 on a television, you are probably wasting your money, Golden added.

"Depending on the size, quality will keep going up as you get to $1,000, $1,200, $1,500, but after that point, your TV quality isn’t going to go up that much. You can spend thousands and thousands of dollars more, and that’s what we call the videophile tax."

You are getting a better TV, but you are likely buying technology you won’t notice or use, like the newer 8K models which are heavily pixilated, meaning a primo picture, if you can see it.

"There’s almost no content in 8k at this point.," Golden said. "Streaming services don’t support it. Cable, like broadcast, doesn’t support it. It’s an enormous premium for a feature you can’t even use."

For the general buyer, the cost of technology is going down because of more competition and more efficient mass production.

"Manufacturers cut the glass out of the TVs out of this enormous piece of what’s called mother glass, and the mother glass keeps getting bigger and bigger."

TV shopping tips: Look for size first. Know the room size before you buy. Look at showrooms to see how TVs look in person. Look for minimum picture quality, and you can get that at a very low price point now. If you are a gamer, you’ll want a TV with a high refresh rate. And if it’s a sunny room, you want one that manages glare.

The bestsellers tend to be under $500. But if you’re going up to a 75" TV, it’ll cost more, but you can still get one for under $1,000.

"That’s about it unless you’re getting a really large TV. If you’re looking at TVs in the 80-inch range, they become a lot more expensive. They’re a less mainstream product," Golden said.

Whatever you buy, if you haven’t bought a TV, he said, in the last five years, your next one will absolutely just look so much better because of the increase in quality.