8 of the worst products on our website

Amazon Echo Pop - $87

Overall score: 47

The pretty colours that Echo Pops come in might tempt you to buy one. Step away from the speaker. You can do better. This one got a score of just 27 out of 100 for sound quality.

You’ll see in our speakers test that there are some around the same price that will give you better sound.

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Sunbeam Café Barista EM5000 - $265

Overall score: 53

We’ve got test results for more than 50 espresso machines at the moment, and this one sits at the very bottom. It’s easy to use but got a score of just 38 out of 100 for the coffee it makes.

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Living & Co Basic Hard Case 70cm - $89

Overall score: 50

It might be super cheap at just $89, but that’s still too much to pay for a bag that did so badly in our lift and drop test. See which cases excel in our luggage test.

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HP LaserJet M110we - $182

Overall score: 46

Buying a printer can be tricky. They’re not exactly the kind of thing you chat with your friends about to find out the best brands and what makes a good one. And if you’re unlucky, you’ll end up with one that scores as low as this HP LaserJet.

There is a cheaper printer that comes with our Consumer Recommends tick.

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Haier HRF454TW3 - $1,280

Overall score: 50

You wouldn’t catch us buying this fridge-freezer. It's poor at minimising temperature fluctuations, and owners of Haier fridges report the lowest satisfaction with their purchase. Check out the top-performing fridges in our test.

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Haier HWT60AA1 - $599

Overall score: 50

We’ve written a whole article about how Haier is the washing machine brand we’d avoid. This Haier top loader though is the worst in our test results. It’s cheap, but it’s possible to find a much better one and still spend under $1,000 using our washing machine test results.

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MyGenie XSonic Robotic Vacuum – $1,199

Overall score: 42

This robot vac, available at Briscoes, is good on hard floors but won’t be a good choice if you’ve got carpet or pets. We didn’t rate its mopping feature either. Even if it’s on special, you’d be better off checking out the cheap robot vacs we recommend.

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Bosch WQG24200AU – $1,959

Overall score: 52

It took nearly 4 hours for the Bosch WQG24200AU to dry our 3.5kg load of washing. That’s madness in our books, so last year we gave it our Avoid At All Costs Award.

There are much cheaper dryers – including some under $1,000 – that top our dryer test results.