Pam, you hit on one thing that forums are best at - brands comparison. That is a moving target at any point in time. Print media, even delivered digitally, could never be current enough.
Occasionally someone posts something like, "What does such and such mean?" And we are all over that, with 1.3 answers for every respondent and a ton of kidding tossed in as well. Even more often, someone asks, "Which such and such should I get?" Meaning brand and model, of course. Here we have at least 1.8 answers per respondent, along with even more kidding around.
Maybe not as straight forward as it might be, but a lot of fun, and a whole lot more relevant at any moment than anything written. That includes magazines. I have only written one tool review. It was not totally positive - and it was not published. I got paid but I learned a lot about tool reviews in the process.
Darby also offered a good list. As we go, we will learn that every answer to questions like those are unique to the person who asks. There is no one definitive 'right' answer, unless you work for a tool manufacturer, of course. LOL! For example, if you can only have one saw, perhaps because of space or money, and you want one that will cut straight and curved lines, then a bandsaw is one of the 'right' answers. If we make tool choices based on what we want to do, rather than on what 'everyone else' has, we can make some very good choices for ourselves. We may even have a few extra bucks for other important things in life. Like chocolate. Heheheheh.....