Wouldn’t it be nice to have a reliable, unbiased review when looking to make a really important purchase? Well, now you can -- and all you need is your trusty iPhone (News - Alert).

Consumer Reports has released its new iPhone app, Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper, which conveniently gives users access to ratings, recommendations and reviews for a company or organization, just with a quick scan of a barcode.

While it may seem a bit steep, the $9.99 price tag (News - Alert) can be worthwhile when making a bigger purchase. Upon a scan of the barcode, the app gives shoppers a Consumer Reports unbiased product review covering appliances, electronics, home and garden, babies and kids, and car care categories. It also offers product and price comparisons. If the app does not find a match to the barcode, it will then list ratings for similar products.

In addition, the app also has the ability to search for store inventory information through Milo, a library of products from stores across the U.S., and tells the user which stores have an item in stock. It is pretty thorough, as it provides the addresses, phone numbers and hours for the stores, and lists what each store charges for the item.

Consumer Reports hopes it will outshine the collection of social barcode scanners that only offer consumers access to the often biased opinions of social networking friends.

Since Consumer Reports doesn’t accept advertising, Jerry Steinbrink, vice president for publishing, said the magazine doesn’t have “the luxury of doing it any other way.”

Better start downloading because Consumer Reports will hike the application price up to $14.99 in the New Year. Or, if you don’t want to add the additional application cost in hopes of finding a reliable recommendation, you can always use the free comparison shopping barcode scanner iPhone app, Red Laser, which also scans QR codes.

With the holidays right around the corner, the Consumer Reports application is sure to come in hand.