hermann

The ability to negotiate price varies from one jeweler to another. At some places, you could very well get shown to the door if you begin to negotiate . I have never heard of anyone "negotiating" at Tiffany's. HC

I looked on the website and there's no information on this. I'm sorry if I'm skeptical, but to me this looks like just another gadget for selling diamonds. There are tons of other gadgets in the market. Sarin, etc. How can anyone be sure that any of them are "right"? For that matter, how do you know the 4C's on a GIA cert are "right"? What are the units for clarity and color anyway??? You have every right to be skeptical, but remember that we're talking about a diamond here. Even with all the technology available today, the "experts" at GIA still argue about the characteristics of the "ideal cut". Bottom line, it's just not an exact science... if I were choosing a diamond today, I would use the isee2 gadget, in combination with a GIA/AGS cert, in combination with my eyeballs, and in combination with the opinion of a jeweler I trust. HC

Answer these simple questions for me. What units is it measuring brilliance in? What units is it measuring scintillation in? What units is it measuring symmetry in? Because these measurements are relative to a set reference, there are no "units". If I were to speculate, brilliance would be measured in terms of the intensity of reflected light, scintillation would be based on the modulation of this reflected light as the diamond is rotated, and symmetry would be based on the consistency of the reflected light. I'm sure there's plenty of information about this on the website or elsewhere if you're really interested in getting so specific. My take: This is a user-friendly tool to measure the beauty of a diamond. There are many ways; this is one preferred way. Jan, thanks for posting this! HC

Hi Jan, There's nothing wrong with the price engine, but your point is very well taken. I will see to it that the wording on the price engine gets fixed. Here is a brief explanation on DiamondReview's price research engine... Our engine includes prices paid at high-end retail shops AS WELL AS Internet retailers. This data is collected here and through other channels. Our engine also factors in offering prices from various web sites through the use of a proprietary "crawler" similar to PriceScope's. Once this data is aggregated, it is statistically analyzed and posted here. Because we look beyond just Internet prices and because markups at some of the retail channels can be very high, it is possible for Internet retailers (especially given the current competitive situation) to offer diamonds at what we call "absurd prices." This doesn't mean they're bad stones; just that the price is very competitive. I hope this explanation helps.