Be wary of magazines though, coz there's a chance they might endorse some products just because the products are advertised in the magazine,
That is fairly much a given, especially of the major american mags. I tend to favor reviews from Sound on Sound and TapeOp magazine, though. One should also go through sites like Harmony Central and Gearslutz for user reviews... like everything, take some of their opinions with a grain of salt.
One thing you can glean from magazines, old or new, are recording and production techniques because these are tried and true. As a matter of fact, most of the articles on techniques are rehashes of older articles, usually updated to include computer techniques. One thing I devour like crazy, is when they give out tips on software like Sonar, Cubase, Pro Tools and Live.