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Formil Acktiv tablets

Bought some tonight, no probs with desolving in the drawer, they washed straight away. Doing a load of darks tomorrow so will see if I have the same problems as Rolls.
 
P.S.

Forgot to ask, do the company that make Formil have links with P&G? Formil liquid smell very like Ariel liquid and the tabs smell like old Ariel powder to me.
 
Lidl Formil Aktiv Bio Powder

Hi Folks,
Here is a link on the Lidl site to the ingredients in Formil Bio, its in Adobe Portable Document Format PDF.
It appears to be Phosphate free and contains three Enzymes Protease for protein stains, Amylase for starchy stains and Cellulase to reduce bobbling of Cotton garments. It also contains Soap which is highly effective at removing fatty stains and suppressing suds.

I find it a great detergent, superb cleaning, excellent stain removal, clean rinsing, light fresh scent and great value for money.

David

 
Picked up some LIDL bio tabs today (the powder would have toppled me buggy over) and Doussey Fabric Softener. HAven't used it yet, but the price was pretty good! £1.39 for 1.5 litre of conditioner concentrate, and £1.89 for 36 tabs.

Was dissapointed though as wanted to see <30% phosphates on the list. Alas, only phosphonates - not the same at all.

Just from appearance I would say this stuff has to have links with Henkel. The FS looks just like German Vernel, and the liquid concentrates (which I didn't buy but was tempted to get the bright red colour one LOL) look just like the Persil / Le Chat bottles. So I would guess Henkel not PG. Perhaps our German friends could enlighten us? I'll post pics / results etc as they come in...
 
I dis a load of white towels and microfibre cloths that I'd used to clean the oven doors with ( v mucky!). Washed at 30 deg cotton short prog in my miele just to test how the powder performed. It did a good job, left a couple of stubborn stains but they cam out in a hot wash. I did find it left a few white flecks on the darks. Over all its a very good detergent for the price although I didnt like the doussy jasmine softner, smelled very dissinfecty when clothes were dry.

So Good detergent but I think I'll be sticking to simply active detergent, LOVE the smell and its superb at cleaning.
 
Formil activ tabs for success

My goodness - was it Paul who said that these things smell like old (mid nineties) Ariel powder? They certainly do. And this is the overwhelming scent. But in the fragrance mix is a little regular German Persil powder (or German Persil tabs - the scent is the same). The scent is extremely light on the clean laundry. The rinsing is among the best I've seen for a non phosphate detergent. I am extremely impressed with this detergent and thank David for reccomending it. It's likely this will become a laundry room staple. The only negative? The Bosch does leave a spec of it in the drawer. But it's a small negative for such a nice product. And mabe the powder, as David originally suggested, wouldn't do this.

I'm pretty sure this product is Henkel. The tabs appear very similar to German Persil tabs, and everything about the wrapping for the tabs is identical too. I'm happy to show pics for anyone's whose bothered but I'll have to go in the loft to search for previous Henkel tabs.

These are the only tablets I've ever seen which give honest dosing instructions, and suggest one tab for anything up to medium water light soil. I applaud this. All other manufacturers suggest two tabs as a minimum. What rubbish.

The FS, again, I'm sure is Henkel and have compared images tonight with German Vernel. Identical. The variant I have is blue `Active Fresh' and it aint alf strong. About 10ml made the washing really soft (a small load admittedly) and smell quite strongly. I quite like the scent though - it's classic. there were no alternatives in my LIDL. I'd quite like to try the `white' one, but I guess it would be the same as the white `Minidou' I have from France, which is the French Henkel Vernel!

To summarise, I am absolutely convinced that LIDL's Formil and Doussy are the best products money can buy at this price. I would even go so far as to compare them to premium products. I unreservedly encourage anyone to try these!

A few pics follow of a sheets wash with one tablet and no softener. The cycle was 45 degree wash, 2 rinses and spin.

And finally, very importantly, Paul, what's `Simply Active' Detergent? Please reveal your source!

Pic1: The products.

11-1-2008-17-06-33--nickuk.jpg
 
Simply Active

Psul, just googled the detergent you mention. Are you referring to the Aquados stuff that comes in plastic tubs with green writing on? Are these those disolvable powder sachet thingees? Something tells me you can get these in Wilkinsons. Any input appreciated.....
 
Premium products without the premium

Hi Nick,
I'm glad you tried some Formil and Doussy I knew you would be impressed.

Yes indeed I think they are the best value laundry products bar none and I agree they seem to be premium products but without the premium price. I suspect you are right about Henkel making Formil products I think the Formil Bio Powder looks identical to German Persil Powder. The Formil Powder flushes out of my machines (Miele W3985WPS, Cyson CR02 Allergy and Dyson CR01) Memory completely as do the tablets for me, I have extremely high water pressure here as I live at Sea level.

Wow the Doussy even has the same bottle as Vernel Concentrate.
The white Doussy is very nice it smells creamy with a hint of Almond. My favorites are the Blue Active Fresh that you bought and the Green one Asian Spirit I think its called, I must check that one later.

David
 
Hi Nick,

Glad you have tried the Lidl detergents, it's always been an area I didn't want to touch but if yours and others expert opinions are bringing up top reviews I may have to try it. I'm getting bad at hourding again - even in my tiny university room. I'm at home this weekend, so may have to pop up to Lidl's tomorrow to buy some Formil... BTW Asda have a LOT, and I mean a LOT of detergent offers on at the moment. Any 2 50 wash boxes for £16 (you can even mix and match brands), or 2 12 wash boxes of tablets for £5... or in the case of Daz, 2 16 wash boxes, or in the case of Asda own, 2 18 washes. As I said you can even mix and match brands, I bought Persil non bio tablets and the new Ariel non bio tablets yesterday and the offer still came up. Not just that but they have also started to do Comfort concentrate in 3 litre 85 wash bottles... although I know I shouldn't I'm really tempted to buy a bottle just for the sake of it being novel!

One question - I trust from what I read the Formil tablets are designed for use in the drawer? I remember years ago mum got tablets from Lidl's (I must have only been about 13, and not too interested in detergents as I was in washers, so my memory might be unreliable), but I'm sure they were dispensed in a net.

In regards to the pictues, that is exactly how Persil non bio powder used to rinse out and suds for me 2 or 3 years ago. A shame that the smell and rinsability has changed for Persil, they've ruined possibly the best powder going with this new "just washed freshness" business. Have to say I was disappointed tonight when I opened the Persil non bio tabs to find out that the non bio tabs have lost the "original non bio" smell as I call it too.

I have a box of Simply Pure from Aquados that I bought from Sainsbury's in August or so (I believe it was on offer at something silly at just over a pound or something), not had chance to open it yet though and it's just been sitting in the utility doing nothing. Will try those out when I next have time.

You are all a bad influence on me. I just get to the point where I'm sensible and stop hoarding, where threads like this force me to go out and try and buy more things :-)

Jon
 
Lidl Detergents

Hi Stefan,
I see you live in Germany. Perhaps you could contact Lidl in Germany and ask them who makes their detergents and softeners. Lidl might be more forthcoming with information to a German citizen than they would be to us UK folks.
It would be great if you could possibly find time to do do this for the group.

Hi Nick,
Do you own a Dishwasher? If the answer is yes you must try Lidl W5 Dishwasher Tablets, both the 5 in 1 and standard versions are truly superb, in my opinion they're better than Finish and a fraction of the price. They clean superbly with even the dirtiest pots, pans and ovenware coming out spotless from my Bosch Dishwasher. Again I don't know who makes them but they bear more than a passing resemblance to Henkel Glist and perform equally well. I also use W5 Rinse Aid which is top notch too.
With dishes they are either clean or not clean, unlike laundry which can be whiter with some detergents have different scents etc. to that end I use W5 Dishwasher products exclusively now as they beat the competition and cost a fraction of the price.

David
 
Nick

Yes I was refering to Simply Active by Aquados. I first started using it because its not tested on amimals. Some person trust some leaflets on me when I was walking along Princes St ( Edinburgh) with pics of monkey and rabbits Blah Blah.....you know the rest.

Anyhow.......I did fall "off the wagon" and try Ariel Exel.

BUT, I missed the smell, softness and easy rinsing of Aquados. Got terrible sudslock in my Miele with Ariel Exel. Ok Simply Active is more expensive per wash, but I don't have kids and am very fortunate that my buget allows me to buy it ( my hubby now lives on cat food...he doesn't know, but his clothes look fab!). It doesn't bobble clothing......AND it claims to sanitise at low temps.!!!

By the way I should be on commission for these guys but Iam not. LOL.
 
Mr Boilwash, thanks for the info. I checked out `Dalli's website and couldn't find any clues as to whether or not they make LIDL stuff. If they do, they are certainly copying the style of Henkel! I'd put money on it being Henkel.

Jon, the LIDL tablets are dispensed via the drawer. Did you ever use JS Perform and protect tabs? Same. Only withour the giveaway Henkel box - remember the box with the cut off corners? That's what gave it away, at the time, as being Henkel. And not forgetting those wonderful huge boxes of megaperls for very few bucks. One of the best detergent scents in the box ever IMO.

David, I do own a dishwasher and have been using Tesco value tabs for agees. They were voted number 1 best buy in the latest Which? Report but I was using them way before that ;-)They're fine too - like you say, it works. Struggles with mashed potatoe and remains of fried eggs. but I can't remember now if Finish sorts that, and am in no way tempted to try! I only ever bought Finish on offer anyway, but the main thing is I can't stand the sudslocking. In terms of Tesco valuem thought 30 for £1.70 odd was great, but the LIDL ones appear to be 40 for the same price IIRC so once again I shall follow your advice.

And did you know that the W5 concentrated washing up liquid came second in Which tests? Only beaten by Fairy.

Thanks to everyone for their wonderful input to this thread

Nick
 
W5 Dishwasher Tablets

Hi Nick,
I Look forward to your report on the W5 Dishwasher Tablets, I also feel confident that your Potato and Fried Egg issues will be resolved.
Yes indeed the W5 Concentrated Washing Up Liquid is excellent almost as good as Fairy, I think I mentioned that to Jon in another thread. Talking of Fairy Liquid, Green Fairy has had the same scent since I was a child as does Fairy Household Soap.

I'm enjoying this thread too.

David
 
Simply Active soft tabs

Slightly late in the day here but I have been using the Simply Active tablets for a little while now and thought I’d drop my thoughts into the mix...

Plus points:

1) Smell great (to me anyway – classic washing powder smell)

2) Fairly cheap to use – around 20p per wash if using two. Much cheaper than Ecover if, like me, you want to lean towards the environmentally friendly choice (though the ingredients are still essentially petrochemical – just less of them)

3) Seem to clean well – the bio version contains lipase for grease which I haven’t seen in quite a while. I don’t tend to deal with bad stains or heavy soiling so my opinion doesn’t hold much sway here – but the whites do look good.

4) Not really sudsy (though I do like for sudsy water for viewing pleasure so a it’s a mixed blessing)

5) Rinse out well (contrast to my housemate’s Daz tablets which are still foaming like billyo despite being flushed through with about 120 litres of water by the end of the cycle)

Negatives:

1) Take quite a long time to dissolve despite the marketing claims – this is a problem especially on cold fill (and it’s not for the lack of water since my machine is old-style 18 litre fill; it does also mean that there’s not much detergent in the water when it goes into static heating which can’t be good for the heating element). Not sure how well the tablets would fair in some of the new machines if they fell into the door seal early in the wash cycle and water level never reached that far.

2) The polypropylene tub is non-recyclable in my area (indeed the case for anyone whose local authority take only code 1 and 2 plastics). You can, however, buy in bulk online and then they come in cardboard boxes.

My tub came from Sainsbury’s and the label said they were £2.99 (tub of 30 soft tabs) though the receipt showed £1.49 so maybe that’s the best place to get them!

They might not exactly be in the budget range but worth a go if one is looking for something outside of the mainstream to try.

Al
 

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