New Detergent Ratings

[frigilux]

The testing organization you love to hate has revamped its testing protocol for the better, listing a separate score in each of nine areas, seven being common soils/stains, the other two being how well it works as a pretreater when rubbed into fabric and allowed to sit for 5 minutes before washing, and finally, how well it works in very hard water (300 ppm).

 

Coffee seems to be the weak spot for all 40 brands/variations in the ratings.  No pods or powders tested this time.

The top five scorers:

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release</span>

Overall Score: 84

Cost/Load: 28 cents
Body Oil: Excellent

Dirt: Excellent

Salad Dressing: Excellent

Coffee: Good

Chocolate Ice Cream: Excellent

Grass:  Very Good

Blood: Very Good

Pretreat:  Excellent

Hard Water: Very Good

 

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Persil Plus Stain Fighter</span>

All scores the same as Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release (except as noted)

Cost/Load: 21 cents

Hard Water: Good

 

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tide Ultra Oxi</span>

Overall Score: 83

Cost/Load: 27 cents

Body Oil: Excellent

Dirt: Very Good

Salad Dressing: Excellent

Coffee: Good

Chocolate Ice Cream: Excellent

Grass: Very Good

Blood: Good

Pretreat: Excellent

Hard Water: Very Good

 

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tide Heavy Duty 10X</span>

Overall Score: 80

Cost/Load: 44 cents

Body Oil: Excellent

Dirt: Very Good

Salad Dressing: Excellent

Coffee:  Good

Chocolate Ice Cream: Excellent

Grass:  Very Good

Blood:  Very Good

Pretreat: Excellent

Hard Water:  Very Good

 

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Persil ProClean Original</span>

Overall Score: 78

Cost/Load: 19 cents

Body Oil: Excellent

Dirt: Very Good

Salad Dressing: Excellent

Coffee:  Good

Chocolate Ice Cream: Excellent

Grass: Good

Blood:  Good

Pretreat: Very Good

Hard Water: Good

 

Kirkland Signature (Costco)

Overall Score: 76

Cost/Load: 11 cents

Body Oil: Excellent

Dirt: Very Good

Salad Dressing: Excellent

Coffee:  Good

Chocolate Ice Cream: Very Good

Grass: Good

Blood: Fair

Pretreat: Very Good

Hard Water: Very Good

 

 

 

 

[gansky1]

44 cents per load? To rich for my blood.

I'll keep using the Costco Kirkland Signature, liquid and pods. Haven't been disappointed in it's performance, but I do get weary of the scent after a while. That tanker-truck bottle is way more than my Detergent Attention Span can bear.

 

[launderess]

You'll never remove coffee/tannin stains by detergent al

Marks like that want bleaching; oxygen, chlorine... something of that nature is needed.

Surfactants, enzymes and so on will get you but so far, but traces will likely still remain.

CR likely didn't bother testing powdered laundry detergent because aside from Tide there are few if any around. And even finding Tide with Bleach or whatever current incarnation happens to be often is difficult.

 

[mrboilwash]

I`ve had really bad red wine and even blueberry stains completely come out from dish towels with liquid Persil and store brand liquids. So whatever enzymes they use to make up for the lack of bleaching agents seems to work very well these days, but have to say this was on real profile washes at 95 °C which seems to help of course.
Still surprised coffee stains didn`t get better ratings.

What I don`t get is why they don`t rate important things like redepositing, color care, fabric care and so on. Even the best rating in stain removal is useless if most of the dirt redeposits back on the fabric during the rinse cycle. A lot of detergents (e.g Ariel Pods) apparently do this, but it takes hundreds of more washings with real life soils (vs test stripes only) to find out.
And don`t get me started on CR`s take on dishwasher detergents without testing long term damage to dishes.
But thank you for posting! It is always interesting to see the results even if their testing methods can be considered somewhat disputable.

 

[frigilux]

P&G Confusion Continues: According to Tide’s website, most versions of liquid Tide are now formulated for use in both HE and standard machines.  The exceptions—Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release and Tide Coldwater, for instance—are available in two formulas; one for HE washers and one for standard.  The formula for HE machines has the HE TurboClean icon just under the spout on the container.  See photos below for both versions.

 

HOWEVER...the website says Tide Heavy Duty 10X is formulated for both types of washers and the jug shown has no TurboClean icon.  The jug I bought around six weeks ago DOES have the TurboClean icon on it.  In other words, Tide has not yet standardized their badging, apparently.

 

Gansky— Tide Heavy Duty 10X does have a very steep price! I didn’t realize until I got home from the store that my jug of Ultra Stain Release was 92 fluid ounces, whereas Heavy Duty 10X was only 69 fluid ounces. Both types were being sold at the same price at the HyVee grocery store I frequent.

 

At any rate, not planning to use the Heavy Duty 10X until current jug of Ultra Stain Release is used up.  Given Heavy Duty’s test results, I’ll probably continue using Ultra Stain Release and Persil Plus Stain Fighter as the daily drivers.

 

Photo #1: Ultra Stain Release for use in HE machines only.

Photo #2: Ultra Stain Release for use in standard machines only. Note lack of TurboClean icon.

 

[logixx]

FWIW

Persil has a new "+ Oxi Power" formula that comes both in liquid and pods. The bottled liquid has six enzymes, the (probably more expensive) Discs only have four.

 

[DADoES]

 
Note that the Persil is referenced as "+ Oxi Power."  I recall running across mention somewhere that liquid detergents don't have a true oxygen bleach ingredient due to chemical incompatibilities but rather have something that functions similarly.  Is that true?

 

[nmassman44]

Well just wait until you start using that Tide Heavy Duty 10X...the aroma is gagging unless on likes the scent of Comet. I bought the PowerPods that sported the Tide Heavy Duty 10X logo, they did quite well cleaning and fit nicely in the Electrolux dispenser for Pods. BUT after they emerged from the dryer, I didn't think anything of the scent until a day later when it started to reek. And as the week went on, the stuff I had washed like towels, jeans, shirts all were smelling like Comet...there is no other way to describe it.
I did try the Tide Coldwater Pods in the Fresh scent and they do have a scent that reminds me of Tide powder of long ago, like the Clothesline scent that they had. I do like the scent and its a clean scent on top of that.
The Persil Discs have way too much whiff to them to my snout. They do well but that is about it. I did contact Henkel and asked them if they plan in toning down the scent since I dont like a scent to arrive before I do, if you know what I mean....

 

[logixx]

Yes, the Persil liquid and Disks don't have bleach in them. Optical brightener for sure - but no oxygen bleach. The only liquid I know of to have oxy bleach is a dishwasher gel by Unilever that is sold in parts of Europe. Its oxygen bleach is encapsulated, thus protected from the rest of the ingredients.

https://smartlabel.henkel-northamerica.com/00024200044879/p/smartlabel

Digital Interaction

smartlabel.henkel-northamerica.com

 

[iheartmaytag]

Mike

I am glad you mentioned the stench with Tide 10X. It is awful. The smell lingers in the washer, on the clothes, it is strong, and very unpleasant. The detergent worked ok, but the smell is a killer for me using it.

 

[launderess]

"Oxi" is not a regulated name or term; as such manufactures are free to use that word anyway they wish. Clearly they are doing so in hopes consumers will make the connection between oxygen bleaching substances (such as Oxi-Clean powder), but that in no way means a product must have said chemicals.

Most laundry products with "oxi" action are loaded with enzymes and or heavy doses of optical brightening agents. These along with other properties such as high levels of surfactants, anti-redepositing properties and so forth are supposed to give the same results as if one used oxygen bleach. Don't know about that....

It all comes down to something one has mentioned many times previously; move away from powder detergents with oxygen bleaching systems to liquids/gels (that don't have) means something more is often needed.

Thus every detergent manufacturer also flogs an vast and bewildering array of boosters and other wash day extras. These are really just the chemicals (oxygen bleach, washing soda, bleach activator, etc..) that were in powders, but cannot be in liquids. This and or liquid detergents loaded with advanced chemical cocktails that are supposed to give same good wash as with powdered detergent with bleach.

Want to have your eyes opened just look at the often huge list of chemicals found in liquid detergents. You can have a pretty decent performing powder detergent with about ten or less ingredients; liquids are often twenty or more including large amounts of preservatives.

 

[mtn1584]

Persil 2in1 Odor Remover

Anyone try the Persil 2in1 liquid with Odor Remover? I left Tide for Persil. I love the smell and Tide does NOT get out laundry odors in my experience.
Mike

 

[launderess]

Since we're on the subject

Persil is on sale again this week at Rite Aid stores; $4.99 jug. IIRC there may have been a discount coupon in some papers last Sunday as well.

Still have a few bottles from last offer so didn't bother.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

CR Ratings

I do agree that they need to take rinsing into consideration. If they have the ability to determine hard water conditions and various stain removal, they can easily include that as well. As mentioned above, rinsing is vital and a good detergent does not perform well if all of the soils are being deposited through out the load.

 

[combo52]

Rinsing Of Clothing

Is a function of the washing machine and has about nothing to do with what detergent you are using.

 

And keep in mind that you generally do not want to rinse all detergent out of clothing, detergent surfactants protect the washer and clothing, they make clothing softer, last longer and when it gets soiled again it cleans more easily.

 

John L.

 

[helicaldrive]

Persil OR liquid

Is very effective with odors, but very high foaming in my FL. Its scent is different from the wonderful Original scent, and I don’t like it. After one oversuds too many, I finally gave my bottle to someone at work who was complaining about difficult stinky laundry and she loves it. The German megaperls (Color and Universal formulas) are even more effective with odors and do not oversuds. JMO, others may disagree.

 

[helicaldrive]

Clarification

Persil Original and Persil 2 in 1 do not oversuds in my FL, and I use them all the time. Only the OR causes oversudsing problems.

I quit buying stain products long ago. I just pour Persil 2 in 1 on the stain, do not rub, set garment aside for 20-30 minutes, then throw in the washer. Stain gone. Even red wine, completely gone first try. It has never failed me. Specialized stain products have never worked as well as Persil 2 in 1.

 

[mrboilwash]

I`m not sure that there even is such a thing like rinseability of a detergent as rinsing is just dilution and therefor the job of the washer not the detergent.

When others talk about "rinseability" I always wonder how they`d define good rinsing as most of the typical indicators don`t always tell the whole story.

-Clear water for example could happen in hard water when washing with pure soap after very little rinsing. The water looks clear but the soap is still there.
Rinse water also looks sooner clear when washing with liquids compared to powders which may contain insoluble stuff like zeolites.

-The absence of suds after very little rinsing could also mean you used a low sudsing detergent to begin with or your washload contained a lot of greasy soils.

-Residual alkalinity. This is what is usually measured when consumer organisations rate rinsing of washing machines, but even there are variables that can alter the results.
For example most liquid detergents are not very alkaline so this test is better used with powders only. Then comes the fact that some higher sudsing detergents could trigger an extra rinse if the washer detects a suds lock. So I would guess it has to be low sudsing powders only to give comparable results.

In my opinion the only thing that matters is how much of detergent residue a washing machine leaves on clothings after the rinsing. This is usually something between 1-2 % in an average household washing machine and AFAIK is considered a save level for the skin.

My point in the previous post was that it is hard to believe that CR does not test redepositing because every laundry detergent has so to say a primary and a secondary washing action and both are equally important to tell if a detergent is good or bad.
Primary is about visible stains as found on those test stripes they use.
Secondary means those stains and body soils from wearing will not redeposit back on the washload resulting in a grey and smelly build up after repeated washings.
Some of the redepositing happens in the wash cycle but most of it occurs in the rinse cycle when surfactants and other chemicals may be too diluted to keep remaining soils suspended. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[DADoES]

 
I recall reading somewhere that surfactants in some detergents are formulated with an affinity to remain in the fabric so that effect would be a factor of the detergent.