New Detergent Ratings

[frigilux]

Given the recent reformulations of some top brands, the testing organization we love to hate has updated info.

A bit surprised the new Persil line—especially their flagship “Advanced Clean”—has taken a significant tumble.

For those who prefer to avoid plastic packaging: No ratings on Tide Evo Laundry Tiles, which have not received their full roll-out yet. Called Tide customer service and was told data from the enthusiastically received test marketing round was being evaluated and that the company is committed to a full launch at some point in the future. Similar tiles, also made by P&G, are available from EC30 online. They are in stock, but cost $1 per tile. The Tide tiles were about $.43 each if I recall correctly.

Scoring very dismally are the detergent sheets/strips currently on the market. It was noted that some of them cleaned only slightly better than water alone. This is why I hope P&G gets their vastly superior Tide Laundry Tiles on the market soon.

Tide Ultra Stain Release tops the chart with the same score it did last time, 84. Persil’s previous flagship liquid, ProClean + Stainfighter, tied that score.

For those of you who enjoy imports, I’ve had excellent results with these:
Persil Bio Powder (UK made by Unilever) available from British Essentials online
Persil Non-Bio Powder (UK made by Unilever) available from British Essentials online
TideMatic Powder (for front-loaders; India) available from NavaFresh.
ArielMatic Powder (India) available from Amazon
Tide Professional Powder (USA) available from Staples Office Supply online

This is only a partial list. Taking requests if you have a favorite not shown.
Perfect score would be 100. Here we go:

LIQUIDS
Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release 84
Tide Plus Ultra Oxi 83
Tide Hygienic Clean Heavy Duty 10X 80
Persil Activewear Clean 74
Tide Original 74
Tide Plus Bleach Alternative 72
Persil Advanced Clean Oxi 71
Persil Everyday Clean Original 68
Tide Zero 65
Tide Free & Gentle 62
All Oxi Stainlifter 61
Tide PurClean 54
Great Value (Walmart) Original Clean Ultimate Fresh 54
Tide Simply All In One 48
Ariel Ultra Concentrated 45
Era Active Stainfighter 43
Arm & Hammer 41
Gain Original 36

PODS/PACS
Tide Plus Hygienic Clean Heavy Duty 10X Power Pods 78
Tide Ultra Oxi With Odor Eliminators Power Pods 74
Tide Plus Hygienic Clean 10X Heavy Duty Power Pods Free/Nature 71
Tide Pods Ultra Oxi 4 in 1 70
Gain Flings 67
Persil Ultra Pacs Everyday Clean 59

SHEETS/STRIPS
Earth Breeze Liquidless Eco Sheets 29
Arm & Hammer Power Sheet 29
ECOS Liquidless Laundry Detergent Squares 22
Kind Laundry Detergent Sheets 19
Ecowise Clean Laundry Detergent Sheets 19
Beyond Laundry Detergent Strips 14
Tru Earth Eco Strips 11

[this post was last edited: 8/26/2024-15:17]

 

[petek]

Wonder why it would drop that many points... did the previous version have "oxi" in its name?

 

[frigilux]

Petek— Same name for the Member’s Mark pacs. They disappeared for the better part of two years at the onset of the pandemic and re-emerged as a pac with both liquid and powder. The previous iteration was powder only. Annoyance: The outer covering on the pacs is flimsy. Both my containers had a couple of leaking pacs.

 

[frigilux]

Deletion above: Posted something in the wrong thread.

Petek- Can’t remember the name of Persil’s previous top-ranked, flagship detergent. Persil ProClean + Stainfighter, maybe? I used it in the 2017 9-Series SQ toploader all the time with excellent results, but even the tiniest dose in the 2023 SQ 7009 front-loader triggers the machine’s suds removal protocol, especially when the load contains very absorbent fabrics, like bath towels. At any rate, I’m done with the US Persil line of liquids. Also have eliminated pods, which also tend to cause oversudsing, especially Tide’s large 10X Power Pacs.

I’m a powders man, now. LOL

 

[appnut]

Eugene, I'm trying to read through the above info you provided, but I don't see much mention about Tide's powders--Tide Original, Tide Ultra Oxi powder and Tide with Bleach alternative powder. Unless I missed something. Thnak you.

 

[frigilux]

Bob- The testing organization hasn’t included powdered detergents for years. Once pods/pacs took off, powdered detergents were shown the door.

 

[appnut]

Thank you Eugene. I"m still using Tide powders cuz they're less expensive and it's far easier for me to see and gague the amount in the measuring scoop as opposed liquids. Plus I still use my powder STPP.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I've got a box of that SA-8. A colleague and her husband were members of Scamway until they saw the light, but while they were in it, I wanted to help them and I wanted to try SA-8 so I bought the box. I have only used it a few times. It makes a lot of suds when used with STPP. What do you think of it?

 

[DADoES]

 
Mom used SA8 for a while years ago.  Lost interest in it, or the friend who sold Amway quit doing so.  It generated zero suds in the '62 Whirlpool.

 

[frigilux]

Tom- I bought SA8 to use on loads of bath towels. As Glenn mentioned, it generates little suds and is less likely to cause a lathery suds lock during the first spin. I pair it with Amway’s powdered All Fabric Bleach to help with stain removal and to keep my white bath linens white. The detergent is a middling performer. Amway’s liquid detergent features a cocktail of enzymes to help with stain removal and is the better performer of the two, but it creates more suds than its powdered sibling.

Honestly, I don’t think I’ll buy it again now that I’ve found UK Persil Bio and Non-Bio powders. Both clean like champs and rarely trigger my Speed Queen’s suds removal protocol.

 

[jakeseacrest]

I just switched from Persil to Tide Ultra Oxi after many years. My towels didn't seem as "fresh" to me anymore. I thought that maybe my water composition had changed or something like that. Interesting

 

[launderess]

CR likely didn't test powder laundry detergent because market largely is dominated by liquid formats nowadays.

Unlike say Europe where one can still find powdered detergents of all sorts, including "big box" types, on this side of Atlantic they aren't easily found.

Most shops or supermarkets in our neck of the woods long have devoted nearly if not all detergent shelf space to liquid format. Finding the odd box of Tide powder in any format is quite rare.

Yes, Amazon, Costco, Target and some other places may carry powders, but again they're largely out numbered by liquid format.

For CR or anyone else to test powder laundry detergent they would need more than just the one. Aside from P&G (Tide, Gain, Cheer) who else is there? Kirkand's offering isn't in same league as Tide. When you get down to it neither is Gain nor Cheer as they are very specific (former scent latter for colours).

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Powders & Persil

Not sure testing powders would do them any justice, though. Since they are tested in cold/cool water at 75°F, most powders would not perform nearly as well as liquids at that given temp. If they were tested in warm or hot, that’s were the power comes out.
Side note, I was shocked to see the decline in Persils performance. Though, considering it does not smell as good as it formerly did, I am finding alternatives. No performance issues with older versions of Persil just prior to reformulation.

 

[littlegreeny]

Thanks Eugene!

I can only use unscented products and was wondering if there were any other unscented detergents tested?

 

[frigilux]

Hi David- Here are the other detergents labeled Free/Clear from the ratings. The Kirkland Signature (Costco) liquid is also available on Amazon if you don’t have a Costco membership.

LIQUIDS
Kirkland Signature (Costco) Ultra Clean Free & Clear 69
All Free + Clear Stainlifter With Odor Relief 65
Tide Plus Downy Free 61
Dreft Free & Gentle 59
Up & Up (Target) Free + Clear 56
Seventh Generation Clean With Purpose Free & Clear 48
Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Free of Perfumes & Dyes 40

PACS
Seventh Generation Free & Clear Packs Sensitive Skin 55
All Mighty Pacs Oxi Free & Clear 53

SHEETS/STRIPS
Kind Laundry Detergent Sheets Fragrance Free 19
[this post was last edited: 8/27/2024-15:14]

 

[frigilux]

Launderess- Leave it to me to get back into powders when they’ve been pretty much kicked to the curb in the US. Having lots of fun with detergents imported from the UK & India, though. TideMatic and ArielMatic (India) have become favorites. Their scent is very different compared to US/UK detergents. If I had to choose only one US powdered detergent it would be Tide Professional. However, one enjoys the international smorgasbord.

Will be very interested to see if Tide Evo Laundry Tiles take off. I’m keen to learn how the public takes to them. Old P&G may revolutionize detergents once again. No plastic packaging, ultra lightweight for shipping. I found they clean very well, especially in cool, near room temp water (75-85 degrees F). Of course, like pacs/pods, there’s the dosing issue. For both Tide Evo and EC30 tiles, one tile is recommended for small to medium loads; two tiles for large & extra large loads. I have softened water so used only one tile even for max capacity loads to great results.

 

[frigilux]

lakewebsterkid— I’m getting excellent results with a wide variety of enzyme-laden powders in cool water. In fact, results improved when I switched from warm (about 105 degrees F in my washer) to cool (around 85 degrees F). I generally use the Normal cycle at the max soil level, which provides a 50-minute wash tumble in a super-concentrated solution as the water level is lower than other cycles on my 2023 SQ 7009 front-loader. It has taken awhile to wrap my head around using cooler temps, but can’t argue with the results.

Tide’s website now touts their latest formulations as featuring “Coldzymes.” I do have a jug of liquid Tide Ultra Stain Release. Haven’t used that since switching to a cool wash temp coupled with the Normal cycle. Will have to dig it out from the back of the cabinet and put it through its paces.

Having said all that, when I do want a good, old-fashioned 140 degree F wash temp, I use a non-bio/non-enzyme detergent like Persil Non-Bio (UK) or Amway SA8 powder + their all fabric bleach.

 

[appnut]

I did a term/word search on Tide.com for coldzymes and came up with nothing.

 

[appnut]

Eugene, in your educated usage experience and I did wash with water temps of 86-90F at besst, what powdered detergents would you suggest best to use. I'm at the bottom of my box of regular Tide and almost the same level of usages with Tide plus bleach.

I have access to powdered Tide Regular and Tide Ultra Oxi from grocery store and walmart and acess to Tide Professional via Amazon. And am open to suggestion for liquid variances too. I can even get up to 1.5 hours wash portion on heaviest soil on a couple of variances of Normal cycle too. I alway use STPP in each load as I have hard water.

If this experiment resulted in me being very satisfied and no longer would need the onboard heater, then I would probably spring for an SQ FL next time I need a new washer.

 

[frigilux]

Bob- I have a box of Tide Ultra Oxi powder, but haven’t purposefully tested it yet. In fact, I should do my stained flour sack test for all the detergents in cool water to see if the results are truly any better than in warm. It seems like stained kitchen towels come out cleaner in cool water with a number of the detergents I rotate through. I’ve used Tide Professional powder quite a number of times and get great results. Haven’t tried any of the other powdered Tide variants. The only downside I can think of with Tide Pro is that it comes in one size: 155 loads. I’m a laundry junkie and wash a load almost every day, so I burn through a detergent stash fairly quickly. If you buy a box of it on my recommendation and hate it, you’ve got a LOT of detergent on your hands.

As far as liquids go, my recommendation would definitely be Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release.

Your laundry habits are quite different than mine and I have very soft water. Most of the loads I wash only fill the tub about 2/3 full—sometimes only half. Loads of bath linens are always maximum capacity. I generally wash that load using the Whites or Sanitize With Oxi cycle in hot water. Same with sheets. Whites has a maximum wash tumble time of 30 minutes, which is fine. If I feel like the load needs more contact time with the detergent solution, I’ll use the Sanitize With Oxi cycle on light soil, which is a 50 minute wash tumble. The maximum wash time on that cycle is 80 minutes, which I only used once just to check it out. What I like about the Oxi cycle is that all the spins are a few minutes longer than the Whites cycle and the two rinse tumbles are a few minutes longer, as well. Towels emerge from that cycle noticeably drier compared to the Whites or Heavy Duty cycles.

I’ve mentioned that my favorites are UK Persil Bio & Non-Bio, TideMatic (for front-loaders) and ArielMatic (for front-loaders) from India, but they cost an arm and a leg. I lead a simple life, so detergents—of all things—are my splurge. The party selling ArielMatic on Amazon is down to only eight 1 kg bags and the price is a stunning $29 per bag or about 84 cents per ounce. Ordering TideMatic or ArielMatic from NavaFresh, which specializes in imports from India, is crazy expensive, as well.

I’d encourage you to try one of the Tide variants you have on hand in cool water and see what the results are. It may be something you try once and say ‘Never again!’ or you may find it works well for certain loads. You tend to wash maximum capacity loads, so might want to use a cycle other than Normal, which will probably be very stingy with water. The quirk with the SQ is that on the Normal cycle it fills to a certain level and that’s it. It won’t add another drop. I find a load of bath linens soaks up all the water, which proceeds to tumble for 50 minutes with the load being wet, but not fully saturated with water. It refuses to add any more water, unlike on the other cycles, which will add more if a particularly absorbent load soaks up the initial fill.

I found a reference to Coldzymes at the Tide website in the pacs/pods area. Thought there was a splashier example of it somewhere on the site, but don’t have time to search right now. Check the last sentence in the blurb shown below.