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Does anyone know which powder detergents get the best score in 'Which?' lately?

Lidl's 'Formil' did have the Which? Best Buy a couple of years ago, but seems to have lost it lately. I'm not entirely sure if other manufacturers have upped their game, or whether Which? has shifted their testing goalposts.

Foam-fest: I tried in the past year, the Unilever Surf Liquid in the white bottle. A tiny amount created foam right up the door glass. Not a success, and neither was the fragrance.
 
Which

Lidl Formil is the winner this time, with it being named “the best washing powder on test” going on to say it was the “real stand out product” for stain removal capabilities and joint best at grease removal.

Ariel 2nd place, but Ariel was cited as best bio detergent for not fading colours, interestingly, Persil powder doesn’t appear in the ratings at all (Liquid does).

In terms of others upping their game, no, would say the opposite (or that Which’s scoring changes with the weather). As a couple of best buys last time, whilst still cited as good, are not actually best buys this time around. Namely Tesco bio powder and Sainsbury’s Bio gel.

Also a side question if anyone knows, why have I NEVER seen an Asda detergent product on test (not that I shop there) but just strikes me as a odd that they don’t test from the UKs 3rd biggest supermarket.

Best buys from last test - Jul 2018, there are only 4

Lidl “Formil” Bio Powder - 77%
Ariel Bio Powder - 73%
Sainsbury’s Bio Powder - 72%
Persil Bio Liquid - 71%

Don’t buys (there were no don’t buys from the Jul testing, so these are from the last tests before [either Mar 2017 or Jan 2018])

Waitrose Eco NonBio liquid - 36%
Persil non bio capsules - 39%
Tesco Bio liquid - 42%
Waitrose NonBio capsules - 43% (interestingly, these are cited as being really bad at fading colours)
Sainsbury’s non bio liquid - 44%

Always makes me chuckle that Waitrose products ALWAYS do so badly compared to the others.
 
European versions of Ariel are genuinely, and consistently excellent.
If you want to really shift stains, I find Ariel Bio powder is the best on the market. They played around with the scent for a few years which was not a very good idea..

Persil keeps reformulating things and tweaking things. I find a lot of their liquids only OK and their liquid tablets are far too scented for me.

In terms of performance, I can't fault Miele Ultraphase either. It genuinely seems to work well. Just don't combine it with Comfort Pure.
 
Does the scent from the powder

Last after the rinses ?

Having been a Persil non bio fan for years because it had more bleach content thus was ideal for whites of which I wash a lot of. I was informed that they have messed with the formula again and put less bleach and its now the same as the bio version so as it was on offer I bought a box of bio persil and add a scoop or 2 of Sodium Percobonate and yes its coming out nice and white but there is little to no scent when the machine finishes I tend to use a little Lenor in the wash I like the scent of the gold one.

Austin
 
"Formil... really has a ghastly scent!"

Lol, I have that in my stash! I actually think it has a reasonably subdued fragrance.

Thanks very much liamy1, for the run-down on products.

I had another laugh at the 'Tesco Bio Liquid' score; I've got it too, and I don't think it's a thoroughly terrible product. It's fine for less-soiled coloured washes. The fragrance in the bottle, is a bit 'woodland-glade-after-the-rain'. I quite like it.

I've mentioned this before, but I think some detergents seem to react with/to the rubber seals and hoses in the machine.

Ariel Liquid in my Panasonic washer, and the clothes have the weirdest sour smell - particularly if tumble dried. Line-dried laundry seems okay.

Powders generally leave the machine smelling fresh and clean, though Daz powder seems to have a lingering perfume that I'm not entirely fond of. I can smell it off the drum days later.
 
Hmm, I wonder who makes Waitrose's detergents?

I really don’t know, but I do know they ALWAYS do badly for Which (never made a bestbuy, and quite regularly appear on the dont buy).

Just find it funny considering they’re touted as the “better/upper” supermarket (even possessing all 3 Royal Warrants). But fear not, the Queen uses Persil :P

Doesn’t surprise me though as I am personally really not a Waitrose fan (been surprisingly disappointed with a lot of their products).

And for once, the North possess something far better - Booths supermarkets, which apparently make Waitrose look like a discount chain.
 
Formil is a great detergent, but it really has a ghastly sce

Yes it does! I have some in the stash (new as well, ie from the last week). I don’t care for the scent at all.
 
I know Dunnes, one of the largest retailers here in Ireland, seems to use Nopa Nordic as their own brand dishwasher tablets maker and they're pretty seriously good detergent.

I've yet to try their own brand laundry detergent due to mostly using Miele Ultraphase cartridges, but I will perhaps look into it. It's supposed to be quite good.

I wonder if some of the UK supermarkets may be using the same supplier?

A lot of them still seem to use McBride and I know Tesco uses Persan in Spain for some of their detergents but not all of them.
 
I wonder if some of the UK supermarkets may be using the sam

It’s seems strange with detergents, as the suppliers seems to differ depending on format.

Can only really speak for Sainsbury’s, but I know all their “Mid level” detergents - the ultra ultra concentrated powder (the one that comes in the auto dose plastic bottle), their liquids, gels and liquid capsules are made in Belgium (no idea by who).

But their normal washing powder range powder is made in the U.K. (As is their “Basics” laundry liquid) (so would assume made by McBride) and would assume this is due to shipping costs of the powders and their cheap cheap basic laundry liquid.
 
They usually just put them out to tender with specific specifications they're looking for and will play one supplier off the other.

Supermarkets, even the highest end ones, are high volume, low margin businesses and they really don't have much sentimentality about these things.

I know for example, some supermarkets even go as far as constantly rotating buyers to different sectors to avoid any lazy or cozy relationships building up, so they are always fresh, always aggressive and always seeking the best deals.
 
they really don't have much sentimentality about these t

That does make sense, considering how often Waitrose do so badly at their own detergent lines in Which tests.

If memory serves, besides the discounters, only Tesco or Sainsbury’s have ever “produced” a Which Best Buy product.
 
New in the laundry aisle

As we predicted, the business of Persil liquids reducing their pack sizes has commenced. I picked up a couple yesterday. OK, but what's perhaps of more interest is that the bio versions also have a new formula containing `Celluclean technology'. This may be cellulose I guess, if it didn't contain it already. The scents for both colour and bio variants are completely new too. The jury is still out - I'm putting them through their paces at the moment. Persil would have been very foolish to tamper too much with the winning `bio' formula in terms of cleaning, though at first sniff the new bio scent is an improvement in my opinion.

I haven't bought the non bio yet as it wasn't in stock yesterday. However this has also shrunk and had a slight redesign on the pack.

Tesco are also carrying new sized and slightly redesigned packs of Lenor now - most are labelled `Extra Free' - whatever that means in reality! Of most interest to me are the two professional sized (4 litre) packs of the two main variants. I think this is new to the shelves; I haven't seen the opaque bottles before.

Both these products are available to view on line on the Tesco website.

 
I bought Amazon’s own liquid detergent called “Presto! Universal” it’s been great so far, it’s got a six enzyme formula. There’s also pods/pacs, powders all with “universal” “colour” and of course since it’s uk “sensitive - non-bio”

 
Henkel's Persil

Has been flogging their "anti-grey" formula for some time now; so guess Unilever is playing catch up.

Indeed not all versions of TOL P&G detergents (Tide, Ariel, etc...) contain cellulase enzyme formulas. Whereas nearly all German Persil formulas (maybe some exceptions?) seem to do, even the new American version.
 
Cellulase

With P&G, this seems to get added and removed from formulas as and when the mood takes them (see https://www.info-pg.com).

I’d heard that cellulase is the most costly enzyme? If so, would dare say this has something to do with it.

Would like to smell the new Persil formulas, but as per above and it giving me the itches, I’m dubious (mind it could have been the scent that was causing it, so a new scent may solve the problem. We’ll see).

MrAlex, those Amazon “Presto” detergent bottles look suspiciously like the bottles that both Asda and Morrison’s own brand liquid detergents are packaged in, so wonder if same supplier (probably even more so considering Morrison’s supply grocery store items for both Amazon Pantry and Amazon Prime now). Got to admit though, I’m interested in the Sport version.
 
liamy1 - I've never tried Asda's or Morissons detergents, but on the back of the detergent it says "produced in the EU for Amazon Luxemburg"

I've attached the link to the "list of ingredients"

 
Thanks

MrAlex.

I can’t recall trying Asda detergent for what must be 10+years (I hardly ever go there), but have seen their liquids in these bottles.

About a year or so back I did try Morrison’s own (but not in this bottle, it was a bottle that resembled the small and mighty detergent bottles ) and it was surprisingly good in terms of overall wash, how the fabrics washed up, smelt and felt. But can’t attest to how it would do on heavy loads (I used their powder on towels and the colour liquid on darks). But as per, got bored and moved on (don’t even think I finsished both packs to the end).
 

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