Tide Pods

[dustin92]

I decided to try a bag of the pods today, I needed detergent but still have enough left in case things went south and either didnt come clean, or smelled hideous, and needed to be rewashed. I was using Tide Free and gentle. I am not entirely sure of my outcome yet, I have been allergic to a couple variations of Tide in the past, so I should know "The rest of the story" tomorrow. I bought the smallest bag of the "Mystic Forest" scent and to be completely honest, they smelled rather hideous in the bag. I threw caution to the wind and started a load (Heavy fabrics) with only my laundry, I dont end up with full loads of anything, and the only whites I have are underwear and a few pairs of socks, so if I have multiple loads, they are sorted by weight instead of color. I started the washer on warm and waited for it to fill, thrn added a pod. It seemed to take a while to melt/ dissolve, even in very warm water with agitation, and when it did dissolve, it was in stages. The white part disappeared, then after a few turnovers I lost track of the orange and blue bits. Anyway, it smelled MUCH better when dissolved, a fairly light "soapy" type smell. Not overpowering or flowery nasty at all. By the end of the wash, it had worked up very little suds, but even a double dose of liquid tide doesnt create much suds in our water, which is rock hard and full of chlorine. I did use a half scoop of generic oxi clean, which goes in every load. After the load had rinsed and spun, there was very little scent left, which was somewhat disappointing, because it was a pleasant smell. I dried them with a bounce sheet and could hardly detect any scent. I cant say much about stain removal because there were none to remove. The next load is ligh fabrics, which was only a medium load in the Speed Queen, and just finished, but I will post a pic of it about halfway through the wash. Again, suds are almost non existant. Has anybody else tried them and what were your results? Which scent did you use and was it good or bad? I have used the purex versin and was unimpressed, and the arm and hammer version and didnt care for them either.

 

[dustin92]

Next load is a bit sudsier, sheets in very warm water, medium water level. They were not overly soiled, they have been on the bed 5 days. This is what I would consider a normal suds level for Tide.

 

[supersuds]

 I still don't understand how one pod can be the correct dose for a toploader as well as a HE machine that uses so much less water. Still, people seem to love them so maybe Procter figured it out.

 

[mysteryclock]

I tried about 2 1/2 containers of them. They were extremely convenient and worked really well on most stains and better than almost anything on greasy, oil-on-cotton stains. That being said, after the 2 1/2 containers I started to break out / itch out really bad, as did my boys. So that remaining 1/2 container has been relegated to cleaning placemats and other non-wearable items like that. I think part of the problem may be their "leave in" anti-stain technology which is supposed to make clothes more resistant to stains in the future but coats the fibers in something that didn't agree with me.

 

[jerrod6]

Mystic forest was the scent I tried but in my front loader.  So these are for He and regular fill machines as well? The scent was awful in the package and the clothes smelled awful when they were dried.   During the second load a pod got hurled into the door boot and would not move back into the tub.  I eventually opened the door and slid it back in.   I threw the entire package into the trash.  Yes they cleaned but that strong sent plus everything felt rough.  Pods not for me.

 

[launderess]

Dosage For HE Front Loaders & Top Loaders?

Canisters of Tide's oxygen bleach "Stain Release" also give the exact dosage for front and top loaders, one measuring cap. Needless to say one disregards that and uses about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon in the Miele.

If Tide Pods are anything like the "Bulles" or packets of liquid detergent one has from France,then yes sudsing varies very much upon dosage to soil level of the wash load.

This makes sense if one thinks about the types of surfactants used in liquid/gel detergents. As with hand dishwashing the more oil/grease there is in the load in general one has to use more product and or the suds are consumed in dealing with muck. If the ratio of oil/soils to surfactants favours the latter the excess has nothing else to do but froth up.

 

[electron1100]

Washing pods

when these were introduced some years ago in the UK, most modern front loading low water level washing machines would just drop them in the door boot eventually. the manufacturers recommended you put them in the drum first at the back but within a few minutes they would be in the door boot, annoying bloody things.
Went back to powder, i think manufacturers have for years here tried to lure powder users away with various pods,bags,capsules etc, at the end of the day the i prefer to choose how much i use in my machine rather than a fixed amount by some one else

 

[dustin92]

I kind of like the fixed dosing, I tend to O/D on detergent so maybe these will help with that. I havent had any allergic reactions, so that is a good sign. To me, these seem a lot like dishwasher detergent pacs, and I regularly use those, (in the dishwasher of course!) so maybe these will stick. (probably not because I tend to bounce around between brands, liquid, powder, and scent)

 

[Iowegian]

I guess I would agree with those that question how a one-size-fits-all pod would be best.

But I was kind of amused when the pod came "recently" to laundry. I don't think it's really a new idea.

Years ago, early 1960s, there was a laundry product called the Salvo tablet.

I think it was really nothing more than early 1960s Tide or Cheer powder, compressed into a cookie. Smaller than a hockey puck but much larger than the Tide pods sold today.

Anyway, our family dog found one of the Salvo tablets attractive enough to consume back in the day.

My mom, who still has never got a traffic ticket, got our dog to the local vet in record time. Everything that mom didn't like about our 1962 Pontiac Catalina, including the cold blooded 421 V-8 (...it was cold-blooded because only the middle of the 3 carburetors had a choke knob...), and the column-shift all helped to get our pooch to the vet in time.

That dog was a real sweetheart, but she ate my box of 64 Crayolas, wads of aluminum foil and about anything else that wasn't bolted down...

 

[bosch2460]

My 2 cents.....

I tried these for a period of a few weeks on every wash load I did. Overall, I was not really impressed. First of all, they are expensive as all hell. They cost 4 times what I pay per load for a box of Tide with Bleach. Stain removal was only marginal, I find the scents annoying, too much detergent for half loads...and certainly NOT enough detergent for large, heavily soiled loads. I have mechanically softened water, and I wash the majority of my clothes in hot water, warm other times. I used it in both a top loader (Maytag), and a front loader (Miele). The pods seemed to do better in the FL, but I assume that would be due to detergent concentration levels in the wash water. They almost always got stuck in the door/seal area. Really annoying. I had rinsing issues in either machine, with smaller loads. IMHO, these are nothing but liquid Tide, shoved in a Pod, and made to look pretty.

 

[kimball455]

I have tried serveral of the 'pod' type detergents including TIDE. Not all that impressed and they are expensive.
Harry

 

[dustin92]

I washed a load today with a set of cotton sheets for the one of the guest room beds, and a light cotton blanket, and watched for a few minutes, but happened to be in the laundry room when it went into the first spin and sudslocked. I stopped it as the spray rinse started, allowing it to fill slightly, had to do this twice to make it spin at full speed.

 

[frigilux]

I tried a couple of packages of Pods, but probably won't buy more of them. The first package had a super-strong floral-type scent which I didn't like. Then I tried something with "Ocean" in the scent description and found the scent to be acceptable. Generally too much suds in my soft water. They're so easy to use! Were Pods stellar cleaners I'd probably switch on the convenience factor alone. I tossed mine in the back of the drum and only on a couple of occasions did the Pod wind up in the boot.

Tide with Bleach (now called Vivid) HE does a better job with stains and I can control the dose to match load size and soil level. And it's cheaper.