ICYMI: Heavy Metals in Baby Formula, New Materials in Our Sheets Ratings, Best Tire Retailers

After discovering heavy metals in some powdered formulas, many readers requested that we examine liquid formulas and soy-milk- and goat-milk-based formulas, so we tested 49 additional formulas from popular brands like Bobbie, Earth’s Best, Enfamil, and Similac for contaminants.

Some of Our Findings

• We found arsenic at concerning levels in more than half of the formulas we tested.
• Three powdered formulas showed concerning levels of lead.
• All formulas had low levels of acrylamide, cadmium, and mercury.

Last week, we wrote about our latest sheet testing, which includes picks from popular brands such as Coyuchi, Lands’ End, and Brooklinen. This batch also ushers in silk and flannel sheets to our ratings.

“Although a majority of the sheet sets on the market are cotton, not all cotton sets are alike,” writes Tanya Christian, who leads sleep coverage at CR. “Our tests prove that.”

Myth Busting

• The thread count of cotton sheets doesn’t have an impact on softness, quality, or longevity. Our ratings show how all the sheets we test score on strength and softness.
• Manufacturer claims about pocket size (or how thick a mattress a sheet can fit) can’t always be trusted, especially with shrinkage over time. Check our ratings to see how well each sheet set fits and how much they shrink over washes.

We asked our members about their tire buying experiences, surveying them about installation quality, sales service, time, selection, and other factors. Over 24,500 members responded to our survey and told us about 30 retailers, as well as independent shops and car dealerships.

What Our Members Thought About Tire Retailers

• The main difference in customer satisfaction came from tire selection, installation speed, and free perks.
• Members generally found the buying experience at local, independent tire shops more satisfying than at larger retailers.

We perform over 50 tests for every car, SUV, and truck that comes into our Auto Test Center. One of those tests gauges how fuel-efficient each one is: We drive it on a public highway at a steady 65 miles per hour and on a simulated urban/suburban driving route at our track.

Our Takeaways

• Most cars are more efficient in highway settings—with some vehicles, you’ll be able to drive 30 more miles on the highway than in the city with the same amount of gas.
• Compact and midsized cars are generally more efficient than luxury cars and SUVs.

“To test how well detergents clean, we launder cloth swatches saturated with some of the toughest stains, including blood, body oil, chocolate, coffee, dirt, grass, and even salad dressing,” writes Keith Flamer, who covers laundry products at CR.

Aside from updating the best laundry detergents for removing stains, Keith also highlights the worst detergents, which are not much better than cleaning with water.

Fun fact: “Powder detergents didn’t perform as well overall as the top-rated liquids and pods, but they were excellent at removing blood stains,” says Rich Handel, who oversees CR’s detergent testing.

Another laundry article we updated last week: Laundry Products That Waste Loads of Money

Live TV streaming services, which allow you to replace traditional cable or satellite providers, keep rising in price. These hikes, from services like DirecTV, Fubo, and Hulu, might look trivial—typically ranging between $1 and $5 at a time—but they can add up to a significant amount over the years.

How to Pick a Service

• Input your ZIP code on the service’s website to see which local networks are available to you.
• Consider the monthly price after you choose add-ons and bundles to other streaming services.
• Make sure to keep track of trial end dates if you’re using a free trial period.

We’re constantly testing the latest products and retesting existing stock. 

• We added nine air purifiers to our ratings. Our best air purifiers roundup featured one newly tested Honeywell model.
• We tested eight new refrigerators from LG, Whirlpool, and more.
• We assessed 10 paper shredders, and retested four others. One of the new entries now sits at the top of our ratings.