Two Concentrated Tide Detergents Top Laundry Detergent Ratings

CR May '08 Cover2 YONKERS, NY — Two Tide Ultra Concentrated detergents —Tide 2X Ultra Concentrated with Color Clean Bleach Alternative HE at 25 cents per load (liquid, for front-loading washers) and Tide 2X Ultra Concentrated with a Touch of Downy at 27 cents per load (liquid, for top-loading washers) topped CR’s latest ratings of 34 laundry detergents.

The detergent ratings report appears in Consumer Reports’ May issue on newsstands April 8.

CR also recommends three detergents as good choices with lower cost: Cheer 2X Ultra Concentrated Color Guard for High Efficiency HE, liquid, 17 cents for front loaders; Tide 2X Ultra Concentrated for Coldwater, liquid, 19 cents per load, for top-loaders; and Gain 2X Ultra Concentrated with Bleach Alternative, liquid, 19 cents, for top-loaders.

“Consumers should pick a detergent that’s best for the type of washer they have and that fits in their budget,” said Lesley Ware, editor-at-large, Consumer Reports.

Some products did especially well on certain stains. All 34 detergents in the ratings did well overall and all were OK in preventing redepositing washed-off soil, but all caused some dye transfer.

Many of the detergents CR tested were “2X” or “3X”—two- and three-time concentrates—reduced to a half or a third of their former volume, yet do the same number of wash loads per package, usually twenty to thirty. Detergent makers moved to concentrated formulas for economic and environmental reasons. The changes required finding new affordable ingredients for the concentrated formulas.

To measure each detergent’s performance, CR used 306 8x16-inch cotton flags, each with eight swatches. One swatch on each flag was left unstained; the others had blood, red wine, ring-around-the-collar stuff, dirt, chocolate, grass, and tea. Then CR’s testers machine-washed 3 flags in hard water with each detergent in three 6-pound loads. Using a special instrument, the testers then checked how well each detergent cleaned each stain, how well it kept washed-off soil from redepositing on white swatches, and how well it kept dyes from coloring white swatches.

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