Companies spend more than $300 million dollars a year advertising laundry detergents. Tide is even employing the star power of a TV celebrity these days. But how do you know which cleans the best? Consumer Reports just tested more than three dozen to help you decide.
Consumer Reports wanted to see if Tide Total Care delivered on its promise. Testers washed three brand new cotton dresses 30 times. One was washed in Tide Total Care, another in All Small & Mighty, and another in Two Times Ultra Tide for Coldwater.
Pat Slaven then compared the new dress to the washed ones.
“As you can see, the dress washed with All faded compared to the dress washed with Tide Total Care.”
The dress washed in Two Times Ultra Tide for Coldwater looks about the same as the Tide Total Care dress. But that detergent costs about half as much. And the cheaper Two Times Ultra Tide for Coldwater did a better job getting out stains in Consumer Reports’ stain-removal tests.
In all, more than 40 detergents were evaluated. Testers washed more than 1500 cotton squares stained with hard-to-clean substances like red wine, grass, blood and chocolate.
In the end, Consumer Reports named two Best Buys that will tear through tough stains and save you some money, too. For conventional top-loading washers, Consumer Reports says try 2-Times Ultra Tide for Coldwater.
For high-efficiency front-loaders, Consumer Reports recommends Ultra Cheer Colorguard 2-Times concentrated.
To save more money, wash your laundry in cold water instead of warm. Consumer Reports says with a conventional top-loader, that can reduce your energy costs by 60 dollars a year.
