Tide at Wal Mart

10 years ago

Today I was in WM and went over to the paper products.zip lock area. Passed through/by detergents. Happened to notice they had Tide Free powder in HE and also the Mtn Spring powder in HE. It is the HE that says it works in all machines like on the Cheer/Gain boxes. No he turbo like it had been on just the plain or bleach Tide. When I am out of All I will have to try the Tide Free powder HE and see how it does as HE. May be more suds than when it was regular--you never know. I forgot all about checking for the new All pacs. A lot of people in there today so I was just trying to finish and get out...will check next time.

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suburbanmd

10 years ago

Alex Chicago:

Some washes come out cleaner (smelling fresher) from the Little Giant, even though it's the same wash length, nominal temperature and chemicals as in the W4840. I'm thinking particularly of pillow cases, washed at Very Warm in the W4840 and 120F in the Little Giant. There's a long lag getting hot water to my W4840, but the internal heater is working, I always do an Extended wash (1 hour wash tumble), and I have seen the machine further extending the wash tumble to give the water more time to heat. In the last few months I've run a nearby faucet to bring hot water to that end of the house before doing a wash at Very Warm or Hot, but the Little Giant still seems to do better. The 5000W heater really shows itself here, even with cold fill.

The Comforters program in the W4840 is excellent, but it doesn't go above Warm, and I don't think a program like Custom would wet down a comforter. The Little Giant Cottons Universal program with raised water level has no problem wetting them down, and can go up to 140F. I've seen the results in cleaner comforters (yes, duvet covers are recommended, and no, we don't use them). Cottons Hygiene could probably handle comforters also, but I haven't yet wanted to wash one at 160F or higher. On the negative side, the Little Giant's smaller drum is at a disadvantage with thick comforters. All our comforters do fit in, and most of them settle down when wet so there's room to tumble. But I just washed one that didn't, so it kind of just spun around inside the drum. It did get washed though.

The W4840 is overall excellent at spinning, but I'm not crazy about its pulse spins. They throw a burst of current into the motor to rev up the drum quickly, but with no apparent concern for balancing. The machine is heavy enough to shrug this off in most cases. But I've had some loud bangs, and even some movement, with a very unbalanced load like heavy cotton bathroom mats. Can avoid it by setting a lower spin speed, but if you don't, watch out. The Little Giant does pulse-type spins in a more careful and controlled manner, so it doesn't have this problem.

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to wash the garage floor. I was going to buy a new mop, rather than using our cleaners' mops that they use inside the house. But then I realized I have Sluice Low on the Little Giant, so I used one of the mops and then threw both mop heads into the machine. Might be able to get away with that in the W4840, but the Little Giant is made for it.

Really, you can't compare the W4840 and the Little Giant, they're a completely different class of machine. Water levels, heating, configurable options, array of programs.

As for the Asko: Well, I returned it, and I'm keeping the Little Giant, so that's one answer. But say I try to answer based on an Asko that worked the way I imagined it would. The difference between that Asko and the Little Giant would be less than the difference between the W4840 and the Little Giant. But the Little Giant is a true commercial machine that costs 50% more, is much more flexible and configurable, and has a heater 2 1/2 times as powerful.

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Comments (17)

larsi_gw
10 years ago
WOW....the Mountain Spring Tide has NEVER been "he". That's cool. I have seen the Tide Free "he" before, but I almost never buy scent free products.

If I can find the article, I will post it. In one of my "Eco" magazines, the article stated that the chemicals needed and added to make a product "fragrance free" can be worse for you than the added fragrances.
mamapinky0
10 years ago
I LOVE the Mountain Spring scent, so brisk and herbal..best CURRENT scent Tide has IMHO
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mamapinky0
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Sparky Thank You for sharing this info.

Larsi I read somewhere about that also that FREE and Clear has more chemicals that could pose aproblem than the same detergent in scented
Pat Z5or6 SEMich
10 years ago
Say it isn't so. You're just pulling our collective leg, right?
littlegreeny
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Larsi and Mama, I'd love a link to the article about free products having more chemicals. I have to admit I find that hard to believe.
mamapinky0
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Greeny...I can't remember where I read it, online, at AW or on here. But what I think I read was something about the chemicals used to stop the chemical scent in unscented detergent was worse than perfumes...went on to say the chemicals in detergent smell very bad and in order for the unscented not to smell really bad it takes another chemical for that lol. It could have been on a mommy blog
littlegreeny
10 years ago
Products like liquid Tide or All free smell pretty "chemically" in the bottle, and Tide F&C pods smell pretty nasty in the bag. None of these leave any scent on clothes. I also didn't see anything in their ingredients that indicate they were there just to cover up other chemical smells.
beaglenc
10 years ago
Would like to read up on this too. Would that not be a "note to tell the king?" Here you think you are doing something better for you, only to be worse! Shaking my head.
littlegreeny
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
I don't think it's true. I compared Tide ingredients and the only difference between regular Tide and Tide F&C was perfume in the regular Tide. Same thing with regular All and All free.
mamapinky0
10 years ago
Tide Free Powder, Liquid and pods do have a mild chemical scent in the containers, and even on the clothes , to my nose, except the pods, ...the pods after they hit the water have a soapy smell to me, very similar to Ivory bar soap. Now the Downy Free is an altogether different matter, it leaves things with a chemical scent every time, and I can't adjust to it. I use the Downy Free to tone down the scented downy and the scented Downy to get rid of the chemical fumes in the Free version.
suburbanmd
10 years ago
I picked up a box of the Tide Free & Gentle powder that's now marked for HE, at the Walmart in Ruckersville VA. It is "HE Turbo"

It was shelved next to some non-HE-only Tide F&G powder, and has the same UPC number, so it's replacing it.

To give this a fair test, I guess I'll have to use it alone, no additives. Is it suitable for colored T-shirts?
mamapinky0
10 years ago
Well it does have OB's at least I think it does. But if you don't mind that than yes it should be fine. It does not contain a whitener.
suburbanmd
10 years ago
OBA's will wash out in a subsequent wash with non-OBA detergent, right?
Alex Chicago
10 years ago
@Suburbanmd - how are you liking your Little Giant? Is it everything you'd hoped for and more? Markedly better than both your previous Miele and Asko units?
mamapinky0
10 years ago
Yes OB's will wash out.
Alex Chicago
10 years ago
Suburbanmd - Thank you for an excellent review and concrete comparisons to the 4840. Most helpful! It sounds like you're quite happy with the LiGi and I appreciate you taking the time to share some of your experiences. That sluice cycle sounds pretty awesome.

Tide at Wal Mart

suburbanmd

Comments (17)

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