No Gremlins in here (Fairy Active Bursts)

Member Name: MaryanneH

Product:	Fairy Active Bursts
Date:	10/03/06 (374 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They work

Disadvantages: On the expensive side

Its official - I am old, I remember years ago sat in the pub with some friends making fun of two of them who were discussing the merits of various tumble dryers, I mean we were early twenties at the time and this was far too domestic a subject for a Saturday night. Now, I am writing a review on a dishwasher detergent!

Fairy active bursts are a new product from those people at Procter and Gamble, now normally I wouldn't get excited enough about any form of cleaning product to be inspired to tell you about it but this one is different - it actually works.

I first came across these as part of one of the rare surveys I actually qualified for and I was sent 3 of these little capsules to try in my dishwasher. I am a born cynic, and will always buy the big bottles of dishwashing liquid, because it works out cheaper and prior to this I have been able to tell no difference in the quality of the wash.

***What are they***

Fairy Active Bursts are small dishwasher pouches which Fairy call pods; each pod is sealed in a plastic wrapper and contains a measured amount of dishwasher powder, a small amount of scented rinse aid and salt. As well as glass protection and metal shine.

This is great for me because my dishwasher is constantly crying out for salt and rinse aid, however often I fill it up it never seems to last very long. With this product you don't have to worry.

The lay out of these pouches is, I believe, far better than its predecessor, the dishwasher tablet because it contains proper, liquid rinse aid, rather than those funny power ball things that I never found worked properly.

***How do you use them***

This is simplicity itself, you take pod out of the packet, and put it in the dishwasher. You do not have to pierce the wrapper or try and open it or anything it simply dissolves in the wash. I have yet to find any wrapper residue in the machine either and that is doing both heavy-duty hotter washes and the cooler economy wash.

Doing it this way also means you don't have the added inconvenience of the tablets breaking as you take them out of the wrappers or spilling the stuff all over the inside of the dishwasher.

***The smell test***

The pods are available in normal fairy smell and lemon. I currently have the lemon one and it does smell like lemon, well the detergent type of lemon that we have come to expect. Afterwards the wash does have a slight lemony smell to it as well. Not, I hasten to add, that I habitually go around smelling my crockery!

***The cleaning power***

I have always used the dishwasher more for convenience, and I hate it when you have to go through afterwards rejecting - or worse, hand washing, half the load. Since using these I have had no such issues, the wash really does come out sparklingly clean. Including the inside of the machine itself. I always, rinse my load first, but Fairy do suggest using their foam spray for tough stains, personally I'd rather save a couple of quid and leave it to soak overnight.

***Storage***

The pods come in a resealable packet, which is important; as the only specification that they make on storage is that the pods are kept dry. Mine are currently on my draining board so probably not the ideal place. As yet I haven't got any wet, at this point my mind is going off on a tangent thinking about the scene in the film Gremlins where they got the Mogwai wet and created lots of little Mogwais, now I'm sure it isn't a conspiracy by Procter and Gamble to stop us getting them wet because they reproduce into lots of little pods so we don't buy anymore. I would imagine that the pods would start to dissolve and you'd end up with a gooey mess, I hope at this point you will forgive me for not experimenting to find out as in view of the price I can't afford to!

***The cost bit***

I bought mine from Tesco, and paid £6.78 for 30, you can also buy 15 for £3.48. This is a price I would never have paid before now (and incidentally higher than I suggested in the survey) but I do genuinely like them and they do work.

So I do recommend these pods, they are fairly expensive to buy but they work.

Thank you for reading

Summary: All good cleaning comes in little pods