A Disappointing Finish (Finish Quantum)

Member Name: memphisto_chick

Product:	Finish Quantum
Date:	13/02/08 (639 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No Unwrapping, Trendy Look

Disadvantages: Poor Perfomance

I have just finished a pack of these new Finish Quantum Powerball Tablets (gosh what a mouthful!), I had to get these as my normal Fairy Active Bursts were out of stock on a recent trip to Tesco.

We have acquired recently a new Kenwood table top dishwasher in January 2007 and because our old one finally met it's end after many years hard service, we thought we should treat our new dishwasher to one of the finer dishwasher tablets on the market.

Our dishwasher is cared for, following our recent combustion of our old machine, we now take care to treat the dishwasher to a special clean every fortnight with Tesco's own dishwasher cleaner, we also clean the filters every other day and we believe that this should not compromise our wash results nor have an adverse effect on the products we use.

THE HYPE:
Heavily advertised on TV presently, these tablets claim to be Finish's best ever dishwasher detergent, with a emphasis on shifting tough coffee and tea stains but not much else, so does this mean that it doesn't clean anything else...hmmmm I had to find out but only because there was no Fairy!

THE PACKAGING:
I bought a box of 12 tablets. The box is dark blue predominantly with 'QUANTUM' written in blue lettering on the background of the pack, there is a see through window in the top left hand corner, where you there is enough see through packaging to be able to see one 'Quantum'. You have lower down a wine glass gleaming and the 'Finish' logo in blue with 'Powerball' underneath.

Not particularly inspiring packaging wise, I found it very difficult to open, there is a tab at the bottom on the pack which you are supposed to pull upwards, thus pullback the plastic which forms the plastic window, but this was really hard to do, I ended up ripping the cardboard, needs to be easier to open if it is going to impress me in future!!.

THE TABLETS
These aren't tablets, no; these are Quantum's I'll have you know.
Each quantum contains 3 active ingredients which I'll list below for you:

Micro Powder with Integrated Salt Function (light blue powder)
Helps remove every last trace of residue including the toughest baked-on and dried-on food for an extreme clean. No need to add salt. My dishwasher automatially askes for salt and won't function without it, so we do have to add salt and cannot compare this to a wash without salt. It's pretty looking though, a kind of blue sand and it looks aesthetically pleasing.

Powerball Technology (white gel in the middle)
Our most effective Powerball Technology blasts away stubborn Tea and Coffee stains for outstanding cleaning results. Cannot say for certain that I agree with this as I found the results mediocre to say the least, as I will detail below.

Shine Gel with Integrated Rinse Aid Function (Blue gel- thick consistency)
Unique ultra-concentrated formula helps to prevent spots and smears to give a dazzling shine. No need to add rinse aid. We use the Finish fast dry rinse aid in every wash, although we did run out in the course of trialling these and we noticed very little difference in wash results.

Integrated Glass Protection:
Helps keep glasses looking like new for longer by helping to prevent permanent glass corrosion (cloudy glasses). I agree with this statement as the glasses I washed were shiney and squeeky clean, again, like micro powder, these are aesthetically pleasing but just don't prod it too hard, this is the part that might split.

Apparently the combination of these 3 active ingredients ensures your dishes come out wonderfully clean. The quantums are encased in their own plastic but water soluble encasement and give off a lemon scent, allbeit a slightly chemically lemon scent.

They are very different to other dishwasher products and they are squishy to feel but don't squish too hard, it'll burst as I found out!

WARNINGS:
Irritating to eyes.
Handle with dry hands only
May produce an allergic reaction.
Toxic if swallowed.

DIRECTIONS FOR USE :
Place one per wash load in the dishwasher dispenser. If it does not fit in the dispenser, place on the floor of the dishwasher and use a programme without pre-wash. Do not unwrap or pierce and do not place in the cutlery basket.

I am putting mine on the floor of the dishwasher as I have a tabletop dishwasher with no dispenser drawer and it is fine but you can put them in the basket, despite the directions, my husband does this and we don't find it compromises the wash quality or results in anyway.

Also, make sure your hands are perfectly dry, if they are damp, these tablets will begin to dissolve in your hands and virtually useless in the dishwasher.

EASE OF USE:
Very easy to use as long as you remember to handle with dry hands, they leak as soon as they come into contact with wet and seep all over your fingers and clothes and I can tell you these stain your clothes and are very difficult to get out without elbow grease and Vanish!


THE "FINISH":

Well I used these Quantum's with various dishes and various stains, I will give a brief overview as to comment on every item washed would not only take me ages but bore you to death too!
Pyrex dish with pasta bake: Hmmmm dried on pasta bake from 2 days previously, not soaked after use, would these be able to clean it? In a word, NO. After I took the dish out there was lots of dried on pasta bake sauce still on the dish, I was really surprised. A second wash also didn't get rid of it. A third wash got rid of some more but my husband had to wash the rest off by hand. No good for us. 1/10

Coffee cup Andrew had left under the bed: Coffee, ingrained into a cheap mug, now this is where finish are laying their claims to their Quantum's being better than the competition, so would it be? Well yes it all came off in one wash, great stuff. 10/10

Curry: We had a great curry from our local takeaway but it was very greasy and stained the plates, our plates were yellow but we were too tired to pop them straight in the dishwasher, so we left them overnight. Cue glowing plates in the morning! Popped these in with a Quantum in the morning, it got rid of 60% of the stains on both plates, so these needed a second wash, again very disappointing given the price.

Glasses: Another claim made by 'Finish', to protect your glasses and avoid glass corrosion. I've not experienced this with any other brand so far and to be honest this isn't a feature I would necessarily look for in a dishwasher product. However, I popped my wine and cola glasses in and both came out beautifully sparkling. 10/10

Cutlery: Unfortunately, every time I have tried to wash cutlery with these Quantum's, I have failed to be able to get them clean, dried on food remains on the every time. Very disappointing 0/10

THE PRICE:
I paid £3 for 12 Quantums in Tesco, as part of an offer, January 2008. I have also previously used these in 2006 and 2007 and I have virtually identical results, I do not feel it is due to my machine nor the way I use these quantums as I have now had the lack of results with two seperate table top machines.

THE VERDICT:
I don't think I would recommend these, I used them as directed and they disappointed me more time than they pleased me.
These Quantums could really cope with dried on food stains at all, they were OK if they were fairly fresh stains but anything older than a few hours, and it really struggled.
This is the first dishwasher product from Finish that I have used and it would really discourage from using them again, if this is their top spec detergent, I'd hate to think what other products are like.

They are far too pricey for what they are, they offer poor value for money when you consider you may have to wash items twice and then wash them yourself!

These may be better in full sized machines, but personally, as a table top dishwasher user, these are not a cleaner I will use again nor recommend to others. However, I am told by colleagues these are the best dishwasher tablets they have tried, so I guess it depends how and on what you use these for.

Overall a No from me!

Thanks for reading xx

USEFUL INFO:
www.finish.co.uk

Summary: Too much hype not enough cleaning.