The problem with reviewing dishwashing products is that it can be hard to tell what’s really at fault if a particular dish doesn’t come out clean. Was it just put in with too much grease or food on it, to the point that no single cycle or single dishwashing product would possibly be able to clean it? Was it simply put in a bad spot, where water wouldn’t reach it no matter how much, or what kind of detergent was used? Or is it the detergent’s fault? It can be really hard to deduce sometimes, even after multiple uses.
Anyway, my wife swears by the expensive “three-in-one detergent packs”, which have dishwashing powder, along with three random pockets of multi-colored gel, whereas I prefer things that are much, much cheaper. And so we like to go back-and-forth; I use my favorite products when I do dishes, and she sticks to her expensive crap. Well I was perusing dishwasher products on the Dollar Tree website recently (actually, I was hoping they would have a rinse aid, but to no avail) and saw huge praise from users for their Sun Dishwashing Detergent. Could this be the product I’ve been looking for? Could it win my wife and I over, thus saving us a few dollars a year on overpriced detergent packs?
Refer to the opening paragraph. It can be hard to deduce what is what (though our dishwasher is only about three weeks old, and I’d like to think it couldn’t really be at fault); actually, after contemplating this for a little while, what I really think it boils down to, is that there’s really not much difference between any of the dishwashing products out there. Did the Sun detergent blow my mind with how wonderfully well it performed? Not really; it simply did what it was supposed to do: The glassware was sparkling, with no streaking, just as it is with everything else we’ve ever used, and the bowls came out as they should: Clean.
So while I can’t say it does any better a job of cleaning dishes than any other dishwasher product out there, I will say, at the very least, it performs exactly the same as all the others. Which should be enough incentive for most to purchase it, as a 20 oz. box retails for a mere $1. Alas, it won’t be enough evidence for my wife, who will still swear the overpriced detergent packs do a better job, and will continue to pay five times as much just to fulfill her perception but hey, I guess you can’t win them all.
Overall: 8.5/10. Many reviews I’ve seen state that this stuff does a better job than pretty much every name brand powder in existence, a claim that I did not find to be accurate. However, I did find it does pretty much the exact same job, for a fraction of the price, which is good enough for me. Ultimately, in this day and age, I just don’t think there’s that much difference between the cheap stuff, and the more expensive stuff, a sentiment that seems to be becoming truer by the day, as national brand factories, sensing an opportunity to make even more money, produce more and more private labels. Random thought: Wouldn’t it be funny if they ended up putting themselves out of business?
