Dropps Dishwasher Detergent Pods (Lemon, 120)

product is fine. package delivered in was not. large envelope used for mailing was damaged -ripped and 9 of pods were gone. should be packed in box.

So I read the previous reviews and expected some packets to break when I got the boxes. Some do anyway, even in the containers of my old platinum kind. But I really want to reduce plastic waste, so I tried these anyway. For 120 packets, you get them in two boxes of 60. BOX1: I opened it and saw tons of powder and some empty packets on top. More than I expected. I counted them out. I had 52 intact pods, and 9 broken pods. So there was only supposed to be 60 in a box, and I got 61. So I won't count that extra one, which gives me 52/60 intact, which is about 13% failure rate. Almost all the ones that broke were in the smaller front compartments. Also, with the mess it made, I really expected more to be broken. BOX2: I opened it and it felt like even more powder and empty packets. Ugh. But, I counted them out and again, I had 52 intact pods, and 11 broken pods. So I got 63 pods this time, but again, only 52 were broken, so 52/60 is again about a 13% failure rate (not counting the extra ones). Again, most of the broken ones were from the front two compartments. With just opening the boxes and looking at them, I assumed a lot more would have be broken. I was pretty disappointed, and then I counted them and realized it wasn't really that many actually. Dropps putting in extra pods (I assume because they know some will break) is a nice touch though. However, 13% is still a higher failure rate than the other kind I use (which usually only 1 or 2 pods are broken or leaking). Since the price of these are $24, that's about us paying $3 for broken pods (about 13%), or paying for 120 and only getting 104. Is it worth it? They clean fine. I like the packaging, but they should really put some extra padding in the front there, maybe some shredded cardboard (something recyclable or compostable). I love the idea of reducing plastic, not terribly impressed with the execution though, I might a different option next time.

Before these, I pre-washed the dishes every time. My husband loves spaghetti with a ton of cheese and often forgets to bring his plates to the sink, so the cheese gets stuck... I used to have to soak them, scrub them, load them, wash them, and even then they often came out dirty. It was actually leading to fights, I'm ashamed to admit, because we live in a desert and water is precious, this was causing me anxiety. These tabs cost more... so I was hesitant. And when they claimed no pre-wash was necessary, I honestly wasn't sure I believed it and so for months I kept washing my dishes before loading them in the dish washer to sterilize them. One day, I read in a struggle care article about how pre-washing dishes uses up a ton of water. I noticed that on the box for these, as well, but thought it was a marketing thing. In the struggle care article, they mentioned that running your dish washer twice still saves a ton of water and your time/sanity. It also means you're not buying so many sponges and such, so I decided to give it a go with these... they work for me! In my apartment, we have hardwater and a cheap dishwasher, but omg these work! I sometimes do run the washer twice if there are a lot of stubborn tomato stains and such, but over all it's one and done! They work better than any other washer tab I used and they're my first earth friendly ones!

I switched to Dropps because of the reduced packaging. They work well in cleaning dishes. The scent is nice too. The problem is the "dissolvable" film on the dropps. My dishwasher stopped working because the float switch got fouled. The appliance repair shop told me to stop using any type of pod with an outer film. I now cut the film off before placing the soap into my dishwasher. My teenager put the film in near boiling water and the film did not dissolve.

They still clean as well as the more toxic brands. My dishes still sparkle. The scented ones left a taste residue my son didn't like...I couldn't taste it. We switched to unscented and everyone was happy. I have been using these for well over a year now and was content to never switch again having used them in 3 different dishwashers with equally good results. Then the new "Ultra..." package arrived--I thought it had been sent mistakenly. Part of the draw for us was the minimal packaging and that seems to be gone. There has been a shift of some kind in the product it seems as well. They still clean well enough, but leave a residue once in a while that was not there before. Not my favorite any longer and am searching for something better again, both in performance and packaging.