Cascade Complete cleans dishes better than Electrasol Gel.
Written: Oct 19 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: leaves dishes totally clean, easy to find, affordable
Cons: the scent isn't as nice as Electrasol's lemon scent
The Bottom Line: Cascade Complete is an excellent and affordable product that makes dealing with the dishes an easier task.
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| njchicaa's Full Review: Cascade Complete |
I recently received two free full-sized bottles of dishwasher detergent (Cascade Complete and Electrosol Gel) in the mail to use, compare, and review. We always use liquid detergent in the dishwasher so I was happy to try them out. For our house, Cascade Complete is the better fit.
Yes, We Paid $5 For This Dishwasher
Before I can write a review about these products, I think it is important to fill you in a bit on our dishwasher. My boyfriend's parents picked it up in at a yard sale for five bucks three years ago just after we moved into the house. It is a builder's model (bare-bones basic) that had been used for several years. When the family renovated their kitchen, they bought a more expensive model and were basically just looking for someone to take the older one away. So the dishwasher is at least 6 or 7 years old and does an okay job of cleaning dishes, pots, pans, etc. Sometimes I need to run a few items through twice or even three times to really get them totally clean but what do you expect for $5?
Cascade Complete vs. Electrosol Gel
Cascade Complete is a translucent blue gel that is supposed to clean so well that there's no need to pre-wash your dishes. According to the label, this product also contains "shine shield" which helps to protect glasses from etching. It comes in a 75 ounce plastic bottle with a handle and a twist-off safety cap. There's no description or name of the product scent so I guess I have the "original" formula which smells like classic detergent with a splash of citrus.
Electrasol Gel is clear with tiny blue spheres scattered throughout. It too comes in a 75 ounce plastic bottle with a handle but it has a more-convenient flip-top cap. The description on the label states that this formula "removes the toughest food stains from your dishes for a Sparkling Power Clean the first time, every time." My bottle of Electrasol was Lemon Scent which was a very pleasant fragrance to have wafting through the kitchen.
Putting Them To The Test
We're not exactly sure how it happens but we produce an incredible amount of dirty dishes each day. I cook for us and for the parrots each day. There are also many cat/dog water and food bowls to clean. I'm usually good for at least two dishwasher loads every day. No I am not kidding.
I just finished off the two bottles of detergent and I have to say that Cascade Complete did a much better job of cleaning the dishes. I'm not very good about pre-washing or even rinsing things off before I load them into the machine. When I used Cascade Complete, the dishes, pots, and pans almost always came out completely clean and without any lingering stains, bits of food, etc. As much as I preferred the flip-top cap and lovely lemon scent of the Electrasol, it wasn't as powerful as the Cascade and left dishes with food on them almost half the time. At first I expected to write a review stating that the Electrasol was a better product but over time I realized that sometimes I had to re-run entire loads when I used it instead of the Cascade Complete.
Cost and Availability
The suggested retail price for the Cascade is $4.99. Electrasol's is $6.99 which seems a bit high when you find yourself washing some items two and three times with it. Both of these products are widely available and stocked in grocery stores, discount retailers, wholesale clubs, etc.
Overall Opinion
Based on my experience, I'd have to say that Cascade Complete does a better job of cleaning dirty dishes. Our very basic, older dishwasher needs all of the help that it can get so we are going to stick with Cascade Complete in the future.
I received these products for free in exchange for my unbiased opinion.
Recommended:
Yes
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