Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Here's where I'm coming from. I've been using Finish Quantum Max for YEARS. It was probably the best dish detergent I'd found. Every time I needed new dish soap, I didn't buy what was on sale, I bought Finish Quantum. Of course, I was a sucker for the "new" version, believing they could improve on an all ready great detergent. But, sadly, this is a total failure of a product. I'm using a modern, higher grade and efficient dish washer of a brand most would know and recognize. This new product doesn't dissolve properly and just looking at the plastic coating, it's obvious as to why. The tablets are basically coated in plastic, which of course doesn't dissolve, instead of the membrane-like material used previously. The smell is also absolutely horrific - I don't mind a "clean" smell, but this stuff smells absolutely wretched. Most importantly, because they don't dissolve, they don't function as a dish detergent - which means it fails completely and gets 1 star. We are literally going to toss the remaining 76 or so of these tablets in the trash and will never buy it again. Unfortunately, I usually buy dish detergent well in advance of actually needing it, so I'm outside of Amazon's return window. I'm actually debating whether I really should take them to a hazmat disposal facility, they smell that bad. 2019 Update: Finish got in touch with me and while they couldn't fix the problems, they were kind enough to send me a bottle of Jet Dry (which I also use), so that was nice. That did encourage me to really figure out what was wrong, it seems some people are happy and surely, the product can work. Figured out the problems, I did. The first problem is temperature related. It is essential to heat your water to 130-140 degrees when using this product. If you're like me and most people, your water tank is set at a more economical 125. Fortunately, my washer has a pre-heat option and this detergent won't work properly without this setting. The problem is that this adds quite a bit to the cycle time and increases energy use, considering the inconvenient fact that the old Quantum Max didn't require this. Second problem, which took a ridiculous number of failed test loads to figure out, was the plastic lip of the detergent packet was often getting caught on the automatic soap release door when it opened during the cycle. This new formula has a gel-like component, which to contain it, Finish used two plastic-like membranes sealed together creating about a 1/16" lip. The packet would frequently fail to release into the machine until agitation & water eventually knocked it out sometime later in the washing process. I also found that on my machine, there is only one way in which the newly-designed packet will fit into the soap dispenser without consistently getting caught on release door. After I figured those two things out, especially the latter, I have been able to get reliable washes with this detergent. I would almost argue the wash is superior to the all ready great previous formula. Any improvements, however, can also be attributed to the increased temperatures from the pre-heat cycles, though. I have very high water and energy costs, I'm a little miffed that it took almost $40 in failed washes to figure out why the product didn't work. I'm glad I got to the bottom of the issue, but am only meh on the product since it only worked for me with considerable additional cost and time. As for the smell. It still smells atrocious, even after letting the bag air out for months. Can't put lipstick on that pig. June 2019 Update: I'm on my second 82 count bag of this now and the new bag smells MUCH better. It smells "clean" now. Clearly, Finish is using some black magic chemical scent engineering to mask whatever scorched earth hazmat level 3 concoction they devised into this product. My final rating is 4+ stars, because Finish has improved the initial product, but I'm going to keep my review critical as it might help others figure out their troubles.