Which ones clean without cleaning out your wallet? Our annual laundry wash-off.(Upfront: news trends advice)(Buyers Guide)

Drum roll, please.

Big-name detergents aren't much better cleaners than their competitors, but they can cost two to three times as much per load. You needn't pay that kind of premium. Look first at one of the CR Best Buys from this year's tests. Their costs per load range from 11 cents for Kirkland to 19 cents for All. Some big names cost 30 cents a load or more.

We tested two dozen detergents. Most are regular products for typical top-loaders. Five ore low-sudsers made for high-efficiency machines.

As the Quick Ratings at right show, the majority of detergents were excellent at cleaning, the main factor in overall score. We laundered white cotton swatches stained with coffee, grass, spaghetti sauce, mud, blood, grape juice, chocolate syrup, and ring-round-the-collar soil. The better detergents removed nearly all the stains every time. (Even the best detergent, however, can't be expected to eliminate every stain flora every fabric every time. Hence the market for special stain removers. One of the newest and best--Tide Buzz--is covered on the facing page.)

Our tests showed some detergents were far less successful than others at brightening, which makes whites look whiter, and at preventing color transfer, the migration of colors to whites in a mixed load of laundry. (If you always wash white clothes separately, color transfer won't matter.) We gave brightening and color transfer much less weight than cleaning in the Ratings, but the differences shown in the table are easy to see in your own laundry.

We also tested for fading and what's known as soil redeposition (the propensity for dirt that's been loosened in the washing to settle back onto the clothes). Results were excellent or very good for virtually every detergent.

 
Quick Ratings Laundry detergents 
 
Within types, in performance order. 
 
      Product                    Cost        Overall score 
                                 per load 
                                           0               100 
 
                                           P   F   G   VG   E 
 
      REGULAR DETERGENTS 
 
      Tide with Bleach 
      Alternative                31 cents 
 
      Tide Pretreater 
      Oxybooster                 22 
 
      Arm & Hammer Free          22 
 
CR    All Stainlifters 
BEST  Free Clear                 19 
BUY 
 
CR    Kirkland Signature 
BEST  38722 (Costco)             11 
BUY 
 
CR    Ajax with Bleach 
BEST  Alternative                16 
BUY 
 
      Wisk Dazzling 
      Whites & Colors            22 
 
CR    Purex Free Clear           15 
BEST 
BUY 
 
      ShopRite Free 'N Clear     15 
 
CR    Winn-Dixie with 
BEST  Bleach Alternative         15 
BUY 
 
      Wisk Stain Dissolving      20 
 
      Tide Free Pretreater 
      Oxybooster                 22 
 
      Cheer Color Guard          32 
 
      Sa8 with Bioquest 
      (Quixtar)                  42 
 
      Trend Fresh                13 
 
      Tempo Free & Clear 
      (Kroger)                    9 
 
      Era Max with Bleach 
      Alternative                19 
 
      Good Day with Bleach 
      Alternative (Albertson's)  12 
 
      Cheer Color Guard 
      Free & Gentle              24 
 
      DETERGENTS FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY 
      WASHERS 
 
      Tide HE                    27 
 
      All Stainlifters HE        20 
 
      Sears Advanced Formula 
      Plus 9669                  21 
 
CR    Sears Advanced Formula 
BEST  Plus 9820                  17 
BUY 
 
      Purex HE                   19 
 
      Product                               Test results 
 
                                 Cleaning   Brightening   Color 
                                                          ...