Tide Pods have been on the market since 2012 but somehow, we’ve never gotten around to trying them. Looks like we’re really behind the curve on this, as its listing on Amazon has over 16,500 reviews with an otherworldly 4.8 stars. New to Costco stores is Tide’s latest and greatest innovation — Tide Pods Hygienic Clean, with 10X power. Seeing that they’re now $5 off at Costco until Christmas Eve, we’re excited to finally bring a family pack of these heavy-duty pods home.

Overall, there’s a common theme that becomes quite evident right away — though these look pretty much the same as the Tide Pods you’re used to seeing, there’s an invisible world of difference.

To the eye, the Hygienic Clean Heavy Duty 10X Power PODS are the usual puffed up plastic orbs with pleasing swirls of blue, white and green. Our partner quickly pointed out though that these were plumper than usual, in line with the Power PODS labeling on the box, and are actually twice as big as the regular pods.

What’s stuffed inside though is some extra Tide punch. With 10 concentrated cleaning actives mixed in, this formulation actually has 50% more cleaning power than Tide Original liquid detergent.

But what’s most impressive (and reassuring, given the state of things today) is that this proprietary formula attacks both visible and invisible stains. We usually just think of clothes as being clean once your ketchup and dirt stains are removed, but 70% of the soils on your clothes are actually invisible to the naked eye… meaning that your perception of clean might not actually be a very good one.

Tide Hygienic Clean Heavy Duty PODS get between the fibers of your clothing to clean all the dirt you can’t see, removing gunk all the way down to the microscopic level. This isn’t just more hygienic, it also helps purge your clothes of the microbes that allow BO to linger on old shirts and sweaters. Tide has really gone the extra mile here to ensure that these pods live up to their claim of being the number one stain and odor fighter detergent among single-use pacs.

All the technical stuff aside, does it work? Well they’ve certainly won us over in our household tests. Even the heaviest food stains and muddy paw prints come right out, and we’ll trust our noses on the invisible stains as well. Our clothes are noticeably less smelly, popping out of the laundry with that signature floral-fruity Tide scent and holding onto it for an incredibly long time. Our white towels are the true barometer of success: they come out fluffier and whiter than we’ve seen them in a while.

They also do great with large loads, or with hot or cold water—there’s really nothing we’ve thrown at it so far that it hasn’t passed with flying colors (har har).

For those with new high-efficiency (HE) washing machines, we also tried this out on Grandma’s new unit and the results are just as good. As advertised, these work in any machine, making laundry just a delightfully no-fuss chore.

In our house we’ve never really had any loyalty to one detergent over another, but I think we may have been converted with these pods. Easy to use and effective in every situation, we’ll be stocking up on these while the discount lasts.