Now the new one says there are 24 tabs per box, with 3 boxes included for $35. So that is 72 tabs total. What I'm wondering is if the tab is still the same, where it can be broken in-half, or if the design and shape of the tab has changed, where it can no longer be broke-in half. Has anyone see the new box or tabs?

I was going to grab a box tomorrow to compare to the Somat tabs.

If this isn't the case, I'll definitely let them know b/c they would be devastated, based on my dealings, to provide misinformation. Lol.

"The tabs are the same design and shape and may be cut in halves for use."

So it would appear that only the box & packaging has changed, from 60 tabs for $30 to 72 tabs for $35. Still about the same price-per-tab.

To me, it appears that Miele found out that people were only using half a tab at a time, so they decided to change the style so that would be less common for people to do. Before, the old style tabs were 60 in a box for $30, but could get 120 loads when used in half. That = less money for Miele, so they changed the design to what it is now (72 tabs for $35).

What is this about the phosphates - is the new formula different then?

Do these new tabs cut in half clean as well as the old tabs cut in half? We've been using 1/2 tabs (old style tabs) and they've been working very well (except for really full loads with really dirty items, esp if the stuffs been sitting a day or two--then i know to use a full tab).

But after some searching, I can't find if FL has a ban or not.

For the new dishwasher tabs it says that it is phosphate-free and contains "a special glass guard formula, water softening salt and a sustainable cleansing agent to provide exceptional results and advanced protection, even with heavy soiling." This is the first that I've heard that the new tabs contained water softening salt. I wonder why they added that since most all Miele dishwasher contain a (real) water softener that you use salt in.

Here's the press release:

Miele, maker of the dishwasher series recently ranked highest in customer satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates1, introduces the innovative Miele Care Collection™ II series (for dish care) which includes three new products: phosphate-free dishwasher tabs, a powerful rinse aid and specially formulated softening salt engineered to spotlessly clean and preserve dishes, flatware, utensils, crystal, glassware and more. The new generation Miele Care Collection™ II dishwasher tabs combine a special glass guard formula, water softening salt and a sustainable cleansing agent to provide exceptional results and advanced protection, even with heavy soiling. The series is complete with Care Collection™ II rinse aid and water softening salt which go even further to enhance performance �" especially for sparkling glasses and perfect drying results.
"Miele is known the world over for manufacturing the ultimate dishwasher, but you don’t need to own a Miele to use our extraordinary dish care products,” states Paul McCormack, Spokesperson for Miele. “These products are made to protect your dishes and glassware while safeguarding our environment. With so many states banning phosphates, it’s important to consider your dishwashing options. You want a name you can trust to get your dishes and glassware safely clean and sparkling. Taking care of the environment without compromising performance is not new for Miele. And what good is using a detergent that doesn’t work as promised? When homeowners do not get the results they expect, they will waste water pre-rinsing versus changing detergents or even their dishwasher. About 20 gallons of water is wasted pre-rinsing per dishwasher load,” explains McCormack.
Miele Care Collection™ II Dishwasher Tablets
Miele’s new dishwasher tabs are packaged in a water-soluble foil wrapper to reduce landfill waste and to provide added convenience (easy handling without skin contact with the detergent). They also contain a special glass protection formula for optimal care. The new tabs will be conveniently packaged in boxes of 72 tabs that are cleverly grouped to avoid any risk of damaging the tabs. The tabs retail at $34.95.
Miele Care Collection™ II Rinse Aid
A new bottle design offers easier and more precise dispensing without any spoilage. Miele’s fast-drying formula reduces lime and water stains on dishware and cutlery, protects glassware against etching, enhances drying and offers sparkling results. The rinse aid retails for $10.95.

Miele Care Collection™ II Salt
Hard water may damage precious dishes. Miele’s softening salt enhances cleaning while dissolving slowly in water, providing the ultimate in dish care. Dishwasher salt retails for $12.95.

These tabs don't contain salt as such but a replacement ingredient that sort of neutralizes water hardness. Multi-purpose tabs have been on the market since ages here. They contain detergent, rinse aid substitute, water softening ingredients... and then every manufacturer adds different enhancers to claim its product has the most functions.

I don't buy into the all-in-one stuff. I prefer the dishwasher taking care of rinse aid dosing and water softening.

Alex

Here is what the new tab box says:
"Phosphate free - better for the environment.
Sparkling results, even with stubborn soiling.
Integrated rinse aid function for a perfect shine.
Integrated salt to protect against limescale deposits.
Special protection against tarnishing on silver and stainless steel.

Ingredients: 5-15% oxygen based bleaching agents, less than 5% polycarboxylates, nonionic surfactants.
Contains: enzymes (amylase, protease), perfume"

I asked the guy there if there was any new products coming out and was told there was some new cooking surfaces and a new counter-top coffee machine with built in grinder due out the middle of next year.

From what I've heard, even though these new tabs contain some salt and rinse aid, they are a small amount to allow the tabs to be used in non-Miele dishwasher for better results (that may not have a water softener). But when you use these tab in a Miele dishwasher, they still recommend using the built-in water softener, since that is used in all cycles (pre-wash, wash, and rinse).
If you look a few posts up, it says "These tabs don't contain salt as such but a replacement ingredient that sort of neutralizes water hardness."

The box of salt was like $11 and has lasted me since I first got this dishwasher 6 months ago. I purchased another box of salt today and filled up the water softener, but I could see just a little salt left in the bottom. I have about 1" of Miele rinse aid left in the bottle (that I also purchased 6 months ago) so I got a new bottle, as I have the RA dispenser set to 1 ml dosage (can go from 0-6 ml). Lastly, I got a bottle of the dishwasher conditioner. They said its best to use every 6-8 months for normal-loads, and 4-5 months if you do a few loads daily. The conditioner bottle has a tab you open and put in the top drawer and run a normal cycle with the unit empty (no dishes or detergent). It cleans out any gunk that maybe in the unit (pipes and parts) and helps maintain the water-seal gasket around the door (not sure how it does this). I'll wait to try this after the 1st of the year...clean the unit out good after all the holiday cooking and cleaning!

As far as washing goes, I think the newer tabs are a bit gentler on dishes, glasses and silverware but still clean well without anything left on them.

So overall I have no complaints about the newer tabs. I was a bit worried at first because of them being phosphate free, but after I tried them, there's no worries.

By the way, I've been using these new Miele tabs cut in half for months now, but in March I happened to open the unit up during the wash cycle to add some cups that I forgot about. I noticed there was a lot of suds/foam in the bottom of the unit, up to the lower spray arm. The next day I also opened it up mid-wash, and still saw the same thing. So I called up Miele and they asked If I was using a full tab or half tab. I told them I was using only half, so they suggested that I use 1/4 tab. They said that too much suds can damage the unit over time. So I cut the half tab in half, making it 1/4 of a full tab and tried that. It still washed just fine, and I noticed there was a lot less suds in the unit. The problem is that cutting a tab in fourths is a bit tricky, and they start to fall apart, so I ended up just crushing them all into powder. It turns out that a full tab = 1 tablesppn, so fourth tab = 1/4 table spoon. I took out my measuring spoons and found one that would work. So for the past 2 months, I've been using it to measure out 1/4 table spoon amounts, and only have a small amount of suds in the unit. I did call Miele back to tell them, and suggested that they need to re-formulate these Tabs so they don't make so many suds in there, as a full tab would make suds that cover the lower spray arm.

The first picture is what a full new Miele tab looks like, which measures about 1 tablespoon when crushed up.
As you can see, there is a lot of suds that completely covers up the salt lid on the left and
most of the filter handle on the right:

This second picture is taken with one-half of a new Miele tab, which measures about 1 teaspoon when crushed up.
This is what I had been using earlier this year, when I noticed I was getting suds.
Since this is only one-half Tab, there are less suds than when using a full tab.
You can slightly see the salt lid on the left and more of the filter handle on the right:

This third picture is taken with one-fourth of a new Miele tab, which measures one-half-teaspoon when crushed up into powder.
I have been using this amount for about 3 months now, since I called Miele and they told me to use less than a half-tab.
As you can see, even more of the salt lid is visible on the left and the filter handle on the right:

In this final picture, I have used one-half of a older (original) Miele tab that I still had.
As you can see, there are no suds at all, the water just looks a bit cloudy:

Based upon this and my experience using the new and older Miele tabs, the older formulation was better
since they did not create any suds at all, regardless of using a half or full tab.
But with the newer Miele tab, I have to crush them into powder form and use a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to dose it out, which is equal to 1/4 tab.
To me, this is ridiculous to have to do, considering the price of $34 for 72 full tabs.
But when using only 1/4 a tab per wash, a box of 72 would equal about 288 wash loads.
It's my opinion that Miele should reformulate so that the tabs create less (or no) suds, or produce it in powder form so that people can easily measure their dosage.
One thing to note, regardless of using a new full, half, or quarter tab, everything still comes out clean.

There's not much difference from before when I had the dishwasher set to the 8-11 grains setting
and using the same one-half teaspoon of Miele detergent:

At this point I'm not sure what to do for there to be no suds since I'm only using one-quarter of a tab (half a teaspoon).
I don't think I should try less, as that would be one-quarter teaspoon (which is 1/8 tab) as that would be almost nothing to clean with.

Here is what half of a Method tab looks like
after it is the wash cycle for 10 minutes:

I then drained the unit, ran two rinses so it would be cleared out.
Then I used a full tab, and this is what it looks like after 10 minutes:

So there is more visible coloration to the water when using a full Method tab,
but there are no suds, unlike the newer Miele tabs (see the other pictures shown in this thread).

After dinner tonight, I ran the dishwasher in the regular Normal cycle and used half of a Method tab.
I checked it mid-cycle, no suds, and items were looking clean.
After it was all done with the wash, rinse, and drying, I inspected the items, and everything looked clean.
In fact, everything looked as clean as when I would use the Miele tabs....except no suds during the wash cycle.

I'll continue to use this bag of 20 Method tabs and see if they keep working well.
If they do, then I'll buy more and not use the Miele tabs any longer.

Our 35 year old Hobart-made KitchenAid, finally bit the dust--never even one service call! Hmmph--we,
thought it should have lasted awhile longer, and talk about warranty coverage--what's up with that! LOL

Any thoughts about the finish/electrasol tabs?

When I ran out of the first bag, I went to buy more from Target, but they no longer had them and was discontinuing the brand. I ended up buying 2 bags from a Whole Foods store, since the only other place that had them was on-line.

They note that some detergents can leave a white residue with hard water (Method Smarty tabs one of them).

Be sure to use your built in water softener if your water is hard or use something like Lemi Shine.

I haven't tried the Finish yet. Some people have said they
like to use the Finish Quantum (with the red rinse-aid ball)
but have said there is a bit of a chemical smell after it
is finished washing. I know the Cascade Action Packs that
I first tried last year left a chemical smell, and was one
of the reason why I changed over to using the Miele tabs.
I'd still be using them (the newer ones) if it wasn't for
the amount of suds that they create.

The first thing I did with the Quantum was to try it in my
Miele Diamante empty, just to see if it created a lot of suds
(like the newer Miele Tabs do) or if there is a chemical smell.

After I heard the detergent door open, I waited about 5 minutes and opened the unit. There was a small amount of
suds, but not nearly as much as the Miele Tabs, but still
more suds than using the Method half-tab.

Here's a pic of the Quantum after 5 minutes:

Closed it back up, waited about 20 minutes later, opened
it and the suds were gone. There was a very small smell,
but not nearly as strong as the Cascade Compete.

Later that night when the unit was full, I tried the Quantum with it and I turned off the automatic liquid rinse aid dispenser.
Five minutes after the detergent door
opened, I checked it and there was some suds, but a few
minutes later they were gone.
The next morning I checked it, and everything was clean, but a couple plastic cups still had a bit of moisture on the inside, and all tupperware item were wet.

The next night I used the Quantum again, but turned back on
the rinse aid dispenser to setting 1, which is what I had
it set to with the Method and Miele tabs.
The next morning I noticed that plastics were dry (like it
use to be) and Tupperware was less wet, but still slightly damp.

Overall, in using the Quantum tabs over the past few days,
I've noticed that everything does appear a bit cleaner, as
some cups/glasses/mugs that had some coffee/tea stains are
now gone. Also, everything is more shinny. But this pack of
10 tabs was $3, so 30-ceents a tab, which I think is pricy, and they can't be cut in half since it's all powder inside.
I'll have to check how much the 45-tab box was at the store
or if it's cheaper to buy it on-line. The Method is 20 for $6, which is also 30-cents a tab, but since I cut those in-half, I get 40 loads at 15-cents each.