Windolene €2.19 for 750ml €2.92 per litre Highs: This is probably the best-known window-cleaning product on the market and is widely available.
It's pretty reliable too. The liquid is not difficult to mop up once it has been sprayed, and leaves few streaks. It is better value than it might have been thanks to the 50 per cent extra free. While some of the other brands have a strong and not entirely pleasant fragrance, Windolene is more subtle.
Lows: This delivers what we thought might be an excessive amount of foamy liquid, and with that rate of spraying we'd have questions about how long each bottle would last. We also wondered about the price - while it is not exactly bad value, it certainly would be if the 50 per cent free were taken away.
Verdict: Okay
Star rating: ***
Flash Multi-surface & Glass
€2.15 for 500ml €4.30 per litre
Highs: This kills bacteria and while we wouldn't have thought there was a significant bacterial problem on our windows, we'll take Flash's word for it that this is a good thing. It is certainly a lot more versatile than others we tried and can be used on surfaces all over the house.
Lows: It is the second dearest of the brands tried, and while it does deliver on its promise of "great cleaning", it only does so with the application of a fairly hefty amount of elbow grease, something that didn't endear it to Pricewatch. It is versatile and will clean a filthy window, but it doesn't deliver much of a shine. It also smells strongly of chemicals and seemed to be a whole lot harder to mop up than the other brands we tried.
Verdict: Pricey but versatile
Star rating: **
Ecover Squirteco all-purpose
€3.79 for 500ml €7.58 per litre
Highs: This product is "for people who care", Ecover tells us, which presumably means its rivals are for people who don't. The bottle is completely recyclable, refills are readily available for less money than the original bottle, and the contents are biodegradable. It has multiple uses and its "plant-based fragrance" is by far the most pleasant. It cleaned perfectly well a window that hadn't seen any attention for the guts of a year.
Lows: All this caring comes at a fairly hefty cost - this is more than three times the price of the cheapest cleaner we tried and more than twice as expensive as the widely available, well-known brands, which is the only downside we could think off.
Verdict: Feel good about everything but the price
Star rating: ****
Mr Muscle Window & Glass
€1.77 for 750ml €2.36 per litre
Highs: Apart from the fact that this is green to Windolene's blue, there isn't a whole lot to separate the two products in terms of cleaning ability and 50-per-cent-freeness. It produces a slightly less foamy residue after the initial spray hits the glass and delivers a window that might have been a little bit shinier - despite the fact that we gave it a particularly grimy piece of glass to clean. It also had a slightly less nasty smell than some of the others. It is a little bit cheaper than the other recognised brand name products we tried.
Lows: We have no idea what is in this product - apart from vinegar, which Mr Muscle boasts about as if it were some class of super-ingredient.
Verdict: Pretty good
Star rating: ***
Tesco
€0.98 for 500ml €1.96 per litre
Highs: This is very cheap, but it doesn't seem to be in any significant way inferior to the better known brands we used and it certainly did all the jobs that were asked of it with little or no fuss. Like the Windolene and Mr Muscle, it contains that magic ingredient, vinegar, which is supposed to reduce the streaks - and it certainly works, as our windows were perfectly streak-free after a going-over with this. It has the most lingering fragrance, which is good for letting the unobservant know that you've been hard at work.
Lows: The fragrance, while initially perfectly pleasant, seems chemically floral and a lot less pleasant if it gets into your nose.
Verdict: Good value
Star rating: ****
