www.incontinentsupport.org

I am trying a package of TENA Classic Underwear (pull-up) to replace the TENA for Men pull-up as my accident prevention/cheap daily diaper (it's not always on sale). But the challenge is that I cannot directly find what 4 drops out of 8 drops means in mL of absorbency for that product. The absorbent ABENA Abri-Flex Premium on the other hand is listed as 8/9 drops, which for the medium is listed at 2200 mL. Solving for x in 8/9 = 2200/x, means that the total x=2475. Dividing that by 9 to solve for one drop, means that a drop in ABENA terms is about 275 mL per drop.

What a pain this dumbed down drop system is! So doing some fractional math using the ABENA drop system, the TENA Classic is about 4/8=x/9, or x=4.5 drops out of 9 (in the ABENA scale). Taking 4.5 * 275 suggests a capacity of about 1238 mL for the TENA Classic pull-up. But that is flawed also because it assumes the same absorbent materials and chemistry blah blah blah...

Even measuring in oz/mL is not consistent from what I can see since manufacturers can use different ways to measure it. But I'd rather use that measure than some dumbed down drop system or a "feels like" temperature.

It's like buying a lawn mower these days (in NA at least). Nobody lists HP anymore. Grrrr. Now get off of my lawn!

The drop system is a complete waste, as there are no standards or even a way to tell what one drop is and that each manufacture "Drop" is different ( Tranquility has its own system that is a bit better and closer to reality) you cant look at a store shelf full of products with a variety of "drop ratings" and tell for sure That one product is really better than another because its all subjective to each brand and actual use... That is why I created my system of actually testing a product in real use situations repeatedly to find a good Average of useful hours for an average person... I thought it was a good idea... certainly much better than the drops... and a product claiming "MAXiMUM protection"...

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I agree about the lack of standardization in this regard. At best, the drop system at least gives you a relative measure within a manufacturer's line. But otherwise, I'd agree that it is nearly useless.


I think that is indeed a good measure. Certainly when looking at absorbent options, that's the question to be answered (beyond will it leak?)

The problem with alternate systems however, is how to evaluate something that has not been reviewed and measured in that manner. In the end, I had to leak test TENA Classic Underwear myself. But that requires a purchase/sample to do that. It's just inconvenient especially when a sample is unavailable. I'm trying to avoid having a whole closet full of diaper products that may not get used up.

I would test every product if I could find a way to do it and have it pay for the costs... long term The need for The ISO to adapted a more real-world test over what is the current standard.. the Rothwell method is great at testing Complete absorbency of a product but all users of the products KNOW that all products will leak FAR sooner than the MAX capacity that the ISO standard measures...

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I can echo Wayne's frustration about those dumb drops and capacity ratings and wording in general in product descriptions, very misleading at times. ( great calculations by the way ) .
I really appreciated your capacity test video's realworldic they were very helpful in this regard. I agree all manufacturers should be held to the same real life standards to at least provide consumers the most accurate representation of their product. Our dignity is at stake here.

Paul Henry

Yes, dignity is at stake! There's nothing more essential than knowing how long the leak protection is good for.

As far as that calculation goes, I later realized that there was another faulty assumption -- that TENA max drops is not likely the same as ABENA max drops. In other words it is likely that the most absorbent TENA product is less than ABENAs most absorbent. So it is a pretty fluffy number. As a software developer, I've often been tasked with deriving a value out of nearly meaningless data.

However, if you could get an actual number from a TENA product and its drops number, you might get a better estimate. But in the words of Neil Young, that would still be "pissing in the wind" (Ambulance Blues)

Totally agree....drops on package is not a particularly good indicator of a product's capacity. It does seem that within a particular product line, like Tena or Abena, drops might be useful to gauge how a higher or lower drop product in the line might perform. Experience counts.
In the end the 'drops' gauge looks more like a marketing thing.....more drops, more expensive, more profit. All drops are not created equal?

Why can't more manufacturers provide a useful summary like the attached PDF. But of course there are still questions. Like testing method used to arrive at the mL figure and does the absorption apply to the main active area or does it include the whole absorption area of the garment? A mL figure that includes the rear region is of little use to me as I never use that (so far).

Perhaps someone who is retired (not me yet), could create one for all the popular brands and pull-ups/briefs for this site. Just wishing.

Oops, I guess I can't add a PDF file. You can download it from https://za.catalog.hartmann.info/ph-images/content/img_108250_30.pdf

I'm not sure if somewhere a similar English site is available but you can just try this German ones: https://hilfsmittel.gkv-spitzenverband. ... ntergruppe

This is a database where all medical aids are listed that are generally available over the public health system. If yo go to "saugende Inkontinenzhosen" you will find diapers listed by incontinece level. If you go to "saugende Inkontinenzvorlagen" you will find pads.

For the Tena Pants you will find then a record like this (https://hilfsmittel.gkv-spitzenverband. ... ktId=45158):

Inkontinenzunterhose mit erhöhter Saugleistung
- Flüssigkeitsaufnahme: 845,63 g
- Aufsauggeschwindigkeit: 6,47 ml/s
- Flüssigkeitsabgabe: 0,06 g
- ABL-Wert gemäß DIN 13222: 322,0 g
- Umfanggröße nach Herstellerangaben: ca. 95 cm bis 125 cm

The most relevant value is the ABL-Value what means "Absorption Before Leakage". This is a good starting point to compare products. The "g" for gramm equals "ml" for Milliliter here because urine have nearly the wight of water.

The database covers of cause products available in Germany but you will find most large international brands there. Of cause it is not guaranteed that the North American products have the same quality but it is a starting point. For Germany the vendors where urged to publish the data because otherwise they are excluded from the list. So it is not 100% clear if the products in other countries are really comparable.

Hi everyone!!

I can tell you from my experience with the Tena products in the european market. Here, the pants model´s absorbency is equal to the brand´s diaper just below it´s spectrum, for example if you buy the tena pants maxi they´re as absorbent as the tena slip super (the normal anatomic diaper), if you buy the tena pants super they´re as the tena slip plus, and so on. As to those other products it´s quite easy to find tests with its capacity, sometimes even in the store information and more places, I expect you´ll solve your problem soon. Hope the information was useful and helps.

Regards from Spain!

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