Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

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  • Bjorn
    Phobic non-popper
    • Oct 2018
    • 59

    Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

    After a lot of great experiences I ordered Qualatex (16 inch) balloons in November again.

    They feel a bit soft before inflation, but maybe that's okay. I inflated them to normal size. Not underflated, not overinflated. They feel soft.

    I like humping on balloons and normally these balloons can take a lot of abuse, so I don't have to be afraid of popping (I'm a phobic non-popper).

    They day after inflation I noticed the balloon do feel weak, much more than the day before. I started humping on it like I normally do, but it popped. The latex felt very thin and was extremely stretched. Normally the latex will be streched like this after about a week, maybe even a longer period of time.

    After this accident I inflated a balloon and deflated it after about an hour. Even after it stayed inflate for just one hour it was extremely stretched and very tiny.

    I didn't dare to play with these balloons like normally do.

    I though it could be a poor batch and want to give it a chance so I ordered Q16's again last week.

    Unfortunately these balloons are the same like the balloons I ordered in November last year.

    Did any of you ordered Q16 balloons last months?
    What about your experiences?

    Both times I ordered standard colors.
  • Danman1987
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2012
    • 145

    #2
    Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

    In December I ordered 1000 Q16's pink. Usually I check each balloon on surface defects. Until now I've checked 16 bags and inflated 590 pieces of them, so a loss of 210 balloons which I recon as defective. That could be pits in the latex or noticeable bubbles in the texture of the latex which can be church windows. So I think the quality of Qualatex balloons is going down sadly because they are also my favorite balloons.

    Comment

    • Meililoon
      aka lyckr
      • Sep 2014
      • 700

      #3
      Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

      Where did you order from?
      I ordered a bag of crystal purple Q16s from Balloons-United in January. I've only inflated one of them so far, but it seemed fine.

      Comment

      • Danman1987
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2012
        • 145

        #4
        Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

        I've ordered them from 2 Dutch shops. I had 2 batches, one from 2018 and one from 2019. The 2019 batch was worse than the 2018 batch and they feel thinner than the 2018 batch. So I think Qualatex changed the formula in 2019?

        Comment

        • Meililoon
          aka lyckr
          • Sep 2014
          • 700

          #5
          Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

          I just compared some uninflated Q16s. I have a few left that I bought a couple of years ago and they did actually feel slightly thicker than the newest ones I have. Guess there's a chance they've made them slightly thinner to save money on raw materials.
          If anyone else would be able to compare, that would be cool.

          Comment

          • Bjorn
            Phobic non-popper
            • Oct 2018
            • 59

            #6
            Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

            I ordered balloons at Looners United.

            Before I ordered a couple of balloons, not a bag of balloons.

            I'm thinking about sending a message to the customer support about the chance of quality. Maybe they don't know about the effects of the new formular.

            Do you think they know about looners using this balloons?
            Maybe I had to think about another way to tell them about the quality, but I don't know how.

            What do you think?

            Comment

            • BYGavia
              Senior Member
              • Dec 2017
              • 246

              #7
              Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

              I think we’re basically subject to the whim of the manufacturer. We’re not their target demographic, so there’s not much we can do, unless there’s such a blatant drop in quality that they can’t even be used for their conventional purpose.

              If it becomes bad enough, the best we can do is alert shops such as Balloons United so they can save their money (and ours), but I think there would have to be a severe drop in demand in order to compel them to alter their selection.

              So yeah, our hands are tied, for the most part.

              Comment

              • Asclepio
                Senior Member
                • Sep 2018
                • 457

                #8
                Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

                Never seem q16” lacking of quality, but what I hate is that q16” seems to be lying about the real size, to me they are not 16”, maybe overinflated could reach 16” but definitely they are smaller than 16”, usually happens to me that I try to reach the 16” size with them (as the recommended size says) and found with some of them developing necks at the 16” size, or worse popping at the rated size.
                They should mark them as 15” balloons, because 16” is definitely not the rated size (I repeat, at least without overinflation) so thinking like that even reach the 17” size (overinflation) is almost impossible on first inflation for a q16”.
                And I am pretty sure the neck of these loons gets smaller every new changes qualatex makes. Finding the old ones (2005-2011) having much better necks than the new ones (2012-2020). The neck of a q16” today, seems to be a joke compared to a tuftex or unique balloon.
                Let me be clear, I loved qualatex since my childhood, but today the company seems to be putting efforts on make the balloons less and less attractive to looner community (Or even worse, disappearing our favorite ones like the q24”).
                A looner looking for fun, against violence or people with hightened moral idealism…. I just care about loons, so don’t ruin the fun.

                Comment

                • Nopops4me
                  Senior Member
                  • Jun 2015
                  • 519

                  #9
                  Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

                  I've never been a fan of Qualatex. Had bad experiences with them. Must have been the unlucky one who had the weaker ones which burst on me way before rated size.
                  Yeah Depplooner, I agree that balloons in general don't seem to get to their rated size these days unless you push them and run the risk of them bursting.
                  As non-poppers, we are probably the only ones who check measurements. Basically, the general public don't measure balloons. They just blow balloons up until they look the right size for their decorating and in my experience they finish a few inches below the rated size. The poppers generally blow balloons up 'til it 'pops', so they also don't measure balloons. Manufacturers generally know that their balloons are going to finish up in the trash, so if they can cut down in any way they will go for it.

                  Comment

                  • tim
                    Junior Member
                    • Aug 2019
                    • 7

                    #10
                    Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

                    Definitely more latex imperfections and i think latex smell is also different.

                    Comment

                    • Whoopsapopperlips
                      Junior Member
                      • Jan 2019
                      • 24

                      #11
                      Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

                      Got some 36 inch from Bargain Balloons a little while ago.
                      Had some pops but they did have quite decent necks at the time.

                      -Won’t know how big it’ll go unless you blow.

                      Comment

                      • LoonerPlanet
                        Senior Member
                        • Nov 2018
                        • 144

                        #12
                        Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

                        I share DeppLooner's disappointment with Qtex 16" balloons--they keep getting smaller with a shorter neck. I've attached a photo of an older clown print 16" that gives a sense of what they used to look like.

                        One interesting exception is the Qtex 16" pearls. The first inflation gives a tight, "smaller" balloon, but on the second and third inflation they get good size with a longer neck--more like the 18" stuffer (see other attached photo, but you can get these even bigger and more necked).

                        I've pretty much stopped buying Qtex. (I also find their 3 footer smaller than others and too round.) The drop is quality is another sad development.
                        Attached Files

                        Comment

                        • IILoonerII
                          Banned
                          • Feb 2020
                          • 193

                          #13
                          Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

                          Ive never been a fan of Qualatex either.. I have tried their 36s and they never reached their rated size ever. And they were too firm and round. I even had one pop under me from just sitting on it (No bouncing) plenty of times. After that my interest dropped In them to not buy their balloons again. The uniques 36s seem more durable compared to qualatex which we know its not. But the uniques have the right balance plus they can get really big too.

                          Comment

                          • Mazilon
                            Member
                            • Mar 2017
                            • 31

                            #14
                            Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

                            Oh dear, what a pity. Last I had them they were great. I'm worried that the quality issues have also creeped into the 18" stuffers, which are my staple ride these days, but as I don't go through them terribly quickly, I don't yet have anything newer than from 2018 at the moment so I'll not find out till later.

                            Comment

                            • SuTeKh
                              Member
                              • Sep 2018
                              • 90

                              #15
                              Re: Poor quality Qualatex balloons. What are your experiences last months?

                              I honestly dont think i will get qualatex balloons again until they work out the defects i just got a bag of 36's and had one burst on me at maybe 18 inches fresh out of the bag. Ive seen others stating they burst early i used to like them but they have too many defects for my liking. Will probably stick to Tuftex since i never have issues with them! Wanna give the 36 inch tuftex a try! But i reccomend staying away from qtex atleast their 36 inch until the kinks are worked out of them

                              Comment

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