Health & Fitness

The Perfect Condom?

Is there such a thing as a perfect condom? Well, I guess it depends on whom you ask. The perfect condom has to stand up (no pun intended) to rigorous tests—not just in the bedroom but also in a lab. Does your brand make the grade or fall flat?

Lucky for you condom users, the folks at Consumer Reports Health just tested 20 latex condoms. The condoms were tested for strength, reliability, leakage and package integrity.

Of the 20 condom brands tested, 7 received a perfect score of 100:

* Durex Performax

* Lifestyles Ultra Sensitive Lubricated

* Lifestyles Warming Pleasure

* Trojan Her Pleasure Ecstasy

* Trojan Magnum Lubricated

* Trojan Ultra Thin

More About The Test:

Each model was tested between 500-600 times. To do this, Consumer Reports Health bought more than 15,000 condoms. Imagine the looks they got at the local drug store!

To test for reliability and strength the condoms were inflated with air until they burst. In a more stringent test, condoms were evaluated while inflated with 25 liters or more of air.

Consumer Reports Health also performed two submersion tests to look for possible leaks in the condom and its packaging. Consumer Reports Health notes that while the Night Light Glow in the Dark condom did live up to its illumination claim, in the Consumer Reports Health tests this condom was the weakest condom tested. The Night Glow in the Dark condom also had a higher number of samples with holes. Note: This condom does meet minumum test standards

According to Jamie Hirsch of Consumer Reports, there are federal and international standards set to measure condom strength and integrity. Consumer Reports uses these standards but also goes above and beyond with more strigent tests.

The good news-- all of the condoms tested passed federal standards but Consumer Reports Health found some condoms are stronger than others.

Consumer Reports Health notes that consumers will get the most protection with any condom by using it properly. If you have a latex allergy you can now find synthetic condoms. Consumer Reprts did not test the synthetic condoms because there is no set standard yet for these. But Hirsch notes the synthetic they were free of holes in the product and the packaging.

Testers did not conduct an ease of use test—you’ll have to conduct that test on your own!

To see if your favorite condom made the grade log on and subcribe to Consumer Reports Health or pick up a copy on newstands now.