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Why are "saturation dyes" needed?

The fluorescent dye SYBR Green I is commonly used for real-time PCR and melting analysis.  However, SYBR Green I does not work well for high-resolution melting. A new class of dyes called "saturation dyes" were developed for this reason. The name comes from observation that these dyes do not inhibit PCR even if used at concentrations that give maximum fluorescence (saturation). The most important criteria of a useful dye is the ability to detect low Tm products and heteroduplexes in a mixutre of DNA during melting.

LCGreen® I and LCGreen Plus were the first two dyes we developed. To date, they are the most sensitive dyes available for mutation scanning and unlabeled probe analysis using high-resolution melting (Figure below compares heteroduplex detection sensitivities of various dyes).