In 2009–2010, several forensic DNA profiling kits accustomed for Europe and the Prüm Treaty were commerciallyreleased. The manufacturers have made efforts to increase the PCR inhibitor tolerance compared to olderkits, as shown by their increased resistance to known inhibitors such as humic acid and hematin. However, theinhibitor content in true crime scene stains is more complex. Inhibitors may be unknown or not well characterisedand various troublesome compounds may be mixed.Here we evaluate four new 15 STR-marker profiling kits on 29 inhibited crime scene stains from routine caseworkwith DNA concentrations ranging from 0.026 to 0.11 ng/μL. For AmpFℓSTR SGM Plus, used as reference,analysis of 7 samples generated negative/blank DNA profiles, whereas 22 samples produced partial profiles.The four investigated kits were AmpFℓSTR NGM (Applied Biosystems), PowerPlex ESI 16, PowerPlex ESX 16(Promega) and Investigator ESSplex (Qiagen). All four new kits produced DNA profiles of significantly improvedquality compared to AmpFℓSTR SGM Plus. No profiles came out negative/blank. However, the kits were affectedby the complex samples and often failed to produce complete profiles. Matrices such as cigarette butts andmoist snuff seemed especially troublesome. The new kits have raised the bar for PCR inhibitor tolerance, butthe problem still needs to be considered.