My previous washing machine was a Maytag Neptune and cost me like $1400 and the matching (very ordinary) dryer was almost as much to make a matching set.
That washing machine was pitched to me at the latest thing, that it would save me work, energy and water, and I would love it. The fact is that it was a nightmare. I would have to stand there and run the washer through two or three extra complete cycles to get the soapy water out. Yeah, Mr. Salesman, it uses less water. If you want soapy clothes to stick in your dryer.
When I sold the house with that infernal thing in it, one of the conditions on the buyer was that they had to accept the appliances. Good riddance. At that point I vowed to only buy the LEAST EFFICIENT washer in the future, and I did.
I love my $199 Roper that I got at Lowes. The fact that it got one of the lowest ratings on the EPA sticker only sealed the deal. Plus, I got a dealio because they were out of the washer they were advertising at $199 so the nice lady at Lowes gave me the Roper that had a larger capacity than the advertised model for the same price!
And I just love it. I can spin the wheel either way and pop into any cycle I want and after almost a year I haven’t broken the damn thing. I am a laundry weirdo and I love the control. And I am sure I am using about the same amount of water or even less, but I am spending way less time to get my clothes spotless and suds-free.
And thank you, Consumer Reports, for rating Roper as the most reliable brand in your latest customer survey of top loaders. And, well, yeah, since Roper only makes low-end models you would expect them to beat fancier brands in reliability across their range.
I guess my point to the board, is that simple can often be better. I can now walk through Best Buy and not suffer washer envy. The only downside is that when I see some poor benighted couple in that place, and they are about to go in to hock to buy the same type of POS, I want to speak up and say NO! NO! Don’t do it you fools!
I love my washer!