Totally worth the money so far!

After much consternation and research (probably research overkill), I decided to purchase the LG Steamwasher (wm2688hnma, newest model with allergen cycle). Our 20 year old $200 GE washer we bought when we were first married still worked, but that is all you can say about it. It would unbalance frequently and walk to where you couldn't open the laundry room door, which was a pain to move by pushing with a broom handle under the door. So I thought it was time for it to go.

I had found a scratch and dent (although it was pristine other than not working, but all is well now) matching dryer for $400 first, but that is another story. We decided to go the retail route with the washer.

We decided to go with home depot, which had a 10% sale and that made the washer around $1400 with rebated $55 dollar delivery. Of course they gave the 4 hour window on Saturday and called at the end of the window stating they would be late. They finally showed up, installed, leveled and tested the washer, and hauled off the old washer and dryer in about 20 minutes or less.

Detailed Specifications can be found here:

http://us.lge.com/products/model/detail/home appliances_laundry_washers_WM2688HWMA.jhtml

First impression was how quiet it was, could barely hear it compared to the old washer. I decided to do a load of whites on the sanitary cycle with the steam. This took over 1.5 hours, but you could certainly tell the difference on how white everything came out as I compared some of my T-shirts to the ones from the old washer. I can't imaging running that cycle all the time as it took so long, maybe once per month on whites. I also noticed how dry the items were out of the washer. They only took 10 minutes, yes 10 minutes to dry in the dryer. The higher spin speeds take almost all the water out of the clothes.

The next morning, we decided to do all of our laundry. The first load was all jeans from all 5 people in our family, at least 12 pair. The tub was full, but not packed in. I chose the normal cycle, cold/cold water, and light soil since they were not dirty, only worn once. The cycle took 54 minutes, just a little bit longer than the old washer, but again, the were only damp coming out. We put all the jeans in the dryer and they took 40 minutes to dry and beat the next load of clothes. This would have taken two full loads in both the washer and dryer for my old pair, so this was huge reduction in time considering at least 40 min for 2 loads in washer, and close to an hour each load in the dryer.

Doing the next 4 loads, I kept choosing light soil on Normal cycle as nothing was really dirty. Most loads were totally full and averaged 45 min wash time. All loads were out of the dryer in 30 min or less. I also just completed washing our Queen size comforter, which would have had to be done commercially prior.

Overall, I can tell the clothes appear cleaner, especially items that are white or have white in them. I haven't had it long enough to have problems, so we'll see in the long run. I have wiped the seal after every load and will leave the door open for a while. I have read the reviews about stink washer, but I know several people with LG's and other front load models and they don't have problems. I suspect many (not all) of the problems relate to using too much detergent or the wrong kind. I don't expect any problems.

I can understand some people's complaint about long cycle times, but they probably aren't adjusting for soil levels, which cuts the time way down. I can't imagine having regular clothes so dirty on a regular basis that you had to choose normal or heavy soil.

This washer is everything I expected and more and I would purchase it again in a heartbeat. It lives up to the hype. I haven't even mentioned the water or energy conservation yet either.

UPDATE:

After weeks of use, I must say no regrets so far. We've found that for most laundry loads, which are clothes worn once and not really dirty, the speedwash cycle works just fine. We set the soil level to dirty to get a little more wash time. The speedwash cycle last 25 minutes, and in the matching gas dryer, the loads take about 25 minutes to dry. We started laundry this morning at about 9 AM and have washed 5 loads and dried 4 and it's a little after 11 AM. That would have taken a couple of hours more with our old standard washer and dryer.

One tip to remember, make sure you wipe down and dry the seals and glass window after your final wash of the day (which we do religiously) We were gone on vacation this week and our mother in law ran a load (with my 10 yr old son's help) and she left the door closed and didn't wipe the seal. There was a slight odor in the washer and I ran the tub clean cycle with bleach and cleaned the seal and the slight odor is gone.