Is this thing cool, or what?

Our old Maytag top loader bit the dust after 10 years of very reliable service. Facing a $300 transmission replacement, I muttered my firmly decisive "uh . . . no," and launched my typically obsessive all-out quest for THE most-bang-for-the-buck replacement. The Missus wouldn't consider anything but a Maytag (can't say as I blame her), and my experience with GE and Whirlpool eliminated those brands. Kenmore was a possible. But either GE or Whirlpool builds them, so the Sears marque was out of the running, leaving Maytag as the sole contender.

Simple? Again with "uh . . . no." Top loader, front loader, mechanical controls, electronic controls, Max Extract, Extra Rinse, automatic dispensers, stainless/porcelain/polyester resin tubs, warranty, cycles, temps, buttons, dials, widgets, gee-gaws and enough esoteric claims, features and benefits to produce irreversible eye-glaze! Meantime, the laundry's piling up in the corner, and I do like to don clean underwear on occasion. Right or wrong, I like stainless tubs and electronic controls, and Momma wanted Max-Extract and front-loading, so the MAH5500B got the nod by default. Two days (and nearly $2000) after the Sears cash register spit out the receipt, our lovely and talented Neptune washer and dryer were up and humming (literally).

So, is this thing really worth $1000? The jury's still out on that. First, it's pretty good looking, in a slightly over the top way. Just a little too swoopy for my liking. I mean, it is an appliance after all, and the styling makes me think of a Buick Rendezvous SUV - it's ok, but something about it just doesn't work for me. I prefer German cars and the Euro look of the current Whirlpool and Kenmore front loaders, but that's another story. I do like Maytag's door design. Just like in many American cars, the door wraps over into the roof, or top, which somewhat mitigates the bend-over-to-see-the-stuff problem with other front loaders. The Whirlpool/Kenmore solution is a matching pedestal for $150. I much prefer the Maytag approach and the extra cash. Besides, the tub sits at an above horizontal angle, which further eases access.

There are enough cycles, selections and settings to make a C programmer grin, but choosing the right one for the load is very intuitive. Each setting has its own LED indicator, and all the buttons lie behind a sealed soft-touch panel. Nothing to collect dust or get wet. Just select the fabric type, water temp, soil level, and any desired options, including the highly coveted Max Extract, and fire it up! Oh, about Max Extract - the washer has a single button to activate that feature. The user guide shows two buttons - "longer spin" and "faster spin." Obviously a production change, but did we get the new machine with an old manual, or visa-versa? The photo on Maytag's website shows one button, if that means anything. Still, it’s a nice feature that, to some degree, removes more water from laundry during the spin cycle, thus reducing the time (and electricity) needed to dry it.

All selections are retained between loads, so when doing multiple washes that are similar, only the start button needs to be pressed. Wait - want to change just one setting after it starts? You can shift on the fly, so to speak, and it never misses a beat. Just press the button already. Oddly, there's no water level selection. I've always taken for granted that all washers had it, and I find its absence as mildly disconcerting as the lack of pop-up door lock pulls in my wife's Audi. I know the locks are there, I just can't visually confirm they're in the position I want. The user guide assures me that the machine uses an "adaptive fill valve" to provide the appropriate amount of water. I accept that at face value, though I don't know what it does or how it does it.

A final comment on the control display. Open the door, and the settings last used light up. That's great, except that if you're just checking to see if the thing is empty, closing the door does not shut off the display right away. You can manually do that by pressing "Off," or after some indeterminable time (I don't like watching paint dry), it shuts off by itself. That's not a bad thing, but the dryer does it differently. Open the door and nothing happens. One of the selection buttons must be pressed to activate the display.
Curious . . .

Whether it's filling, washing, draining or spinning, this thing is uncannily quiet, and the sound of the spin cycle is pleasantly unique. As one other reviewer said, it's similar to a jet plane's engines spooling up at the gate - something totally unexpected in a washer. Speaking of spinning, it does automatically redistribute out-of-balance loads. I’m not sure how it accomplishes that, but I do know that it will stop spinning for a moment, then restart in what I presume to be the opposite direction. It will continue to do that until it can achieve a relatively smooth spin.

There is a direct access detergent/softener/bleach dispenser along the left edge of the top panel, and I'm assured by the manual that the washer flushes these ingredients into the laundry stew at the appropriate time. I can't prove otherwise. I only know that they're gone when the load is done. With that, and a stretch of faith, I believe! The access door to this contraption seems flimsy, though. Not a problem if the dryer sits to the left of the washer, because the door opens in that direction and can rest on the dryer when adding stuff. Without that support, an airborne cat or bleach bottle could snap the thing off in a heartbeat. Also, the flow of water through the dispenser somehow causes soap powder to accumulate around the recessed head of one its mounting screws. Once a week or so the gunk has to be cleaned out, and that's an aggravation I could live without.

'member how it used to take twice as long to dry a load as it took to wash it? Not any more! The Neptune pair's cycles are equalized, according to Maytag. That sounds like a "now, why didn't I think of that." But after doing a few loads, it's clear there was no technological brainstorm involved. Fact is, front loaders in general wash with less water than top loaders, but the trade-off is a longer required wash cycle in order to get the clothes clean. Depending on the cycle and options selected on the Neptune, it can take well over an hour to complete a wash. For routine laundry, though, about 45 minutes seems to be the norm. But that's ok. If it finished sooner, you couldn't do anything with the stuff in the washer anyway until the dryer was done with the previous load.

Does the Neptune clean any better than our old top loader? I honestly don't see any difference. But our laundry isn't really grubby dirty anyway, so cleaning effectiveness is difficult to gauge. I only know that it does get the Wednesday night pizza stains out of the TV tray placemats. As other reviewers have pointed out, though, and despite Maytag's claims to the contrary, this machine may eventually damage clothes more than a top loader. Large items like bed sheets come out far more twisted and tangled than with our old washer, and in my opinion, that means more wear during the wash. We'll just have to see how that affects clothes long term.

Ok, it's supposed to use less water, electricity and detergent than a top loader. We do use about a third less detergent in the Neptune compared to the old washer, so that's a clear savings. Feed it too much powder, and it's obvious when the cycle ends - soap foam will still be hanging around the door opening. But the savings isn't that significant. A 95-load box of Tide is 17 bucks at Sam's Club. Pre-Neptune, we used a box every two months, or $8.50 per month. One third less cuts that by $2.80 a month, or $33 a year - enough for an extra jug of my Scotch, but not enough to write home about. As for the electricity and water, I'm not interested in comparing meter readings or utility bills, so I honestly can't verify any savings. If Maytag says it, it must be so. Right!

Over the years, the words "Maytag" and "dependability" seem to have merged into a phrase that has become, based on some reviewers' experiences, oxymoron-ish. There appear to be two recurring problems with these Neptunes - mildew growth around the door gasket, and early electronic control board failures. Maytag recommends drying the gasket when the day's laundry is finished. Sounds like a simple preventive measure, but I doubt that one in fifty owners will do that. Once that last load is out, drying off the gasket is the last thing we're gonna be thinking about. At least one reviewer indicated there was an upgraded gasket available, but changing it did not eliminate the problem. We'll just leave the door open to let our Neptune air-dry, and hope that one of the cats won't be asleep inside the next time we load it up.

The control board issue concerns me a little, but I don't lose sleep over it. Maytag's warranty is still better than any of the others, and those boards are covered for five years. True, the labor to change one out isn't included after the first year, but that's a job I can do pretty easily myself. Furthermore, those who complain about electronic controls and features representing more things to fail have clearly forgotten, or never knew, how frequently mechanical timers would fail and how expensive they were to replace. I suspect they are like my late father, who often complained that electric windows in a car made it a potential death trap. He reasoned that if and when the car ran off a bridge into a river, the electronics would fail and he would drown because he couldn't open the window to escape. Always groused that he couldn’t get that Park Avenue without them. He also refused, until the 1960's, to buy a car with a radio or automatic transmission. Dad was just a wee bit eccentric.

But, I digress. The Neptune MAH5500B seems to be a great washer. Personally, I could have settled for another Maytag top loader, and saved about $500 on the matching pair. But it is pretty cool as far as a laundry appliance goes, it gets the job done, and Momma is happy. Just keepin' 'em crossed that the board doesn't blow and the gasket doesn't spawn primitive life forms.

Photo & Specs:
http://www.maytag.com/mths/products/product.jsp?model=MAH5500BWW&cs=0&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

01/2007 - 4 1/2 years down the road, this machine hasn't missed a beat. Knock on wood, it looks like ours was not built on a Monday or Friday! ;-)