Does anyone have one? What brand, how old, do you like it? I'm certain that I want an "old fashioned" machine, but I just had an awful run with a GE one and want a different brand. It seems like all washing machine reviews kind of suck or the people have only washed 2 loads when they put up their review! I really prefer something that would last a bit, although I'm sure everyone feels that way.
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Darn all online cosumer reports are block.. maybe one of the bees here has an account and do a screen shot for you?
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/product-reviews/appliances/washer-reviews/
Here is good house keeping of washers... some are top loaders.
We have a front loader, but we have a stand so we don't have to bend down to fill it which was one reason we were on the fence between top and front loading.
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I have a Maytag top loader and I love it! It's about four years old now and works wonderfully.
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I'm not much help, I have a top loader, but it's HE, not "old fashioned" and we've had very good luck with it. I refused to do a front loader, I'm not a fan. I also hate reviews from people who just got it, you don't know if it's good until you've ran it for 6 months!
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We just got a top loader from LG, no agitator though. But I love it.
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I'm pretty set on an agitator because we cloth diaper and my husbands clothes are normally very dirty (he works an outside manual labor job plus we have a farm). I'm not convinced that the clothes would get clean without an agitator
@avivoca: Do you happen to know how big your maytag is? My current washer is a 3.9 cu. ft and I didn't want to go smaller (it seems like most of the maytags are smaller), but an extra load of laundry might be worth it for a reliable machine!
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@Beyond2: I'll have to look when I go home. It's pretty big though, I want to say it's 3.9 cubic feet.
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@avivoca: Thanks!!
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@Beyond2: Just FYI, we changed to an LG HE toploader w/no agitator back in the summer and it is SOOOO GREAT for cloth diapering!!! Life-changing because I can dump a liner full of nasty diapers in without having to wrestle around the agitator, so the inside of the machine doesn't get anything smeared on it and my hands stay clean. Sounds like you're confident you want an agitator but just wanted to let you know how happy it makes me.
Maytag definitely makes bigger ones, we looked at one but went w/LG instead. Our Home Depot had a few in store.
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@tororojo: hmmm...your post makes me wonder a bit haha. Have you ever washed super muddy clothes in it? How high does the water fill into the barrel? I know the front loaders use hardly any water and wondered if these are similar?
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I have a a brand called Estate by Whirlpool we got for super cheap at hhgregg. We've have it for about 6 years? Still works great!
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@Beyond2: haven't washed mud but maybe you could do a rinse or 2 then a heavy cycle for stuff like that? I'm still perfecting our diaper routine but have read that some people throw in towels so more water is used. I wouldn't have gotten HE ideally but that's what all the big washers were. I do like that it's super easy to add extra rinses or a soak, change temp and soil level...surely with all the options there is a solution for any kind of dirty clothing!
*ETA* (since I didn't really answer your question) it does automatically fill, you don't select load size/water level. I always pre-rinse diapers then don't spin dry so they're already wet/extra water when I start cleaning them...so there are tricks like that you can do. Or adding towels, or maybe some other things. Maybe check out some diaper blogs or google washing super dirty stuff in a HE washer.
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@Beyond2: I have an LG without am agitator too and we really like it. I haven't done muddy yet but sandy was no problem at all (and it was gross wet sand) and we were really lazy after my dog threw up all over a fleece blanket and threw that in with out doing anything to it- that one took two washes and a cycle of "clean washer" but it worked!
It has a button for adding extra water too so for things like cloth diapers (and probably vomit in the future...) you can manually over ride the he setting. We can also do a second rinse which probably would have been helpful with that dog blanket and I know we will use with cloth diapers.
I also like that we have the option to set a custom cycle so that you can have a cloth diaper cycle so you don't have to remember every time to hit the buttons for extra water and extra rinse.
My one issue with the washer is that we have to be careful to only put clothes in on one of the slower spin cycles. On the higher ones they tangle together because it's so powerful. However things come out very close to dry so again it could be really awesome for cloth diapers because I know often drying time is a complaint people have and the spin cycle would probably put less wear and tear on the diapers than the heat in the dryer, but that's just a guess.
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@Cole: ooh, your washer sounds cooler than ours! We don't have the extra water button. I never spin things on high and only spin clothes on low, it's crazy how fast it goes and I'm afraid our clothes will get stretched out!
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@Beyond2: if you are washing really dirty clothes, your best bet is one of the older style washing machines (top loader, with agitator), that use a set amount of water. The newer ones (especially without the agitator) "weigh" the clothes and determine how much water to use.
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@looch: yeah, that's what my gut feeling is too. I really wish there were more options but I really need a strong washing machine. I'm washing muddy clothes on a daily basis along with sawdust, stone dust and all other yucky things (I do shake out the clothes but a lot is stuck into the fabric when they go in). Our needs are very hard on machines. I even looked at commercial machines but the reviews aren't much different. I think I just have to accept the fact that we'll have to by a machine every other year
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@Beyond2: Yeah, my mom also has a lot of complaints about her new machine versus her old one. The newer ones don't use enough water to get the really dirty clothes clean enough.
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I have a Kenmore, old style top loader with agitator. I got it brand knew 6 years ago. I love it, no issues (knock on wood).
Maytag definitely makes bigger ones, we looked at one but went w/LG instead. Our Home Depot had a few in store.
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