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  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Performance & Features

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Performance Tests: Cleaning

  • Performance Tests: Water Retention

  • Introduction
  • Design & Usability
  • Performance & Features
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Performance Tests: Cleaning
  • Performance Tests: Water Retention

Introduction

Design & Usability

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Easier than walking to the laundromat

The door only opens to about a 45 degree angle.

If you're used to dryers with digital displays, the {{product.name}} may be a blast from the past. There's a single dial to choose a cycle. Turn it clockwise and align it with a wash cycle starting point, then pull the dial to start the cycle. To make room for the dryer above, the door only opens to about a 45 degree angle. That makes loading and unloading difficult, especially when clothes are soaking wet and heavy. Overall, the combination of a manual control and shallow door opening means that it's more difficult to use than a more modern, standalone washer. Still, it's easier than carrying your clothes to the laundromat.

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Performance & Features

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Cycles are speedy, clothes get mostly clean

The Delicates and Quick cycle turned out to be the strongest.

It should be noted that most washers do better than the {{product.name}}. That said, among the cycles it offered, the Delicates and Quick cycle turned out to be the strongest. They took 28 and 31 minutes to complete respectively and both proved to have good cleaning abilities within their own categories. The Normal Heavy Warm cycle also had a fairly good showing, especially dealing with oily stains. All other cycles were below par, but almost made up for it by being very quick. No cycle lasted more than 37 minutes.

Aside from its small size this washer has few other features. Like its sister machine, the Maytag MET3800XW, this washer only has a pre-wash as a feature.

Conclusion

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If saving space is a primary concern, the $1200 {{product.name}} is an acceptable unit.

Considering the performance of the {{product.name}}, if the space can be spared, then a stand alone washer and dryer would be a better bet. The old adage holds true, the jack of all trades is the master of none.

This machine can wash and dry, but it does neither particularly well. Nothing of real note can be said of this machine. It saves space, but that's about it.

Science Introduction

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Being attached to a dryer makes the {{product.name}} a space saver. Beyond that, it's a pretty poor washer. It's a very thirsty machine, drinking on average over 20 gallons a cycle. It was also awkward to use—having a dryer on top didn't help.

Performance Tests: Cleaning

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One simple question: Will it clean my clothes?

In order to determine cleaning performance we use sets of stains strips which have standardized patches. Each patch is stained with common household dirtying agents. They include things like sebum (sweat), blood, oil, red wine, and cocoa. These strips are placed in eight pound loads of laundry with a per-measured amount of industry approved detergent. When the cycle is complete, these strips are scanned by a light spectrometer. These readings are compared to control samples to determine how much of the stain has been removed.

The {{product.name}} stumbled in this regard. It had trouble with stains all across the board. The Normal Heavy Warm fared the best against the stains we threw at it, especially the oil-based ones. The Delicates probably had the best stain removal ability when it is compared to Delicate cycles of other machines.

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Performance Tests: Water Retention

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Your washer's inability to let go of excess water will lead to suffering

Or at the very least, an increase in the amount of time your laundry will need to spend in the dryer. We weigh our test loads before and after a wash cycle. This is done to calculate the amount of water a load has retained. Most cycles on the {{product.name}} ended with clothes retaining two thirds of their weight in water. Ideally, a washer needs to spin out at least 50 percent in order to get our gold star of approval. Luckily, the dryer is right on top.

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Meet the tester

Keith Barry

Keith Barry

Former Editor in Chief, Reviewed Home

@itskeithbarry

Keith was the Editor in Chief of Reviewed's appliance and automotive sites. His work has appeared in publications such as Wired, Car & Driver, and CityLab.

See all of Keith Barry's reviews

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