Maybe you will get a faster, bigger response in the Laundry Forum. :)

It is tough to give a general answer to that question. Everybody has different ways of doing things and different needs and preferences.

What features are important to you? Water and energy efficiency, cleaning performance, number of cycles and additional options, high temperature wash, cycle times, gentleness?

Where are you going to install your washer? FLs are best suited for concrete floors or other very sturdy floors. It is almost impossible to predict if they will cause problems on second floors or over crawl spaces or basements.

Another important question: How much are you willing or able to spend?

FWIW, I have a Bosch Nexxt 500plus and am very happy with it. I like the internal water heater which gives me the option to select 150 F or even 170 F on the xxtrasanitary cycle. I also like the 2 hour soak option. I have soaked a few badly stained items in oxiclean and after the subsequent wash they were as good as new. I also like the "heavy duty" option which starts the wash cycle wiith cold water and then gradually heats it up during the wash. To me, the gentleness of the washer is a big plus as well. I can wash my delicates without the fear of the washer ruining them by beating them up and wrapping them around the agitator. The cycle times are longer, 58 minutes for most cotton cycles, delicates are shorter, real hot cycles longer. The drying time is noticeably shorter though.

Let me know if you need additional information. Good luck with your research!

looser, good questions--important to me: water and energy-effeciency, fewest bells and whistles, good cleaning performance, and reliability. Will be installed on stained concrete floor. About the $$, I want something that is reliable--don't know how much that will cost. Thank you!

marthavila, I will try over in laundry too--forgot about that. Thanks!

trudymom,
reliability is kind of tough to predict. Some of the models are fairly young. In addition to that, a certain number of ANY kind of appliance or product will have problems early on. It is easy to get scared by all the negative reviews. Most happy consumers probably won't spend their time on forums like this to bragg about their appliance.
If you are willing to spend whatever it takes, I really think you should get a FL with internal water heater like the Whirlpool Duet HT (or the sibling Maytag Epic, Kenmore HE5t), Bosch Nexxt 300 or above, LG, Samsung, and many more. The prices start at $850 or so. Most retailers offer good discounts like mover's rebates or something like that.

I think most FLs are pretty easy to use. The cycle selection should be intuitive. The LCD display on some of them might be a bit much if you don't want bells and whistles. The Nexxt 500plus has some features that go above "bare minimum", but I think they are useful. If you don't use them, it is easy to ignore them. I think the Whirlpool washers are similar.
If you check out the laundry forum you'll find quite a few people who narrowed it down to either Whirlpool or Bosch. LG and Samsung are also very popular.

It might be smart to get the extended warranty since there is a chance that there are mechanical or computer problems. Sears is very expensive on those while Best Buy, Home Depot and Lowes have very reasonable prices.
Good luck!