I was wondering that same question a few months ago myself. Makes you wonder what type of quality control there is. The second 500 series that I ordered had a huge dent in the front with a couple scratches. The Lowes delivery guys & I noticed it after we took the packaging off out in my driveway. I didn't accept delivery on it. The first one the strut broke within 5 weeks, the third one had a discoloration on the round disc that covers the coin trap. I did accept that one, but ended up returning it after a couple months for the whirpool duet sport HT.

The differences among the 500/700/platinum are primarily cosmetic. Where one has gray trim, another has chrome - that sort of thing. The 500 has a quick wash, 700 has a waterproof cycle (you add the chemicals to re-apply waterproofing to fabrics. I didn't think this would be useful for me). The 700 adds a couple of extra hours of wrinkle guard, where it tosses the clothes every few minutes, and BEEPS again, after the cylcle is complete. 500 does this for one hour, 700 for 3 hours. The 700 will let you delay the wash for 24 hours, less for the 500 (but I can't remember how long since I don't find this function useful for me). That's all I can think of.

Hay guys (sorry I have a teenage kid - I pick this kind of stuff up from him) I'm looking to add a Bosch washer to my LR. Now that Best Buy (shudder) isn't the only vendor I'm putting them on my interest list. I'll post about my leaking Danby later, after it gets fixed. Second leak, FYI. Somewhere during my insomniac surfing I saw a post that says the 300 heater does NOT maintain temp throughout the wash, but the 500 does. Of course now I can't find it so I'm asking for confirmation or not. Any other differences in these machines (across the whole Bosch line, not jus the 300/500) that one can't get from reading the online user guide/manual? Also I can't seem to download the 300 user manual - I can get the 500, DLX, 700 and Platinum, go figure - so if someone has a link, couldja share please? I'll probably get a 500 (love dross's 'sweet spot') but I just want to look at the options. Gotta tell ya I'm spoiled with my Danby - flick of the dial and I can change temps for any cycle, no muss or fuss, and since its a dial I have infinite variations. I digress. Also since I just seemed to miss one of their (many) rebates which ended 3/31, any idea when Bosch will roll the next one out? Thanks. I'll update my Danby at the three year bday mark in late May.

Please know when I say "poor sap" I am not referring to someone who bought a bosch but rather someone who spends 2 months trying to decide on which model to get. Couple of rebuttals to your rebuttals though: Noise: my point was that from our experience, the duet (washer and dryer) was quiter than the bosch. The bosch also has very anoying buzzers (which can be disabled sometimes), both when cycle completed and when errors occur. Door/tub design: clothes fall out easier on the bosch than they do on the duet (from our experience). I dont know if you wash baby clothes but they get stuck in the rubber seal every other wash for us. And my wife uses the same mesh bags to store dirty clothes, in the duet, one mesh bag meant one full load of laundry, with the bosch it means you have to leave out a couple of items. Time: When you put the duet on the highest temperature setting thus UTILIZING THE BUILT IN HEATER the duet will tell you one hour and 45 minutes and be done in that exact time. When you do this same thing on the bosch, the bosch tells you two hours and ten minutes and will often decide it wants to extend that time. In addition to this, my wife finds that she has to use more detergent in the bosch to get the same cleaning results that she got on the duet. Dryer Venting: The rental house that we are in right now has a laundry cabinet that is NOT on an exterior wall, therefore there is a long run for the vent. The duet put up no complaints at all, but when we got the bosch home (2 weeks later), it would not run for more than 1 minute without cutting off for the e01 error. I went to home depot and got a leaf blower and blew out the vent and yes there was guite a bit of debris in there but even after blowing it out, the bosch will still give the error every 4 loads or so. Therefore, if you turn it on then leave the house, you will sometimes come home to having to reset the machine when you were expecting to have dry clothes. So again, my original statement was that the bosch dryer is pickier than the duet. If someone has a tricky venting situation, the duets are plain and simple a better choice. Therefore in closing, I am not suggesting that the bosch's are not good units but in my opinion, the duets are 10-15% better in overall use and abilities (and the 9200's cost the same as the 500's). Please dont be offended by this, you did not buy a "slouch" machine by any stretch of the imagination, but MY OPNINION is that the duets are a better choice. I wish someone would have given me their opinion on the best when I was trying to decide.