I've never had a piece of clothing damaged by our Speed Queen top loading washer in the 1+ year we've had it. We always set it for plenty of water so the clothes can turn over properly. We don't overload it (the cycles are fast, so we don't need to) and we use the delicate cycle as needed.

Our AWN542 spins at 710 rpm which is probably slower than your front loader, but still effective.

Ive had my speed queen AWN532 for 5 months now. I see no issues with the agitator wearing out my clothes. It does stred my sheets like my waveforce washer did. I love it. It is much more gentle on my clothes than my traditional whilrpool/kenmore toploader I had years ago. that thing was a beast for removing buttons and such from clothes and I dont over load any washer I have ever owned.

We have had our Speed Queen AWN432 for almost 3 years and I have found it to be much more gentle on our clothes than our HE topload washers were (Kenmore Oasis and Maytag Bravos). No more towels with fraying edges!

This whole issue was just pushed by the industry to sell high-priced, high-margin FL washers. Look how many people grew up using overloaded Whirlpool/Kenmore agitator washers (also known as Shredmores)...you would have thought that damaged clothing would have been epidemic. Yet I rarely heard of it.

And in my opinion there's nothing gentle about barely wet clothing twisting and braiding for hours in a FL washer.

It seems Speed Queen took 2 effective agitator designs and combined them. The agitator looks like the old Whirlpool belt drive surgilator combined with a Maytag power fin. Effective turnover without the need for a space hogging cork screw.

I have my SQ since last November, I use it to wash silk and cashmere, they all come out fresh, clean and beautiful. I don't think many other types of material need more tender care than silk and cashmere.

Last week I stopped at the appliance store to check out kitchen appliances. The young man who sold us the SQ set said that they have been selling lots of SQ. It is very true, while I was in the store, he sold their SQ washer floor model.

Speed Queen is the new Maytag. Expensive but you get what you pay for.

Few things are more annoying than broken down major appliances and taking time off work for what always turns out to be multiple visits and waits for parts.

And as far as clothes washers go, high-tech isn't necessarily better. The old school Speed Queen cleans better in 1/2 the time. Water is not a problem is many areas of this country.

I think curiousshopper hit the nail on the head.
I think most of us grew up with traditional agitator washers and go figure... our clothes weren't ripped to shreds by agitators and believe it or not... our clothes were actually clean. In my opinion clean is clean, so when I constantly hear FL's clean "better" I always want to roll my eyes and ask to ask... "So, your clothes were filthy growing up" lol
I too am considering ditching my front loaders for an old school Speed Queen set in the near future. In the years of having my Duets, it's been a continuous love/hate relationship.
Recently it occurred to me that the only thing front loaders have going for them is that their quiet... that's it. We didn't need all these fancy electronic machines with useless features in years past and we were satisfied with our laundry so why are we convinced we need a $1000+ machine these days that produce such mediocre results?

Echo kgdallas sentiments. Consumer reports is certainly no friend to Speed Queen, since when did top loaders fall out of "fashion" ? We have always had front loaders in the USA, the 1st automatic washer was a front loader built by Bendix way back in the 1930's.
anyway,it just seems many folks don't care about quality. They're willing to spend big bucks for "glitz", but complain that a Speed Queen washer costs too much. Style over substance seems to be what matters in our disposable society.

I have read plenty about Consumer Report is no longer the unbiased publication we have been depending on for decades. Big money could change its opinions.

I dropped my subscription to Consumer Reports magazine. When they rate washing machines, they are too concerned about how energy efficient the appliance is, not whether the clothes are clean or not. How energy efficient are the HE top loaders when they use so little water that you feel you need to run the machine twice in order to get the clothes clean? Speed Queen washers take 30 minutes to wash clothes, and you can use the temperature and level of water you want. That is real energy efficiency. I had read Consumer Reports for years, but now don't trust their opinion.

I just hope Speed Queen stays with what they only do best, making solid dependable washers and dryers. They certainly have over 100 years experience. GO SPEED QUEEN!