bosch owners - trying to decide on 300 or 500

14 years ago

I plan to purchase a bosch front loader, hopefully tomorrow, and return this whirlpool top loader that i purchased that has no hot water.(interestingly, no salesperson that i have encountered has been privy to this fact. had i been aware of this, i would not have purchased it.) i have read most of the posts on bosch washers here and would like to ask bosch owners about some of the things that i have read.

1. what temperature do the cycles rinse in, warm or cold? (i've seen a post that mentions warm). is it it the same on both models?

2. is the rinse plus on the 500 an alternative to the spin and drain cycles on the 300?

3. there is a bleach setting listed for the 300 but not the 500. is that because of the xxxsanitary cycle? what if i wanted to use bleach anyway, how could i?

4. how does ecoaction work?

5. i read that the bosch heater maintains the temp on the 500, is that true for the 300?

6. lastly, are the jeans and wool cycles worth the extra money? i am mainly interested in the sanitary and the quickwash cycles on the 500 but am curious as to the other differences.

are you guys pleased with your purchase or do you wish you had bought a duet or something else? duet was my other option but i think i'm gonna go bosch.

i know that i have a lot of questions but this is a lot of money for a washing machine and with four kids, we are gonna give it a workout, so i want to know what i'm getting and who better to ask than an owner. i REALLY appreciate anyone taking the time to answer some or all of my questions. i plan to purchase tomorrow but if my husband works late, it will not be until wednesday.

Thanks so much.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

plumbly22
14 years ago
I have the 500... IIRC the 300 does not have a heater, or at least did not when I looked at them (almost 3 years ago).

I'm pretty sure all rinses are cold across the board.

I do have a wool cycle, but my machine does not have the jeans setting. I think I've used the wool setting once or twice now.

I most oftern use 'normal/warm, sanitary, and hand wash'... if I'm in a hurry and I know it's nothing really 'dirty' I'll use the quick wash setting.

Mine soe not have 'rinse plus' but I do have a spin setting and a soak setting. I have a bleach dispenser and a bleach 'button' to press and light up when I use bleach (rarely)... no idea what ecoaction is... I'm guessing this is some 'new' thing...

I love my machine and know several people with the same model I have who will all say the same thing, yet I know there are those here who have had their share of problems with Bosch. I do not have vibration problems and my install is on the second floor of my home, just about dead in the middle of the second floor, not far from my headboard, and near my daughter's bedroom (10yo). I frequently put in a load to run overnight with the delay start, it does not disturb our sleep. It is a bery quiet machine, I actually find the dryer to be mre bothersome once it goes into it's on/off cycling for wrinkle guard, I have not found a way to turn that feature off!

Good luck with whatever you pick
Anna Vegia
14 years ago
I bought the top-of the line Bosch Nexxt washer and dryer in August of 2004. For the first couple of weeks I thought they were very cool, but it didn't take me long to realize that these machines were awful for me. I have been very, very unhappy with them. They don't clean well, the computer display stopped working (making it nearly very difficult to use, and impossible to use any of the special features, like quick wash). They wanted $700 to replace that part, not including labor. I'm sure other users have had better luck, but I will avoid these machines like the plague in the future. Good luck!
Related Discussions
Questions for owners of Bosch Nexxt 500 Series washers
Q
Comments (50)
After 2+ years of ownership now I will say I would easily buy this machine again... That said I have had 2 service calls... the first time the pump stopped... it was replaced and it's run great ever since...until I washed a rubber backed bath rug and the backing fell apart into crumbs and plugged the line... service cleaned that out for me and it's been great ever since... now that second time was entirely my fault... I knew the backing was old and delicate... but I was trying to push one last wash and a month or so out of the rug... dumb move... Personally the only 'guts' I've gotten near is to open the round 'access' on the bottom front which allows you to open the clean out prior to the pump... when I've checked there (other than with the rug incident) there is never anything of consequence... and it's solely been an 'execrise' in how to do it... That said... be aware that a small item (kids socks, small panties, etc) will occassionally end up in the gasket by the door, and then you have to decide if you're going to hold onto it for another load, or give it a good squeeze out and toss it into the dryer... I have found if I put this type of item in the washer first when loading the problem does not occur as often... maybe once per month or two... not great, but not a deal breaker in my mind. From comments some have posted here is seems that some bosch models do not have a spin option on the dial any longer, so I'd watch for that as IF you end up unbalanced you can get a 'soggy' load at the end and then you just need to re-spin the load after rearranging it... again, not frequent maybe I've done this 3-4 times in 2+ years??? but if you don't have the option to select only a spin, you'd have to rewash needlessly. If you don't currently have a fl machine, be aware, cycles are longer... I find my typical normal regular wash time is about 1 hour per load, unless I select the 'quick' wash of ~25 minutes. good luck with whatever you end up with.
...See More
bosch 500 owners--urgent question
Q
Comments (19)
When a load gets seriously unbalanced I do hear something like a knocking noise during the spin cycle. It doesn't happen that often, but when it does I usually pause the washer and try to untangle a few of the offending items. (The legs of long pants can get tangled up during the wash cycle and make proper balancing impossible.) How do you load your washer? It is recommended to loosely throw in one (or a few) item(s) at a time instead of shoving in a whole bunch at once (my SIL did that a few times and it did cause an imbalance problem). If the washer itself doesn't move or shake it probably isn't a vibration problem. Hope this helps!
...See More
Help me decide: Bosch 500 series dishwasher or Kitchenaid Architect II
Q
Comments (13)
Thank you for your views and suggestions. I love the third rack option also and also the Aquastop feature offered by Bosch (because our last one leaked). Kitchenaid architect series does not have these 2 options but has almost the double number of reviews compared to the Bosch and it is very highly rated also. After I posted my question here I was browsing some of the previous threads... There is a lot of discussion about the funky smell/odor and mold issue that some people are experiencing with Bosch. Have any of you who already own one experienced this issue? Thanks, N
...See More
Bosch Dishwashers—100 vs 300 vs 500 vs 800 Series?
Q
Comments (6)
I have a Bosch 500 that is about 3 years old, and it's just fine on drying -- there's still water in the crevices or concave areas. No problem drying plates, glasses, pots, or pans.....Plastics dry better if there are fewer of them in the load (i.e. a lot of plastics in the load will still have some water on them, but with only a few pieces of plastic in the load, they'll be properly dry)......that's because of the way the drying cycle works, without additional heat. I actually like that better - not only is it more energy efficient, it means I can put plastics in the bottom rack, because it is no hotter than the top rack (traditionally, plastics were meant to be in the top rack only, because the heat element was in the bottom). I've also found that not opening the machine right away when it stops actually helps the plastics dry better (I suppose because there's still enough heat in the machine to dry them).
...See More
shortlid
14 years ago
Did you purchase the Bosch 800?
shortlid
14 years ago
I am about to buy the 300 since it is $449 after the new $150 rebates at my local dealer! The 500 is over $230 more. The sales person said the tub on teh 300 and the 500 are the same and that the 300 DOES have a on board water heater? I tend to agree since it says 150 degree wash cycle on the info? Only differince is the sanitize feature and quick lite cycle. Am I missing someting?
moon1234
14 years ago
Keep in mind that Bosch has two very different lines. The vision and NEXXT lines were, in my opinion, the US mainstream line. These machines were built in the USA for the value minded consumer. They use more plastic and lower end parts to get the price in-line with other brands. This of course has lowered their problem free longevoty.

Bosch also has their AXXIS line with is their "smaller" 24" line. The newer WAS24460UC model is made in Germnay with premium components. While it is a smaller machine, these are the models that Bosch has built their reliability name on. We own the later model.

The ecowash option lowers wash temperature, disables the onboard water heater, etc. I never use it. It is my opinion that this was added as a way of pandering to the eco nazis out there. Hot water is better for the environment than a ton of chemicals that would be required to clean in cold water.

We are a family of seven with another on the way. If you have six now I would suggest you budget for dual washer/dryers. Otherwise you will be doing multiple loads every day in the one washer. We own the Miele W4840/T9800 pair for main clothes washers. We looked at the Bosch Vision combo, but the quality/fit/finish is way below the Miele jumbo washers. The Bosch AXXIS or Siemens Ultrastack (same machines) are similar in quality to the Miele compact washers/dryers.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but if you want a washer/dryer pair to last under what is essentially commercial like duty, then you have to pay for the best. Bosch rates the Vision line as a 10 year machine. They say the washers are designed for 3000 wash cycles. If you do two loads a day that means your washer will last around 3.5 to 4 years. With six people you are most likely doing this much laundry. We do around 4 loads per day, plus cloth diapers.

Two washers and dryers make this manageable. We had an older Bosch WFK2401 that just bit the dust after 10 years. It had close to 10,000 washes on it. It was the predecessor to the AXXIS line.
deeageaux
14 years ago
2. The 500 also has a "drain & rinse" cycle.

3.Yes,put the bleach in the bleach compartment. I always use bleach in the xxxsanitary cyle for white socks and undies.

4. Ecoaction is the "I don't want my clothes really clean" option so I never use it.

5.I use the jeans cyle for new jeans.It keeps my new jeans from looking like 80's stonewash jeans. Is it worht it? That is up to you.

The Vision is a new design built in a new North Carolina factory. It does not have much in common with the old Nexxt line.
shortlid
14 years ago
Vision any better built than the older Nexxt or is it too new to know?

bosch owners - trying to decide on 300 or 500

Comments (7)

plumbly22

Anna Vegia

Related Discussions

shortlid

shortlid

moon1234

deeageaux

shortlid

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US