To be specific 1. I have two robes that are made of the soft fleecy material, machine washable. I put them in and they developed all sorts of pulls and pills after one wash. I think I may have washed them in my TL before it broke, no problem. I also have a couple of silky sweaters. I had washed similar ones in my TL without a problem, these pill in the washer even in a bag on hand wash. I occassionally get a very tangled load. My kids have some North Face down jackets. I have washed them in the machine and they develop small cracks or holes (I will take this up with North Face but I suspect it is the machine). My kids are gentle and bookish, not the types to roll in the mud. None of their friends report this problem 2. The water temperature used to drive me crazy. If you read the specs it says that hot without the heater is designed to be 112 F. The heater can only be used with white loads and the loads wash for nearly two hours then. Plus it fills with lukewarm water which it then heats. My TL used to fill with much hotter water from the tap on most cycles. It is ridiculous since the tap is about 10 feet from water heater and I always run the laundry tap if I want hot water wash. If I do not want the heater, I literally have to turn off the cold water supply. Apparently the lower model without the heater is designed to fill at 130F! as a max. This would have been better since I rarely use the heater. If you like using cold water for all your loads, this is the machine for you! 3. I recently had a mold problem that literally stunk up the whole house. I could smell it in the kitchen one floor up. It was impossible to find the source, I did clean the dispensers, and put bleach in them. The tub sort of floats in the machine and is impossible to clean behind without taking the machine apart. Fortunately the Tide cleaner, after about 4 uses got rid of most of the problem. For the record I never use fabric softener or dryer sheets and I always use HE detergent. We are guilty of not always leaving it open but I was surprised it happened after a few years. As for regulating the water, you have to play with the controls and manipulate them if you want it to fill Finally I do not think my laundry is any cleaner than it was with my TL. If anything it might be a bit more stained but it might be me making less of an effort Having said this, we used a small Bosch on vacation which did not use enough water to get the smells or stains out of my kids laundry so I guess there are worse choices If we move I might get another machine of the same type because of the blanket issue. It would have to have a better way of regulating the water temprature. I need a washer with hotter water on a regular length wash

Taking a chance and resurrecting this VERY old thread to ask a question about SpeedQueen - Don't want to risk being slammed for not choosing Miele. We are Miele fans - have half of all kitchen appliances from Miele - and were definitely considering a Miele laundry pair all along until I read this thread - I'm mostly concerned with the amount of time it takes for a Miele cycle, and since we have hired help doing most of the laundry, i'm worried that the helpers / maids will mess up with the complicated set of setting options on the Miele (and end up using the wrong temperatures etc!). We can't get residential models of Speed Queen where we are - but the local Commercial Speed Queen dealer (actually, Huebsch since we're in Canada) offered a commercial TL model that seems to have enough cycle settings to suit our needs. My question is, is anyone here familiar with the model ******YWN311 of Huebsch*******? The spec sheet says washtub volume is 3.3 cu ft - how does that compare to the "per kg" measurement that's used by, say, Miele? Any comments on whether these Speed Queen / Huebsch commercial machines would get "too rough" on fabrics? We're generally just washing sweatshirts, T shirts, school uniforms, beddings, towels etc. I'm not the type to put any delicates or sweaters into laundry machines. We haven't totally given up on Miele yet ... well-meant, constructive suggestions (on how to fool proof our machines to not be misused by hired helpers) are welcome. You'd be wasting your breath if you tell me to "go do my own laundry on the Miele" LOL. On the other hand, I'd like to quote a very smart friend of mine from when we attended together a Miele demo session), "if i'm THAT worried about a piece of garment, I'd just either hand-wash it or take it to dry cleaning".

beagle, All Free Clear doesn't get stains out by itself. It doesn't have enzymes to do that. So, it is great for stuff that touches my skin, which doesn't get so dirty anyway, but it's nice to know that Cheer could get it even cleaner if the enzyme in Cheer doesn't bother me when perspiring. I like All Free Clear fine for my sheets, towels, underwear, jeans not worn gardening. I just don't love the cleaning ability compared to Cheer powder. I tried Cheer Free liquid but actually didn't like it as well as All Free liquid -- can't remember if it was because of the enzyme in Cheer Free or just cleaning ability. Cheer Free also isn't marked as allergist recommended and I read somewhere that All Free is supposed to kill (eliminate?) dust mite droppings. Who knows?

I forgot to answer the original question, now that I'm the owner of a SQ, for whites, bedding and towels I have to say Tide Professional with Oxi for whites, and Mexican Ariel with Downy for colours, darks get powder Cheer...however I'm not loyal to any brand so sometimes I use whatever I'm in the mood for out of my stash, I have found STPP will make almost any detergent clean well. When I first got the SQ I thought it might kick the suds up, but I find that not to be the case, expecially compared to my old Roper (whirlpool) direct drive which could kick up a suds cake in short order.