I have the 4840 Washer & Dryer. I purchased them in February 2008. I LOVE them. I have previously owned a set of Maytag Neptunes....almost as nice. My experience with the rinse was a surprise like everyone else as to how little water these machines use. I use the Persil and/or Tide HE along with a liquid fabric softener (Downy) as you could damage the dryer by using dryer sheets due to static electricity. I use these machines 2 to 3 times a day. We have a large household with lots of dirty clothes. My youngest daughter is a culinary student and when she first started coming home with all kinds of stains including berries, wine & chocolate I was worried. It proved to be for not. Even with my Maytags such stains would still leave "Ghosts". Not only has the Miele erased the stain completely, it does it with care. Her chefs coats still look new (9 months old). Two weeks ago, her teacher and fellow students finally asked her how she keeps her white coats and aprons looking new. They thought that perhaps she had 20 uniforms. She has 5. She told them to "Ask my Mom". lol With that said.....the subject of rinsing. You should also know that I have what's known as "Hyper Smell". I can smell things that most people cannot...unfortunatley somehow related to migraines. To say I am extremely sensitive to smell would be an understatement. I am very particular about laundry. I was told by the technician that installed the Miele's, to use only 1 Tbls. of soap. After a few washes I noticed that there was a musty smell to my laundry. I soon realized that even with the Persil I needed to add more soap. It was the amount of soap (or lack of) that was actually making my laundry seem that it wasn't "Rinsing" properly. I experimented for a while and have found that the 1 Tbls. per load is too good to be true. I now use 3 Tbls. per average load and it has eliminated the musty, not clean odor. They are rinsing beautifully. If clothes do not rinse properly you will notice a build up of some kind. Your clothes will feel tacky or powdery...is that even a word? Ayway, ultimatley with 3 Tbls. of soap my laundry smells fresh and the fabric is light. This tells me that the rinse cycle is performing well. As for the gray coloring of clothes, I have never had that situation. The Master Care "Extra White" setting is AWESOME!!!!! This is what I use on the Chefs clothes. As hot as the water gets with this setting, you would think it would eventually do some damage to her coats and aprons but after 9 months they still look brand new. I hope this helps. Warmest Regards

Use the dress shirt cycle for less wrinkles. Also don't overload the drum everyone uses different detergent. Persil is very eco friendly, low usage amounts and rinses out easily

"So there is only variation in the wash length and nothing changes for the rinses and spins?" Not that I noticed - never saw any. Now like most machines, different cycles for hand-wash and dedicates. They do slow down. But all FL do that in some fashion. I have really lately not been impressed over all with it. Perhaps, just burned out. Just too average in operation for my money. I suspect the older Miele machines would be great, just like my older Bosch. It seems it is for the person who is happy with a cold wash, bleach and asks how long does it take to wash. Time variations would be just an irritant. Are we really so pressed that some machines have a remote monitor to show cycle time left? Geez. This is going to offend some folks, but it reminds me of the late 80's/early 90's Cadillac cars. Perceived as a better built, higher quality and marketed as such. In reality, a Chevy equivalent and not much better trim/fit to boot. And it rambled down the road as compared to MB, Audi, BMW of same time period. W4840 sagging, but well built, heavy door with glass on both sides being a proof point. For Pete's sake, at least make it adjustable.

Hey Cal. I would not say they are entirely synchronized, but pretty close. I tend to wash FULL loads unless it's a cycle that I shouldn't (delicates, f.ex) so I find that the dry time is almost always longer than the wash time. My wash time for Cottons Universal @ 115F is, IIRC, 65 minutes: that's with cold fill and three rinses. I find that the wash time is very close to the estimate at the beginning of the cycle. Contrast this to my previous machine that could easily add 30 minutes in additional balancing adjustments. I find my average dry time is around 70-80 minutes. I do an extended cool down and generally select lower-temp dry cycles (though even the low on a condenser is still HOT). The exception is the "Automatic" cycle. I *must* use this cycle for sheets and blankets because it does tons of auto reversing right from the very beginning. I was having a devil of a time with balled sheets until Larsi turned me on to this cycle. The only downside, of course, is that it's a much cooler cycle and runs long. Not uncommon for my heavy linen/cotton blend blanket to take 90+ minutes to dry. All that said, no regrets. Clothes come out wrinkle-free and looking cared for.