Sandy - good point! I hate drying things absolutely bone dry too. There's a certain dryness level I like. You can feel a little moisture in the clothes but not so much that you're afraid to fold them and put them in the cupboard/drawer etc without fear of them not drying the rest of the way. So folks who want things bone dry will have a somewhat longer drying time. Those times I posted for mine are not bone dry - but a little less than that. I do know for a FACT that these HE Front Load washers can handle much more than the dryer can as far as load size (at least in my experience.) I can tell a huge difference in viewing the tumbling action in the dryer if I had a decent sized load in the washer; when it's in the dryer, it doesn't tumble as well and looks overloaded to me (even though it wasn't overloaded in the washer) and my dryer is 7 cu ft. If I have a normal load in the washer that isn't overly large, it seems like it gets cupboard dry in 35 to 40 min's. I should probably break the loads up when I feel they are too large for the dryer but I don't. I just don't let them get bone dry to minimize wrinkling.

You don't say whether your FP washer is a TL or FL. In my opinion and experience, having to buy ANY washer & dryer these days is a dilemma in itself. If you buy some Top Loaders you can have some control over the water level; otherwise, forget that with any and all Front Loaders. My Speed Queen FL (cost $1800) is built like a tank and works like a charm except for the water level (13.4 gal split between washing and rinsing!???). San Diego Steve will tell you that is plenty and he has even posted that he sold that model and bought the newer one which uses even less total water per wash cycle (11.xx gal I think). He and I are in complete disagreement on how 4 gal of water can rinse a set of King size sheets that remain in a wad. So FL vs TL is the first hurdle. I'm not sure how much water a SQ TL uses, but that would be my first question. My FL spins like crazy. I would have bought an FP but they are not sold anywhere in the Dallas, TX area. Maytag used to make a Centennial model which my daughter in law has and it has a deep rinse which fills the tub, but might no longer be made. Sorry not to have any more helpful information. The Chinese factor would scare me off as well with the FP. Good luck and please post your final decision with the outcome. It will be up to date and may help others.

I have problems bending over and crouching down so front load anything is troublesome for me. Top loaders work better for my situation. But the problem is there's only about one top load dryer anymore. People never quite understood the benefit of it until it was too late and the only one I know of (Fisher & Paykal) is too small a capacity and way overpriced for my needs and wants. I bought one 25% larger for 1/3 the price, then put down some concrete blocks and built a pallet on top of it and plopped the dryer onto it. Now I can stand straight up and reach into it and get the clothes out. The hamper door works as a folding table too. Makes laundry day much easier. Many handicapped people have raised appliances, like dishwashers, dryers, and front load washers. It all depends on your circumstances to what benefits you. The combo washer/dryer units are still made but they're very expensive. I like the idea of putting in a load and walking away to only come back to take out dry clothes, *but*, there's a shortcoming to them too. You really can only wash a half a load with them. The general guideline for a dryer is to double the capacity of your washer, so if you have a 3 cf washer, you should have a 6 cf dryer. Since it's one unit, you have only a few options: Wash half a load, come back and remove half the load and dry it half at a time or come back and keep turning it on to dry more since it won't dry in that time. There's also a misconception about HE top loaders. The myth that they don't have an agitator isn't really true. It doesn't have the *conventional* agitator. It's smaller and works differently. Instead of turning one way and turning back the other way as the traditional one does, it additionally moves up and down. By not having the center post in there, you can get more laundry in it. These units look gigantic for capacity but you cannot fill it to the top either. If and when I have to replace my thirtysomething year old top loader, I'm going to look seriously at the Bravos with the heater in it if they don't change it too much. I think the heater could be advantageous in my climate. Oh and for those who are apprehensive about HE units taking longer, yes, front loaders especially take longer to wash, however there are usually shorter cycles available and it can take much longer if you use a lower powered heater on it, since it takes time to heat the water. But much of this time factor is regained in drying time since the HE washers usually spin faster and extract more water so there's less drying time so the time for a load, wash and dried, doesn't have to be much longer.

There are mechanical considerations such as gearing ratios & "drive train" differences beyond how the motor interfaces to the mechanism. Frigidaire's unimatic mechanism coupled the tub to the motor on a 1:1 ratio for spin, thus the tub spun at the motor's full RPM of 1,140. Whirlpool/Kenmore direct-drive design runs the spin via the transmission with gearing reduction so the motor's 1,725 RPM is translated to the basket as 640 RPM. F&P couples the motor's shaft directly to the basket for spin (and to the agitator for agitation), the motor is computer-controlled variable speed. Calypso is belt-drive with variable speed motor, very small motor pulley with larger basket/nutator pulley.