sue15c, I'll tell you my ideas about why FL's clean better than agitator TL's, and why some FL's disappoint some owners. They're based on long-time use of agitator TL's, followed by six months and counting with an FL. Sorry for the long post, but since you asked three times, I figure you really want to know :-) No opinion on HE TL's, having never used one. 1) Washing action: In an FL, the entire load is tumbling around, so everything is continually rubbing (but lubricated by water), flexing, and falling against the drum. In a fully-loaded agitator TL, only part of the load is exposed to vigorous washing action at a given time. 2) Length of wash cycle: Some FL's, like mine, have pretty long wash cycles on at least some cycle selections, with an option to make them even longer. A half-hour wash cycle gives plenty of exposure to the washing action, and to detergent and other products. A full hour wash cycle is even more exposure, and is great to have available for dirty stuff. Agitator TL's have shorter wash cycles, maximum of 15 or so minutes in my experience. Some FL manufacturers also use short wash cycles, to satisfy users who want quick turnaround of their wash loads. Obviously (to me anyway), a shorter wash cycle means weaker cleaning performance. Also, it takes a few minutes for a large load to be entirely wetted. So if a wash cycle time of, say, 8 minutes includes the time to soak the load, then I imagine there's even less time for actual cleaning. 3) Wash temperature: The advantage here can go to FL or to agitator TL, depending on your plumbing and the features of the particular FL. If your hot water runs cold for a while, before turning hot, an agitator TL may still fill with mostly hot water, because the initial cold water is only part of the fill. But the much smaller fill of an FL may consist entirely of the cold water, even if you wanted warm or hot. So if that's your plumbing setup, and you replace an agitator TL with an FL with no heater, or a heater that's not programmed to boost the temperature on all cycles, then your washes may end up being cooler than you're used to. That'll affect cleaning performance. Maybe this hit is balanced out by better wash action on the FL, in some cases? I don't know. In contrast, an FL with a fully functioning heater, which boosts and maintains the temperature on all cycles, with a wide selection of wash temperatures, can have a definite advantage over an agitator TL, since water temperature is an important factor in cleaning performance. Unfortunately many FL's fall short of this ideal. But most if not all FL's with a heater have at least a super-hot "sanitary" cycle, with exceptional cleaning for fabrics that can stand the temperature. Also re temperature: Even with an ideal plumbing setup, most any new washer, FL or TL, will do warm and perhaps hot washes at a lower temperature than the older machine you're replacing. Among FL's, Miele is the only exception I know of. Among agitator TL's, the Speed Queen seems to be non-temperature-controlled, but I hear it uses more cold than hot in its warm mix. So its warm could also be cooler than you're used to, unless your hot supply is very hot.

"Miele W1, Miele Little Giants or Miele Professional will all provide proper heating of the water to the temp selected. No need to set house common water heater to an unsafe temperature." Miele has temp options Cold tap, 85, 105, 120, 140, and sanitary 170. Very customizable, and heater wastes no time going to work. Most machines you have no idea what the temps are at all period. If a huge drum which most do not even utilize is not important to you, Miele is the bomb. It will hold as much as a full size top loader.

The Infusor agitator on the two GE models you cite is similar to the impeller/washplate of the Oasis/Cabrio/Bravos, AquaSmart, and Harmony, but has a short centerpost (which may help reduce tangling). I suspect that the highest fill is no more than to top of the Infusor post ... which may be about the same as what the Oasis/Cabrio/Bravos do on a Bulky cycle. However, both models do provide for manual control of the water level (in addition to a choice for automatic sensing), so you could run a moderate-size load of diapers on the highest fill and probably meet your needs for water and rinsing.

Well, I finally moved into the renovated house and have the following comments about the Nexxt 800 washer. Per ascotgranny above, the manual does not list the rinse temps for any wash cycle. Very likely, because EVERY rinse is WARM! I just learned this today! How DARE Bosch claim that they have a "Hand wash" cycle for very delicate easy care items that require hand washing" Anything I own that requires hand washing also usually requires being washed (and also RINSED) in COLD water! What good does choosing a COLD wash do if your items are then rinsed in very warm water? I washed a load on COLD regular wash and if finished with very warm clothes. To make sure the hoses weren't reversed, I washed a load on HOT regular wash, and it finished with the items the same temp as the cold wash finished! I then washed some slightly delicate items on the Hand Wash setting and they also finished warm! I also had to update this thread with new info., because apparently the Bosch Nexxt 800 washer that I saw at Karl's in NJ has been updated to eliminate the Rinse/Spin button! I stated above that it had the Rinse/spin option, one option that was important to me, and it DOES NOT have it! Be warned of these unadvertised changes, which are negatives against the Bosch 800 imo. I'm going to research other washers and see if I can still get mine replaced due to these disappointments.