@patann - I cannot remember if you have a front-load washer. Even with cutting our doses to 1/4 of detergent label suggestions (and yes, the clothes are coming out clean), our Miele W4842 doesn't rinse well enough to remove *all* the detergent residue. The only we we don't have rashes and itching is when I check the final rinse for any bubbles or suds. I've had to do sometimes 3 or 4 extra rinses, or run the cycle again without detergent. It really helps to run an "Express" wash first, after removing the load of laundry, before doing the extra rinses. That ensures any residual suds are removed and I'm rinsing the laundry only. Sounds crazy, I know, but with our 'moderately hard' water (80 - 100 mg/L) it must be done for our sensitive skin. I use no fabric softener at all, and only unscented "free" types of HE detergents. The bottom line is that the detergent may not be a factor at all, but inadequate rinsing by the machine (if over-dosing of detergent is not the culprit).

Alex Chicago: Some washes come out cleaner (smelling fresher) from the Little Giant, even though it's the same wash length, nominal temperature and chemicals as in the W4840. I'm thinking particularly of pillow cases, washed at Very Warm in the W4840 and 120F in the Little Giant. There's a long lag getting hot water to my W4840, but the internal heater is working, I always do an Extended wash (1 hour wash tumble), and I have seen the machine further extending the wash tumble to give the water more time to heat. In the last few months I've run a nearby faucet to bring hot water to that end of the house before doing a wash at Very Warm or Hot, but the Little Giant still seems to do better. The 5000W heater really shows itself here, even with cold fill. The Comforters program in the W4840 is excellent, but it doesn't go above Warm, and I don't think a program like Custom would wet down a comforter. The Little Giant Cottons Universal program with raised water level has no problem wetting them down, and can go up to 140F. I've seen the results in cleaner comforters (yes, duvet covers are recommended, and no, we don't use them). Cottons Hygiene could probably handle comforters also, but I haven't yet wanted to wash one at 160F or higher. On the negative side, the Little Giant's smaller drum is at a disadvantage with thick comforters. All our comforters do fit in, and most of them settle down when wet so there's room to tumble. But I just washed one that didn't, so it kind of just spun around inside the drum. It did get washed though. The W4840 is overall excellent at spinning, but I'm not crazy about its pulse spins. They throw a burst of current into the motor to rev up the drum quickly, but with no apparent concern for balancing. The machine is heavy enough to shrug this off in most cases. But I've had some loud bangs, and even some movement, with a very unbalanced load like heavy cotton bathroom mats. Can avoid it by setting a lower spin speed, but if you don't, watch out. The Little Giant does pulse-type spins in a more careful and controlled manner, so it doesn't have this problem. A couple of weeks ago I wanted to wash the garage floor. I was going to buy a new mop, rather than using our cleaners' mops that they use inside the house. But then I realized I have Sluice Low on the Little Giant, so I used one of the mops and then threw both mop heads into the machine. Might be able to get away with that in the W4840, but the Little Giant is made for it. Really, you can't compare the W4840 and the Little Giant, they're a completely different class of machine. Water levels, heating, configurable options, array of programs. As for the Asko: Well, I returned it, and I'm keeping the Little Giant, so that's one answer. But say I try to answer based on an Asko that worked the way I imagined it would. The difference between that Asko and the Little Giant would be less than the difference between the W4840 and the Little Giant. But the Little Giant is a true commercial machine that costs 50% more, is much more flexible and configurable, and has a heater 2 1/2 times as powerful.

Pat, I once spoke to P&G about this..I also wondered about the oxygen bleach in some of their powders..they told me they put a small amount in as a stain fighter, but not enough to whiten....also the Tide with Bleach powder has a bleach activator where I don't think the others do. Pat are you looking for a Whites detergent or a all purpose detergent for everything? There really is no one detergent that does it all. You could use the Tide Free for everything and buy a seperate booster to add for whites. On the other hand, LOL, I don't recommend Tide with Bleach powder for colors as you will eventually end up with fading....tell me Pat if your choosing one of the above detergents what do you want it to do for you other than clean clothes of course?

Yes I can help! I’ve been cloth diapering the better part of 18 years lol my kids, foster kids and now my grandson. There is a great retailer I use (green mountain diapers) and they have a book you can download that tells you all about cloth diapers. Their website is super helpful since on most of their products they have actual baby pictures that show them in real life. As for washing I can help you with that too. Need strong detergent hot water and a washer that’s about it.