Simpson SWT1023A

Bad decision! – We purchased this brand new after our awesome NEC washer died, had that for 17 years never missed a beat! This machine is very annoying, it starts filling, then stops and agitates for a bit but why thats necessary is beyond me as the clothes are hardly wet! then takes ages to fill. Then after a few months started making a high squealing sound when spinning, turns out a bearing was gone! so the machine was replaced with the same model....fast forward 8 months and now its starting to make the same noise again! but intermittently..... so of course the technician turned up today and Murphys law would have it, it didn't make the noise but he has noted it in case it gets worse, I have ZERO confidence in it now and wish I had never purchased it.

Much better than expected! – The washing machine was purchased to replace a 10+ year old Fisher and Paykel, which was still working fine, but at 5.5kg was too small for my current needs. I did my research and had settled on a 9kg Simpson model, as I was determined not to buy a machine without a proper agitator, as I'd heard nothing but negative reviews about agitatorless top loaders. Then at the last minute I changed my mind and decided to go for the 10kg top-of-the-line model (SWT1023A) with the additional wash programmes. Foolishly I simply assumed this had the same agitator as the xx43 models, and only upon delivery did I realise that I had ordered an agitatorless model (or as Simpson calls them, "low profile" agitators). Resigned to my fate, I've put it though its paces over the past couple of weeks, and have been pleasantly surprised. I haven't experienced any of the tangling most people seem to complain about with agitatorless models, and am thoroughly enjoying not having to contend with the agitator when adding or removing clothes. It has several rinse cycles, from eco (which just sprays the clothes with water to rinse them - I wouldn't use it, and if you use fabric softener it's not compatible with this mode) to a single and double full rinse. The double rinse would be useful for those with allergies - a function my Fisher and Paykel didn't have (and could have used judging by the amount of suds that came out of the machine when it drained after the rinse).

Pros: It has a large range of wash options. One I particularly like (and the reason I chose this model) is that it has a soak + wash option. Almost every machine from 20 to 30 years ago with a mechanical timer used to have a soak + wash option. Why do so many machines not include this now?!? The wash times are generally much longer than the Fisher and Paykel Aquasmart it is replacing. I think this is a good thing, because a longer wash is a better wash (in my opinion). For those in a hurry, it has two quick wash options (20 minutes and 45 minutes). Most of the other wash options also have the ability to have their wash time varied. The auto water level feature appears to work quite well - I've opened the lid during several wash cycles to check on the level, and it has always been sufficient to allow good circulation of the clothes. At 10kg and with no agitator, it's obviously large enough to handle end-of-season quilts and suchlike - I did one last week and it was all good. It has a detergent pre-mix function (which works with both powder and liquid detergent) which means you don't have to worry about powder not dissolving properly. The noise level is on par with most top loaders I've owned.

Cons: It fluffs around for quite a while filling the bowl with a small amount of water, agitating the clothes (which does absolutely nothing useful when the water level is below most of the clothes), then filling the bowl a little more with some more useless agitating, until it finally arrives at the correct water level. It does get there in the end, which is the most important thing, and of course it does have manual water level options (3 levels, plus auto). It also has a detergent pre-mix function, which cycles the water on and off 10 times (on for about half a second and off for 2 seconds) at the beginning of the wash, which if you have noisy pipes (as I do) creates a great clattering. The lid is almost always locked, which is totally unnecessary in my opinion. If you must lock it (by law, perhaps) during the spin cycles for safety reasons, fine; but to lock it during almost every other washing process is annoying. The machine does not have a lint filter.

Overall I'm a happy camper at the moment. How long the machine will last obviously remains to be seen - like most modern machines it relies heavily on electronics and sensors, and my gut tells me it's unlikely to prove as reliable as the Fisher and Paykel - we'll see.

Big mistake! It's awful – Just purchased, arrived with large scratch on front. Driver called in and was told would receive $50 discount but have not received confirmation of this nor the refund. First 48 hours would not work properly, kept stopping mid-cycle with error message that there was problem with the water flow despite it being able to fill itself up. Finally got it to go through an entire cycle by selecting manual water level (so clearly the auto water level feature doesn't work). Even on low spin setting, all the clothes were terribly twisted and intertwined and all pulled out of shape (never had this problem with my front loader for last 10 years). Won't dispense the fabric softener on an Eco rinse setting. Makes a lot of terrible noises, when agitating sounds like grinding metal. Do yourself a favour and bypass this machine.