This is top of the line.

After reviewing several different brands I decided to go with the consumer reports top rated washer. I purchased mine at Sears in March of 2002, on sale for $1050.00. This was an outrageous price for me but my last washer lasted 12 years and I'm hoping this will too.

*Appearance*
This is the first thing that will strike you in the show room. Next to the regular top loaders this really stands out. It comes in black/black, almond/almond and white/black. White is the standard color, you pay extra for the black or almond. Although for some reason it looks larger than the other washers it is the same size and even comes with a mounting bracket free of charge so that you can stack the matching dryer on top if you want.
The control panel on the white washer is black as well as the door and door trim. The LED display is red. If you purchase the optional storage drawer that raises the washer to a comfortable height you have a complete wash station that is quite admirable.

*Operations*
Cycles - The He3t has eight cycles. Normal casual (41 minutes), whitest whites, heavy duty, sanitary, delicate, silk, wool and ultra handwash. You press a button prior to starting the wash and it will go to the setting of your choice. The longest cycle is called Sanitary, which runs very hot and at 1 hour 20 minutes is long.
Indicator lights tell you the status, ie. add, soaking, wash, rinse, spin, clean and locked.
If you wish to program the machine yourself and not select one of the preset cycles you just push the desired buttons. Options include, presoak, extra spin, stain, 2nd rinse, auto soak. You also can tell the machine to treat the load as heavy, normal or light and five different temperature settings from hot to cold. There are even buttons to adjust the spin speed. The soap and fabric softener is added via a slide out drawer in the front of the control panel. This dispenser is flush with the rest of the controls and can be removed for cleaning.

**Special features
The spin speed is reported to be the highest available for a home machine. This is important because in order to get most of the water out of the washed garment you need to spin it, the faster the better. This spin feature will greatly reduce the time it takes to dry the clothes in the dryer. Another energy feature is the water level sensor that allows you to wash just a few items at a time without have to use too much water.
The machine has a sud sensor that automatically detects when you put in too much soap. I saw this work when I added regular detergent to the load. What happens is the machine will wash the clothes then when the rinse cycle activates it will run an extra rinse until there are minimal bubbles, and in my case granules, left in the wash.

This machine is much simpler to use, I use the preset normal cycle, than I may have been able to explain here. It comes with a video tape which explains everything down to the simplest detail.

**Down side
This is a high efficiency machine and according to the book it recommends a special detergent rated for front loaders. The purpose is to keep suds down but still keep the cleaning properties. The price for the detergent is negligible higher then the regular stuff, however the selection is limited. So far I have found Tide HE available at some stores but not at my normal shopping center.

In summary, this is a super machine. I seem to run it more frequently then I did my old washer which is probably because I trust it to wash items that I previously thought too delicate or bulky than my old machine could handle. My electric bill and water bill have not increased.