I recently purchased a new Miele WXR 860 WCS as an upgrade from another Miele, the WWB 020 WCS. I liked the WWB 020 WCS's wash performance so much that I decided that I wanted the newest top-of-the-line machine. The WXR 860 WCS’s M Touch color display and promise of customizability were especially appealing, particularly as the WWB 020 WCS's primary downside was limited cycle options . However, I have sadly been disappointed in a number of areas with this new machine, nearly all of which seem to be related to software design.
1. The Miele app is almost completely useless. It doesn’t correctly show what phase of the cycle the machine is in, you can’t see percentage levels of TwinDos, and it frequently refuses to connect to the machine. You also can’t delete the “Demo” machine.
2. Some options, specifically Water Plus, are only selectable from the app. This makes no sense given that the machine has a full color touch display. I would very much like to use this setting from time to time but with the app being near useless it is impractical.
3. The machine displays frequent messages which are slow to close and cannot be turned off. For example whenever the Prewash option is selected a message very slowly scrolls down from the top of the screen instructing to put 1/3 of the detergent in the prewash compartment and 2/3 in the main wash compartment. I wash with prewash often and it is very annoying to have to wait to dismiss this slow notification each time I run the cycle, even if the prewash was saved in a Favorites program. The same issue is present for Stains options. Selecting most Stains options results in a “Tip” slowly scrolling from the top of the screen and you have to wait until it has scrolled all the way down to dismiss it. The cumulative effect of these notifications borders on absurd. For example, when I’m washing a particularly heavily soiled load and select Prewash, Grease Stains, and Sand/Soil I have to dismiss at least 3 messages just to run the program. There are other annoying messages as well, especially for Softsteam and Singlewash options. Perhaps the worst of all is that if Remote Control is enabled then EVERY time a program is started, even from the machine’s display, a message appears that “Machine can be remotely controlled” which again must be dismissed. This is so annoying that I have completely disabled the remote control feature which not only removes that functionality but prevents me from accessing Water Plus. The ability to completely disable all of these messages or at least to be able to dismiss them much more quickly (no scrolling animation) would make using the machine far more pleasant.
4. Unless TwinDos is used for a cycle Light, Normal, and Heavy soiling cannot be selected. This is not at all clear in the manual and is detrimental to being able to configure the machine for proper washing. While I often use TwinDos I also have need for specialty detergents, especially for very delicate items and for very heavily soiled work clothes with machine grease on them. TwinDos is not suitable for either purpose but I cannot select soiling level with manual dosing. This is especially problematic for the heavily soiled items where I cannot choose the Heavy Soil option while using the necessary speciality grease-cutting detergent. This issue is compounded by the choice to not allow refillable TwinDos containers and programmable detergent options in the US market which is very consumer-unfriendly.
5. Actual EcoFeedBack is not available. Page 17 of the manual states "You can view the actual amount of energy and water used by a program both during and at the end of the program… You can view the consumption data for the last wash program and for total consumption (see “Settings – Consumption”).” This is not actually possible and the machine only displays an estimate before the program starts.
6. The manual states that AllergyWash is available to select with the Normal cycle, however this is not possible on the machine.
7. The machine is excessively sensitive to imbalance. The machine is perfectly leveled and often spins without vibration. However, it seems to be programmed to be so sensitive to imbalance that most programs are extended by 10-20 minutes while the machine attempts to rebalance. This was never a problem with the WWB 020 WCS washing identical loads.
8. QuickIntenseWash takes much longer than advertised and usually does not conduct the final spin. I believe that this is related to the former issue. QuickIntenseWash usually takes 10-20 minutes longer than advertised and then finishes with completely saturated laundry that has not been spun at all.
9. The drum light will not function during a program. It is disappointing that the drum light cannot be manually activated during a program when it is desired to observe the washing progress.
10. Almost all cycles take longer by default than on the WWB 020 WCS. Normal, Dress Shirts, and Dark Garments now take extended periods of time by default. These seem excessive, I've watched the entire Dress Shirts cycle and its approximately 1 hour length and level of agitation are simply unnecessary for my lightly soiled shirts even with the Gentle option enabled.
11. It is disappointing that only 12 custom programs can be saved. 16 or so would actually cover all my bases but this is a minor frustration compared to the others.
With respect to the balance issues, I do see that there are options in the Programming Mode related to the Imbalance Sensor. The options are:
<ul>
<li>Tacho</li>
<li>Tacho + EZU</li>
<li>Tach + Imbal. sensor</li>
</ul>
I have not changed it from the default "Tacho + EZU" yet and I'm hoping that some forum members can shed light on what the other options mean and if they might be useful in forcing the machine to operate in a timely manner.
Does anybody else share any of my frustrations with this machine? Any tips or workarounds would be wonderful to hear.
I'm very seriously contemplating returning this machine and upgrading to a Little Giant which I understand has much faster cycle times and the ability to program completely custom cycles out of different option blocks. Its 240V electrical requirement is the main impediment to this but I'm not sure I can stick it out with the WXR 860 and all of its frustrations.
1. The Miele app is almost completely useless. It doesn’t correctly show what phase of the cycle the machine is in, you can’t see percentage levels of TwinDos, and it frequently refuses to connect to the machine. You also can’t delete the “Demo” machine.
2. Some options, specifically Water Plus, are only selectable from the app. This makes no sense given that the machine has a full color touch display. I would very much like to use this setting from time to time but with the app being near useless it is impractical.
3. The machine displays frequent messages which are slow to close and cannot be turned off. For example whenever the Prewash option is selected a message very slowly scrolls down from the top of the screen instructing to put 1/3 of the detergent in the prewash compartment and 2/3 in the main wash compartment. I wash with prewash often and it is very annoying to have to wait to dismiss this slow notification each time I run the cycle, even if the prewash was saved in a Favorites program. The same issue is present for Stains options. Selecting most Stains options results in a “Tip” slowly scrolling from the top of the screen and you have to wait until it has scrolled all the way down to dismiss it. The cumulative effect of these notifications borders on absurd. For example, when I’m washing a particularly heavily soiled load and select Prewash, Grease Stains, and Sand/Soil I have to dismiss at least 3 messages just to run the program. There are other annoying messages as well, especially for Softsteam and Singlewash options. Perhaps the worst of all is that if Remote Control is enabled then EVERY time a program is started, even from the machine’s display, a message appears that “Machine can be remotely controlled” which again must be dismissed. This is so annoying that I have completely disabled the remote control feature which not only removes that functionality but prevents me from accessing Water Plus. The ability to completely disable all of these messages or at least to be able to dismiss them much more quickly (no scrolling animation) would make using the machine far more pleasant.
4. Unless TwinDos is used for a cycle Light, Normal, and Heavy soiling cannot be selected. This is not at all clear in the manual and is detrimental to being able to configure the machine for proper washing. While I often use TwinDos I also have need for specialty detergents, especially for very delicate items and for very heavily soiled work clothes with machine grease on them. TwinDos is not suitable for either purpose but I cannot select soiling level with manual dosing. This is especially problematic for the heavily soiled items where I cannot choose the Heavy Soil option while using the necessary speciality grease-cutting detergent. This issue is compounded by the choice to not allow refillable TwinDos containers and programmable detergent options in the US market which is very consumer-unfriendly.
5. Actual EcoFeedBack is not available. Page 17 of the manual states "You can view the actual amount of energy and water used by a program both during and at the end of the program… You can view the consumption data for the last wash program and for total consumption (see “Settings – Consumption”).” This is not actually possible and the machine only displays an estimate before the program starts.
6. The manual states that AllergyWash is available to select with the Normal cycle, however this is not possible on the machine.
7. The machine is excessively sensitive to imbalance. The machine is perfectly leveled and often spins without vibration. However, it seems to be programmed to be so sensitive to imbalance that most programs are extended by 10-20 minutes while the machine attempts to rebalance. This was never a problem with the WWB 020 WCS washing identical loads.
8. QuickIntenseWash takes much longer than advertised and usually does not conduct the final spin. I believe that this is related to the former issue. QuickIntenseWash usually takes 10-20 minutes longer than advertised and then finishes with completely saturated laundry that has not been spun at all.
9. The drum light will not function during a program. It is disappointing that the drum light cannot be manually activated during a program when it is desired to observe the washing progress.
10. Almost all cycles take longer by default than on the WWB 020 WCS. Normal, Dress Shirts, and Dark Garments now take extended periods of time by default. These seem excessive, I've watched the entire Dress Shirts cycle and its approximately 1 hour length and level of agitation are simply unnecessary for my lightly soiled shirts even with the Gentle option enabled.
11. It is disappointing that only 12 custom programs can be saved. 16 or so would actually cover all my bases but this is a minor frustration compared to the others.
With respect to the balance issues, I do see that there are options in the Programming Mode related to the Imbalance Sensor. The options are:
<ul>
<li>Tacho</li>
<li>Tacho + EZU</li>
<li>Tach + Imbal. sensor</li>
</ul>
I have not changed it from the default "Tacho + EZU" yet and I'm hoping that some forum members can shed light on what the other options mean and if they might be useful in forcing the machine to operate in a timely manner.
Does anybody else share any of my frustrations with this machine? Any tips or workarounds would be wonderful to hear.
I'm very seriously contemplating returning this machine and upgrading to a Little Giant which I understand has much faster cycle times and the ability to program completely custom cycles out of different option blocks. Its 240V electrical requirement is the main impediment to this but I'm not sure I can stick it out with the WXR 860 and all of its frustrations.
