Panthera, I’m not sure about underloading, but I haven’t washed just one item in my machine.
Here are a couple of recent (usual) loads: (1) four large bath towels, three hand towels, two washcloths, six pairs of underwear (yeah, I put the underwear in with the towels because I run the hot cycle on those, and they’re all “body-contact” items); (2) one pair of jeans, one pair of khakis, two pairs of cargo shorts, two polo shirts, two T-shirts, one pair of fleece shorts, one sport shirt, three pairs of socks. I don’t think either example would be considered underloading, and I would also think that there would be an ample variety of items in each to balance the load. I have come to the conclusion from the above posts that the interim tumble–slow rotate between wash and rinses that I am seeing must just be a function of the machine and something I’ll have to grow to live with. I do notice, though, that when I wash a load of, say, six sport shirts and nothing else, the machine spins faster during the interim cycles. Go figure.
Tell me if I’m doing something wrong.
Thanks.