>The self-cleaning filter in these washers was not only far more effective than the clean-it-your-self brush filter but a lot nicer to use. The idea of having a washer that can automatically wash your really dirty clothing twice, add bleach at the correct time and even rinse twice and add the softener in the last rinse is just way too great a washer to make you clean a damp lint lint filter.
Self cleaning filters are probably more convenient and nicer, although when I still had a manual clean lint filter, it didn't seem that onerous to maintain it. Although, frankly, part of that might just be value of just HAVING a lint filter. (I line dry during warmer periods of the year, and so the "well, lint gets removed in the dryer" argument isn't valid a good percentage of the time for me.)
Of course, I'm not sure how good a match a LK or that TOL Maytag with full programming would be for me. I tend to be somewhat a control freak in the laundry room. So I like to make the decisions of cycle times, temperatures, and I don't mind manually adding fabric softener (which I don't use now, anyway), since I tend to check the rinse cycle to make sure all is going well.