NEW! - Frigidaire Affinity

[appnut]

Rich, I"m glad you clarrified ART. If you hadn't posted, I was gonna ask JetCone to explain it, that really interested him when the 3.5 cu. ft. models came out early last year and knowing Jon, he would have gotten to the bottom of the marketing crap poste haste.

Rich, can ya return them and get the 7000?

 

[toggleswitch]

oh yes, these are THE BOMB!

 

[appnut]

I'm really impressed, but they still haven't increased the size of the dryer drum--5.8 cu. ft. The washer holds as mu8ch if not more than my DD LK. And in that light, my 6.0 or 6.2 cu. ft. Maytag Dependable Care can get too small at times. Good Grief!! Get with the program Lux!!

 

[frigilux]

This is my BIGGEST frustration with FrigiLux laundry equipment. THE DRYER DRUM IS TOO DAMN SMALL! Almost every other manufacturer has a drum close to or at 7.0 cubic ft.

My 3.1 washer drum's largest loads max out my 5.7 cu. ft. dryer drum. I always split my dark colors load (which is about all I wear) into shirts, then pants. If I threw the whole load in at once, it would come out needing ironing in a major way.

Everytime I think I'm going to break down and get a TOL Duet pair, I hear about it taking 15 minutes to go into a spin, etc. and I revert back to getting another Frigidaire pair. I know they're passe, but I still like the flexibility of having a mechanical timer, too. That's another thing I'd be giving up by replacing my current set.

Even though it's not something I do often, I'd rather have the option of adding wash time or jumping ahead in a cycle. This, of course, can't be done with an electronically controlled machine. Don't you have to cancel a cycle, then start over again with a different cycle? Or am I wrong (god knows it wouldn't be the first time...)?

 

[srswirl]

I Agree With tgodel!

Went to Best Buy right from work today. I have to agree wholeheartedly with tgodel!! Much more impressive overall design than their square door. More solid controls...especially the cycle selector knob. You can really feel the clicks. Also...i reached in and spun the drum by hand as fast as I could to see if I could hear the bearings at all (which you can always hear in most FLs). Amazingly the rotation is completely silent!! This is definitely my machine!! Can't wait till the heated version comes out!

I understand everyone's complaint about the small dryer drum...but I've never had wrinkling or drying issues even with large loads in my 5.7 cf original Gallery series model. Everything always comes out just as nice as in larger dryers I've used in the past. In addition, I'm not sure you could increase the drum size significantly in the same footprint. All the gigantic dryers I've seen have a larger footprint. They'd stick out in my space. These new Frigidaires will fit perfectly in my existing space and look very nice.

One thing that is deceptive is the dryer door. If you look carefully at all the larger pictures of the dryer on their website, it is shown with a completely round and FULLY viewable door. But this is not the case. The lower portion is actually blacked out and hides the lint screen cage. Another bit of deceptive marketing on their part.

All in all, if the heated machine achieves good temps, this will be an excellent buy.

 

[brisnat81]

Its not bearing noise when you spin the drum

But instead its Brush noise from the motor.

 

[golittlesport]

remember...with a bigger dryer drum comes a bigger footprint. This is about the only large capacity front loading pair that will fit under a counter or stacked in a standard laundry closet. The only loads I have to split are jeans. I can wash 8-10 pairs, but I split that into two dryer loads so they don't wrinkle.

 

[srswirl]

Bearing Noise

I'd agree with you brisnat81, if I hadn't had previous experience spinning several different machine drums without the belts connected. Brush noise is a different sound than bearings moving. I'm not suggesting that bearing noise can be heard across a room or something...you really have to listen for it. But...in this machine, there is no noise at all when you spin the drum manually...from the motor or the bearings. I'd love to hear it at full spin...I'll bet it's WAY quieter than my original Gallery series FL.

 

[aamassther]

Well, it seems Frigidaire printed a pricing error on the website. It now states the price of the 6000 at 899, white 7000 at 999 and the colours at 1099. Seems more in more in line with expectations.

 

[tgodel]

What a dumb move...

Frigidaire is smokin' the rock at those prices. Obviously, they are giddy on the good press because they CHANGED the MSRPs in front of god and everybody. Get ready to watch the excitement dissolve at the $1000 mark!

Best Buy is selling the 6000 TODAY at $800 regular price, $750 on-sale. Obviously, they already know what the public will see instantly--the upcoming 7000 is a solid contender at $900 but NOT $1000 (or $1100 with shiny paint!?!)

At that price, a Glacier Blue 7000 is up against the GE HEAD-TO-HEAD. If you've got the room for the GE, it is a lot more volume and polish for the money.

My guess is that Frigidaire is trying to protect the price of its previous TOL 2940, but they need to have somebody throw a bucket of cold water at them: crossing the $1000 price point with this machine is just plain stupid.

Frigidaire needs to face the music: their front-load range is now too broad, and either the prices of the lower end units need to drop in line with their actual value, or they will screw up what has so far been a slam-dunk market entry with their new image-makers.

*SMACKS FOREHEAD IN DISGUST*

--Trip

 

[appnut]

Todd, I saw GE's pricing do the same gradual increase on their web site, I think it's cuz someone is monitoring forum reaction and is pricing accordingly to what people will be willing to pay for this feature-set and the demand also.

 

[srswirl]

Yes appnut...

I said the exact same thing on THS...you have to wonder if someone is monitoring the forums to gauge the market as far as pricing goes. I feel paranoid saying this...but it does make one wonder...

 

[launderess]

Market Testing Is Not Uncommon

Many times items will enter the market at once price then gradually creep up as demand proves the maker may have a "winner". Almost always there is a range within the MSRP that has been caculated where an item needs to be to make "X" amount of profit/sales.

If one recalls Kenmore/Sears is famous for having appliances start low then go higher. Then there is the bit about having two slightly different models, one of which is almost always on "sale".

Low ball pricing also helps spur demand and consumers will rush to pick up a "great item as such a low price". As word spreads of course the price goes up leaving late comers paying more, so the appliance makers makes back any money lost by reducing prices from the start.

L.

 

[nurdlinger]

I don't know about forum watching

Aren't members of forums like these what is known as a self-selecting group which is unreliable for gauging general market feelings?

 

[frigilux]

Launderess--- I've noticed that about Sears pricing, too. When I bought my last Frigidaire DW, I noticed the price jumped twice from the first day it was online til I ordered mine about 3 weeks later. Fortunately, when I groused about it, my local dealer sold me the machine for the original price.

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire Affinity

I saw it today at PC Richards. It is sturdier than the previous model. The only things I didn't like is that it doesn't have a prewash or soak cycle and no rinse / spin cycle. But it does have a spin only. The drum interior looks the same but I wonder if the door boot problem with retaining water will be resolved on this model.
Both my mother and sister have the current model GLTF2940E and my sister just had it repaired the machine just died. The repair person said problem was due to a loose wire. Problem resolved but still to new to have that problem after less than one year old.
Peter

 

[appnut]

Peter, yes it does have rinse & spin. Manual says to select spin only and hten hit extra rinse button. I thought I did see a rpe-wash opt.

 

[foraloysius]

Bob,

Where did you get the manual? All I get is No documents found, except for the 6000 that only shows a parts manual.

 

[appnut]

Luigi, sorry, I was sleepy. It's on the 6000's web page under washer features. Click on the spin only cycle and the rinse & spin feature is mentioned in the text.

 

[srswirl]

Heater

I had e-mailed Frigidaire with respect to the heater...
"I have a question with respect to the new Affinity
washing machine with heater that will be available in March. Can you please tell the maximum temperature it will heat the water to?"

Just a little bit ago...I received the following reply:

Subject: Affinity Heater Questions - washer
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 09:47:39 -0600

"Thank you for your interest in Electrolux Major Appliances. In the Deep Clean Sanitary Cycle, the internal heater will heat the water
to 152° F.

Hope this is helpful."

I suppose this is hot enough...and this does not answer the question of flexibility, i.e. does it MAINTAIN the proper temperatures in ALL cycles? I'll have to ask some more...