I bought this as a nonessential midlife crisis toy for a mindless diversion and curiosity, to be a companion to the SQ TL AWNE9, which I couldn't be happier with. I thought it would be easier on sheets, bulky blankets and mattress pads, and save water on smaller loads and less important things. The metal outer tub was a huge selling point to me; less of a mold threat, I figured.
Only in this forum would I admit the cat and I stayed up until 3 a.m. watching it. The other cat is not interested, and upset that my attention is diverted from her.
Overall it's better than I expected, but FWIW here are my impressions.
It lacks the glitter of other brands, and it has no drum light. But it seems very heavy and solid. No squeaky plastic door here. It has lots of cycle options.
During agitation it is perfectly silent. The pump is very quiet when on.
During spin ramp up it has a short period when, even empty, the tub swings and makes a knocking/thumping sound, and sometimes the door can be seen moving a little. It doesn't like smaller loads and is picky about balancing them perfectly. After the thumping period, it accelerates faster and slower a few times and then settles into a spin that is astoundingly, unbelievably quiet, smooth and vibration free.
The lack of a heater or steam option can be worked around by first turning on the laundry tub faucet until the water is hot (just like we do the kitchen faucet for the dishwasher), and selecting a pre wash. That way, the cold clothes will cool down the first hot fill somewhat, but then the main fill will be hot and stay hot. Getting a true warm fill in the Winter might require picking hot first for a bit and then switching to warm.
There are models with bigger tubs but this one is big enough for me.
It fills up right away to just below the door without any weighing delays or debating. Very straightforward. When tumbling it looks like there's no water in there, but at a pause it rises back up to just below the door.
Rinsing is pretty good, even better with the extra rinse options. When it starts to fill for a rinse, the pump continues to run for a bit to flush out any suds in the outer tub from the spin before. Not sure if all FL's do that, but it seems to help a lot.
Re detergent and cleaning, maybe I'm on a learning curve. I have a WS, BTW. Tide HE Turbo, 1 Tablespoon, did not oversuds with a white load. Dirty white socks came clean. Tidy whities did not come out quite as perfectly white as with the SQ TL. 1 Tablespoon Cheer caused oversudsing halfway up the door with a load of sheets, and the pillow cases do not smell fresh. :-( Sheets did not ball up like they sometimes do in a dryer. We'll see if a rewash in Tide gets them clean. I washed two blankets, with 1 Tablespoon Woolite. No oversudsing. But it didn't rinse out as well as Tide HE probably would have. With the medium spin speed on the Bulky cycle, the blankets seem wetter and heavier than with the SQ TL. With the TL I would have limited that to one blanket at a time.
If I could keep only one machine, it'd be the SQ TL, which IMO cleans and rinses better and is easier on clothes than anything I've ever used. Over the years, I've used a FL here and there and JMO I've been unimpressed. The SQ FL is much better than the other FLs I've used, and I could live with it as my daily driver if I had to, but I'm still not one of those FL converts who prefers them hands down to TL. If someone asked me, I'd recommend the SQ TL over the FL. Overall the SQ FL seems like a laundromat machine -- a very nice, solid, well built, well engineered and competent machine that acts like it knows what it's doing, doesn't have to exert any effort to do it, and doesn't intend depart this Earth any time soon. For a FL it was my choice, and I'm not sorry I picked it. But others might prefer other FL brands with different price points, capacities and other features.
Only in this forum would I admit the cat and I stayed up until 3 a.m. watching it. The other cat is not interested, and upset that my attention is diverted from her.
Overall it's better than I expected, but FWIW here are my impressions.
It lacks the glitter of other brands, and it has no drum light. But it seems very heavy and solid. No squeaky plastic door here. It has lots of cycle options.
During agitation it is perfectly silent. The pump is very quiet when on.
During spin ramp up it has a short period when, even empty, the tub swings and makes a knocking/thumping sound, and sometimes the door can be seen moving a little. It doesn't like smaller loads and is picky about balancing them perfectly. After the thumping period, it accelerates faster and slower a few times and then settles into a spin that is astoundingly, unbelievably quiet, smooth and vibration free.
The lack of a heater or steam option can be worked around by first turning on the laundry tub faucet until the water is hot (just like we do the kitchen faucet for the dishwasher), and selecting a pre wash. That way, the cold clothes will cool down the first hot fill somewhat, but then the main fill will be hot and stay hot. Getting a true warm fill in the Winter might require picking hot first for a bit and then switching to warm.
There are models with bigger tubs but this one is big enough for me.
It fills up right away to just below the door without any weighing delays or debating. Very straightforward. When tumbling it looks like there's no water in there, but at a pause it rises back up to just below the door.
Rinsing is pretty good, even better with the extra rinse options. When it starts to fill for a rinse, the pump continues to run for a bit to flush out any suds in the outer tub from the spin before. Not sure if all FL's do that, but it seems to help a lot.
Re detergent and cleaning, maybe I'm on a learning curve. I have a WS, BTW. Tide HE Turbo, 1 Tablespoon, did not oversuds with a white load. Dirty white socks came clean. Tidy whities did not come out quite as perfectly white as with the SQ TL. 1 Tablespoon Cheer caused oversudsing halfway up the door with a load of sheets, and the pillow cases do not smell fresh. :-( Sheets did not ball up like they sometimes do in a dryer. We'll see if a rewash in Tide gets them clean. I washed two blankets, with 1 Tablespoon Woolite. No oversudsing. But it didn't rinse out as well as Tide HE probably would have. With the medium spin speed on the Bulky cycle, the blankets seem wetter and heavier than with the SQ TL. With the TL I would have limited that to one blanket at a time.
If I could keep only one machine, it'd be the SQ TL, which IMO cleans and rinses better and is easier on clothes than anything I've ever used. Over the years, I've used a FL here and there and JMO I've been unimpressed. The SQ FL is much better than the other FLs I've used, and I could live with it as my daily driver if I had to, but I'm still not one of those FL converts who prefers them hands down to TL. If someone asked me, I'd recommend the SQ TL over the FL. Overall the SQ FL seems like a laundromat machine -- a very nice, solid, well built, well engineered and competent machine that acts like it knows what it's doing, doesn't have to exert any effort to do it, and doesn't intend depart this Earth any time soon. For a FL it was my choice, and I'm not sorry I picked it. But others might prefer other FL brands with different price points, capacities and other features.
