Joey, thanks for the thread and the videos.....normally I don't like blue agitators, but it looks unique in this one.....
all we can do is experiment to find which works best for each load......and what each cycle exactly does......having both versions, the direct drive is the better of the two, but I am trying different loads, and even trying to trick it as I do with the belt drive by pouring a gallon of water on the load before starting, it tricks it into thinking the load is larger than what it is.....still iffy on this one
yours being newer is definitely updated, which only means they realized some problem areas, and improved on them......if all the cycles were close to filling like the Deep Water, we would probably be happier with them, and they would get such bad reviews, especially in the Normal cycle.....
all in all, once you get past the mental thought of seeing less water, and let the machine do its thing, it does actually clean....the waterfall is one of the best things in Catalyst cleaning of pretreating with a heavy concentration of detergent, I just expected it to lather the detergent like the Calypso....
this machine is quicker than the belt drive as in it doesn't have so much 'wait' time between selecting actions to perform, the other machine must waste at least 10 or more minutes of the cycle just sitting there....
when it comes to pillows, for either a TL or FL machine......as odd as it may seem, I found it best to do these somewhat by hand in the tub, laid flat while squishing the suds and detergent through them, drain the water, and using a piece of plastic pipe like a rolling pin, roll the pillow up to squeeze out the excess, and refill with some clear water to rinse a few times, at the end I place in the machine for a high speed spin, and then either in the dryer or placed out on the deck in the sunlight to dry.......less chance of ruining them this way...
one thing that slips my mind after using a FLer, with these HE TL machines, you do have to separate loads like before.....with a FLer, I could toss together a mixed load, towels with jeans or sheets, even whites with colors, no issues, with the TL like this, oh yeah, theres friction, and lint!.....
keep experimenting, this is an interesting machine, fun to play with, but still sold on my Neptunes as daily drivers...