I was not intending to purchase a washing machine in the initial months after marriage. Primarily because there is no sufficient space in our house to keep it. So, my wife was washing our clothes. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of time to complete a hand wash. My wife, used to sigh a huge relief once it’s over (once or twice in a week). It would end up in she developing aches/pains in several parts of her body. Seeing this, we decided it’s time to get one even considering the size of the house.
It’s been a month since we got our washing machine from our dealer. (VGP Enterprises, Indira Nagar, Bangalore). This is what I have to say about the machine.
Why Senorita Plus
At present, IFP sports 6 models, the price ranging from 14, 996 (Elena) to 26500 (Digital). Other models being. SENORITA PLUS MRP: Rs. 18195.00, EXECUTIVE PLUS MRP: Rs. 20495.00, EXECUTIVE ELITE MRP: Rs. 21795.00, SENATOR MRP: Rs. 24795.00
Higher models boast of a lot of gizmos, which in my perspective are only a marketing gimmick to attract the ’high-end high-paying-potential elite’ customers. So, there is not much point in going for a high-end model with hi-fi technical features (read as useless features), unless you have a lot of money with you.
I was told that the wash quality remains the same in all the machines. All machines are fully automatic and are of the front-loading type.
Hot water wash increases the wash quality (detergents release more oxidents in a higher temperature, thereby increasing the wash quality). All models of IFB come with a hot wash option. Elena offers a single temp setting of 60 deg cent. Senorita plus two temperatures of 45 and 60 deg cent. All other models have full available range of temperatures from 0 to 95 deg cent. I guess, either 45 or 60 degrees is more than sufficient. Why in the world would some one be interested to wash at some odd 73 or 89 degrees centigrade.
All models quote a water consumption between 50 litres to 75 litres. However, all models come with a WATER-PLUS button which would consume additional water. I understand from the dealer that, with WATER-PLUS set to ON, the wash quality is good.
All models come with dry tap protection feature. i.e., the machine wouldn’t run if the the tap runs out of water. With washing machines of a few other companies, this is not the case.
The machine weights ranges from 58 to 85 kg, the heaviest being Senator. Senorita Plus weighs 60 kg.
IFB website ( http://www.ifbappliances.com) mentions a price tag of Rs. 18, 150/-. There was a washing machine mela going on and hence I was able to bring it home for Rs. 15, 500/- (including taxes and transportation). But, the local delivery boy demanded some rupess since he had to bring it to the first floor. That’s OK I guess.
Considering all this factors and the fact that IFB was the market leader, I had no further hesistation if bringing home one.
What do I feel after using it for a month
It’s not let me down so far in any way. We were able to find a place for it in the kitchen. However, we had to buy extension pipes for both inlet hose and outlet hose. We also got a trolley to keep the WM on. (costed us Rs. 750). Wash quality is absolutely amazing. For a family of two (like us), half a kg of Surf Excel Automatic (priced at Rs. 80/-) is sufficient for a month. It makes quite a noise during spinning. But, that’s Okay.