I am using this(LG WF-T8019QV) 7 kg fully automatic top loading washing machine since October, 2009.
And I am feeling happy to say that the product and the service from LG is worth the money I have paid for it(Rs. 16500). It is very good looking and compact compared to the models from other brands in this price range and category, in fact in any category, because a semi automatic or fully automatic front loading w.m/c would not be as compact as a fully automatic top loading.
Because of space crunch compactness of a washing machine was one of my selection criteria.
Coming to the performance of the machine, it does its job fairly well. I am very satisfied with the quality of wash, rinse and effectiveness of the air dry function. Apart from the conventional spin dry mechanism it also has an air dry mechanism which dries the clothes with some air flow while spinning. But as the clothes gets tangled due to excessive spinning I prefer not to to use this feature.
The wash programs(Fuzzy, Favorite, Wool, Jeans, Quick Wash, Silent, Tub clean and Extra clean) provided are sufficient, and I think too many wash programs make it difficult to operate. Each wash program I’ve used works fine, like the Wool mode is for your woolens and other delicate clothes, in Jeans mode you can wash heavy but not so delicate clothes.
Whenever I found that the wash wasn’t satisfying enough I noticed that either I didn’t set enough wash time or the amount of detergent wasn’t right. Four rinse cycles are enough to get rid of the detergent residues and the detergent smell(detergent smell doesn’t vanish completely but is far better than hand rinse), where one can set maximum of five rinse cycles and for extra cleaning you can use the Extra cleaning program, but I think you will rarely need that.
Operating this w. machine is quite easy I should say, I think even one who finds it difficult to handle electronic gadgets will be able to get washing done by it as washing the Fuzzy mode(which automatically selects water level, wash time and number of rinse) requires only two buttons to be pressed - the Power and Start/Pause button.
One other good thing is that it consumes only 350 watts so I can even run it during the power cuts with my 800VA sine wave inverter(Luminous - Tez).
The noise during washes is low enough to let my sis study peacefully in the adjacent room.
There is a bleach/fabric softener dispenser, solid and liquid detergent(separate) dispenser. The magic filter(collects the lint) is of good build quality and easy to clean.
Maintenance cost is almost nothing. As I have my machine in the bathroom, to save it from getting wet from outside I bought a water proof cover(Rs. 150) and also a stand with wheels(Rs. 650). There is one hot and one cold water inlet, so that you can get a warm or hot wash. Sometimes I prefer to soak the clothes outside and then put them for 18 or 21 or 25 minutes of wash because it takes less time and detergent compared to the inbuilt wash programs to get a good wash.
But when there is no time for that I(now my mom actually, happy again:-) leave it on the machine which takes at least 40 min of wash time to soak and wash, and again does a good job.
The speech functions is not bad either as it adds a life to the machine. The volume and the language of the instruction(available languages are English and Hindi) given by the speech engine can be changed.
My mom uses it for around 1 to 3 times in a week and there was no problem till date, except initially when I found it difficult to plug the pipe to the tap and called LG and my problem was solved the next day. And again there was a problem few weeks ago when the machine was stopping after getting started, which turned out to be a problem with the water supply as the storage tank was near empty and there wasn’t enough water pressure. So, till date, no problem with the machine itself.
And the response from LG was fine when required.
But I doubt the knowledge of the service engineers who as when I asked about the Delay function the guy said that it washes your clothes slowly, when actually it is a function to instruct your machine to start washing after a specific time.
I am happy with my decision to go with LG(primarily because of the compactness of the m/c, the extended warranty of 4 years- a festive season offer and the LG service and market reputation) even if it costs few bucks more than the comparable models from Whirlpool or Samsung.
The model(and the brand of course) gets a high recommendation from me.