There’s a lot of fetishizing of speed queen around here but I’m pretty unconvinced. As far as I can tell they’re loud, use a lot of energy, use a lot of water, beat your clothing up and don’t clean very well. With that as the background, the fact that they never die seems more like a curse than a positive attribute. More on reddit.com

My repairman said when my Maytag dies to go get a top loading Speed Queen, not the top of the line, and it will last forever and clean clothes better. More on reddit.com

I used to be a fan of whirlpool, but now I work on too many brand new ones. I don't ever get calls for speed queens, especially the tc5000's Machines in general break pretty quickly now, so get the one's with the biggest warranty, speed queen usually gives 5-10 years. Make sure you have warranty authorized techs in your area so that you aren't waiting 3 months for a warranty repair. More on reddit.com

The only thing I’ve “missed” with my Speed Queen is not being told, “honestly, it would be cheaper to buy a new washer and dryer than try to repair this,” which was what I was told with my prior, non-SQ set. To me, the question of washer and dryer pros and cons has two parts though- brand and front or top load. I’ve taken my Speed Queen dryer apart and put it back together again with tools I already had on hand. I didn’t know what I was doing, and disassembled a bunch of things I didn’t need to but didn’t know better. When I figured out what I needed and went to the appliance parts warehouse, I asked the guys who worked there what washer and dryer they would own if they had children and lots of laundry. It was unanimous and they didn’t bat an eye - Speed Queen. They said they were just better made. When I asked the repair man who came out to fix my dishwasher what clothes washer and dryer he thought were the best - Speed Queen. In my experience, Speed Queens are tanks. Sturdy, straightforward, reparable tanks. As to the front or top-loading part: my washer uses more water than a front loader. It takes more water to fill a vertical tub than to fill only the bottom of a horizontal tub and toss it about. Depending on where you live, that additional water usage could be a significant factor. And, if you think about the act of washing clothes on a washboard, or any other “old fashioned” method, you are counting on a combination of friction and soap to bond with and dislodge the dirt/oil/grime and carry it away when the garment is rinsed. The friction of clothes tumbling against each other, with detergent, is the attempt at replication of that mechanism with an electric machine. That friction that dislodges dirt also wears the fibers of clothing fabric. An agitator causes more of that friction. Whether that is a positive or negative thing is a matter of perspective, I think. For me, I prefer the increased friction. Something else I prefer about my top loading washer is the ability to soak something like a duvet or quilt overnight. All of the duvet is completely immersed in water, and whatever detergent I’ve added, all night long. I wash the king-sized quilt from my bed in my top-loading Speed Queen every week. If I leave the laundry room and realize I forgot to wash the hand towel from the bathroom, and then find where I dropped a dirty sock on my way down the stairs, I can grab both, go back to the laundry room, raise the lid, and toss them in. I don’t have to wait for another load, or drain this load, add them in, and restart the cycle. And, maybe most important to me, what you “miss” when you get a top loading washer is the maintenance and risk that comes with the front-loading seal. I don’t have to think about my washer smelling musty or my seal growing mold. But more than that, I don’t have to worry about a seal failing and flooding my house with that many gallons of water. The seals on front loaders are better now, and there aren’t as many issues as there were at first, but there is still far greater risk that the seal on the door of a front loading washer will fail and dump gallons and gallons of water on the floor than that some hole is going to open up in the steel tub of my top loader and cause major damage to my flooring, subfloor, drywall, and trim. Laundromats are made for that sort of event; my house is not. I’d much rather have a top loader. So for me, I haven’t missed a thing by switching to a top-loading Speed Queen. But I think it comes down to what factors are most significant to any given person. More on reddit.com