2 Best Washing Machines To Buy
1. Hotpoint Ultima S-Line RPD10477DD review
The RPD 10477DD has plenty of wash modes, but it struggles to produce equal results across a wide range of temperatures
The RPD 10447DD belongs to Hotpoint's new Ultima S-Line washing machine range, which claims to remove over 100 stains at just 20 degrees thanks to Hotpoint's direct injection technology. By pre-mixing the water and your detergent, Hotpoint says this eliminates any need for extended pre-treatment cycles or expensive stain removers, so it should save you money in both your weekly shop and when it comes to your overall energy bills.
As a result, the 10kg RPD 10477DD should, in theory, be a great fit for busy households, as its large capacity drum has more than enough space for a weekly wash, and you can comfortably load in larger items as well, such as duvets.
It should be noted, though, that Direct Injection isn't available on every mode. Some modes have it turned on by default, such as the two Anti-Stain modes, but you can enable it for most of the others by pressing the big Direct Injection button to the right of the screen. Supported modes include Cotton, Synthetics, Ultra Delicates, Shirts, Baby, Anti-Allergy, and the Bed and Bath modes. Only Colour Care, Wool, Jeans, Duvet and the Fast 30 washes have to make do without it. Eco mode can only be enabled at 40C and 60C as well, so it can take some time to acquaint yourself with all the different mode combinations and how they interact with each other.
Otherwise, the RPD 10477DD is relatively easy to use. The big central dial doesn’t have many obvious picture markings apart from the Rinse and Spin & Pump Out modes, but the adjacent LED display tells you everything you need to know about each particular setting, including its temperature, spin speed and the length of the cycle. There's also a slide-out panel in the detergent drawer that lists every mode and its corresponding number on the dial, but, personally, I found it easier and quicker to simply spin the sturdy dial to find the setting I wanted, reading the information from the screen. The RPD 10477DD has a delay timer and key lock buttons as well, so your kids can't accidentally mess with the buttons if you want to set it going later in the day.
Water and electricity usage
To test a washing machine's efficiency, we use the same 3kg load of washing in every machine we test. This creates a level playing field when it comes to testing machines with different sized drums, and it also allows for equal comparison across each machine's various modes. I had high hopes for the RPD 10477DD, has it has an A+++ energy efficiency rating, but our tests showed it wasn't quite as economical as Samsung's slightly smaller Ecobubble WW6000 washing machine.
I started with a 30C Cotton wash, which used 39L of water and 0.39kWh of power, giving a very reasonable running cost of 16p per cycle, but when I increased the temperature to 40C on the Synthetics cycle, the power usage jumped up to 0.67kWh and used 45L of water, taking the running cost to 23p per cycle.
The 20C Anti Stain Power wash cycle wasn't much cheaper, either, which is a shame considering this is one of its main Direct Injection modes. Here, it used 47L of water and 0.42kWh of power, creating a running cost of 20p per cycle. The 40C Synthetic Eco Energy wash, which also uses Direct Injection, was even worse, as, according to our water meter, it used a massive 73L of water, although power usage was just 0.43kWh, taking running costs to 27p per cycle.
We also use the EU Energy Label information to calculate average annual running costs. You can see our full test methodology in our How we test washing machines article, but these figures use the average UK wash size and take into account full loads. In other words, a 10kg washing machine can wash the same amount of clothes in fewer washes than an 8kg machine.
On the whole, the RPD 10477DD worked out reasonably well, as I worked out running costs of £20.99 for low-use, £31.49 for medium use and £41.98 for high use. This isn't as low as Samsung's 10kg WW9000, but that machine costs a lot more to buy.
Wash performance
Of course, running costs are only part of the overall picture, as a washing machine's ability to actually clean your clothes is what's really important. To test this, we use specially formulated stain strips that contain common laundry stains such as blood, red wine and ink to see how well it actually performs.
On the whole, the 40C Synthetic wash and 40C Synthetic Eco Energy wash consistently cleaned our stains most effectively, often producing more even, consistent results than the 30C Cotton wash and 20C Anti-Stain Power modes. Our cotton soiled with cocoa strip, for example, was very blotchy on 30C Cotton, but the Synthetics modes produced a much lighter, more even result.
^ The 20C Anti-Stain Power wash was the worst performing cycle when it came to blood stains. Above is the original blood stain, while the result is underneath.
^ 30C Cotton handled our blood stain slightly better than the 20C Anti-Stain Power wash...
^ ...but the 40C Synthetic wash definitely produced the cleanest and most even result.
Our 20C Anti-Stain Power wash results were particularly disappointing, as these results were almost always darker than the 30C Cotton and 40C Synthetics, with the cotton soiled with blood strip performing particularly badly. That said, they all cleaned our cotton soiled with red wine stain very well indeed, as all three cycles produced more or less identical results. The clothes came out reasonably dry, too, often retaining little more than 1.1kg of water on each cycle thanks to its spin speed of 1,400rpm.
Conclusion
The Hotpoint Ultima S-Line RPD10477DD is well-priced for a 10kg washing machine, with excellent wash performance at 30C and 40C, and very reasonable running costs. I'm not so impressed with the eco modes, but you largely don't need them. If you want a large washing machine for big loads then this is great value; if you can get buy with a smaller-capacity machine you can get slightly better running costs.
Click Here To Read More About Hotpoint RPD10477DD Washing Machine Ultima S-Line 10kg White.
2. AEG L87680FL review
Excellent wash performance and a great range of options from this well-priced washing machine
The AEG L87680FL is the company's high-end, stylish model. With its brushed-metal effect top and large CLD display, it certainly looks the part. It has a decent 8kg capacity and, with an A+++ efficiency rating and steam modes, it promises to be more than just a pretty face.
POWER AND WATER USAGE
As with all electrical appliances, the efficiency rating is just a guide. It's the actual figures that are of more interest. In our tests, we ran Cotton 30C, Cotton 40C and Synthetic 40C cycles, using 3kg of washing in order to test power and water consumption.
At 30C, the washing machine used 0.59kW of power and 49L of water. This gave us a combined cost of 23p per cycle, which is about what we'd expect from washing machine like this. However, as this machine as a 1,600rpm spin speed, our clothes retained just 980g of water. This means that they'll dry faster (or require less time in a tumble dryer) than machines with slower spin speeds.
Moving to the Cotton 40C cycle, we saw power consumption increase to 0.71kW, while water slightly increased to 58L. This put the cost per cycle up to 27p. However, thanks to the fast spin speed, our clothes retained just 979g of water.
Steam modes and an A+++ rating mean that this washing machine has plenty to offer
On the Synthetic 40C cycle, which can often dramatically increase power consumption due to the extra drum movements, we saw power consumption increase to 0.74kW, while water usage remained at 58L. The spin speed was reduced to 1,200rpm, so our clothes were wetter, retaining 1.4kg of water. We calculated a reasonable cost per cycle of 28p.
WASH PERFORMANCE
To find out how good the AEG L87680FL is at cleaning clothes, we put it through a series of tests using our stain strips. View our gallery to see all of the cleaning examples: dirty cloth is at the top of each sample; the clean one is at the bottom.
Wash performance was some of the best that we've seen, with good results in all of our tests using the Cotton 30C and Cotton 40C cycles. Cleaning was particularly good in our red wine stain test. Cleaning was slightly better in the Cotton 40C cycle with the cocoa stain than the Cotton 30C cycle, but it was a close run thing.
Wash performance at 40C and 30C was very similar, but we prefer the 40C cocoa performance (top)
We've seen marginally better performance from other machines in the hard blood/milk/ink test, but the AEG l87680FL still put in a good performance.
The Synthetic 40C cycle produced excellent results, as you can see from its performance with red wine stains
We're pleased to say that the Synthetic 40C tests proved to be of the same quality and it was hard to tell the difference. All of our test stains were cleaned up well and this washing machine is near the top of the grade, performance wise.
EASE OF USE AND FEATURES
A control dial lets you select the wash programme that you want. There are all of the usual wash cycles you'd expect, plus a few extras. Anti-Allergy could be useful, as it washes clothes at 60C and then performs an extra rinse in order to get rid of any micro-organisms that family members may have a reaction to.
It's good to see a steam mode, too, which helps to soften fibres and make ironing an easier process. It can also be used in the Refresh mode to give clean clothes that smell a bit musty a boost, so that they come out smelling fresher.
On top of this you can choose extra options per wash and override default settings. For example, you can choose the temperature (from Cold to 95C, depending on the selected cycle, and the spin speed (up to the maximum of 1,600rpm). In addition, you can select the Prewash feature to use a stain remover, select Time Save for a quick wash, and select Delay Start, so that you can ensure your washing finishes when you're around. All of the options are displayed on the large LCD screen, which also shows you how long your wash has to go.
We like the styling of the AEG L87680FL and it was robust and well-built. AEG promises that this is one of its quietest machines and that was certainly true in our tests. With a rated wash rating of 49dB and spin of 73dB, it falls towards the quieter end of the market. It was certainly smooth in our tests, with no juddering or shuddering to distract us.
CONCLUSION
There are certainly a lot options on the AEG L87680FL and its wash performance was very good. However, the similarly-priced Panasonic NA-168VG4 has much lower running costs and just edged it for us in terms of wash performance. Unless you specifically want the steam modes that this washing machine offers, the Panasonic is the better choice for most people.
Learn More About AEG L87680FL 8-Series 8kg 1600rpm Freestanding Washing Machine With Steam White Click Here.
