Airing my dirty laundry in public... my very first washing machine! (Candy GO482)

Member Name: doreen-dylan

Product:	Candy GO482
Date:	25/08/09 (112 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Large 8kg capacity drum, good 1400rpm spin, efficient and reliable.

Disadvantages: Not the quietest washing machine ever.

After over 10 years of renting flats with a variety of dodgy old washing machines, I was excited but cautious about choosing one of my very own. After consulting Which and reading lots of online articles and reviews, the Candy GO482 was what I decided on and after 6 months of use I'm generally very pleased with it.

My main requirements were that it cost under £300, had a large capacity drum and a quick wash option. Purchasing it at Electrical123.com at a reduced price brought it in under budget and it has an above average drum that handles up to 8kg with no problems. It fits in the gap left by our old standard size washer, 850mm high, 600mm wide and 540 deep. Although it wasn't a priority for me, it's still good to see it is rated A+ for energy efficiency.

The large drum has meant I'm consistently impressed at how much I can wash in one go and this feature would make it a good choice for large families. I have read that this size drum might often be too big for just a couple, but although there is just me and my partner, my other half works part time as a cook and part time as a painter; he's also a frequent runner and swimmer - so once all that laundry is added to my clothes, towels, the linen from our superking bed, the large drum has proved invaluable and - I would imagine - economical. The variable spin speed goes up to 1400rpm which I also find useful as we don't have a tumble drier and at this spin speed the clothes don't take too long to dry afterwards.

As I guess might be typical, I haven't used many of the 13 wash programmes, but the Quick Wash is useful; I've used the Stain Vanish cycle, but I'm not sure how much difference it actually made; the Delay Start function has also been useful; it also has an Allergy Care rinse function which some might find beneficial but I'm yet to use it. In addition to the Quick Wash cycle, there is an additional fast function button which you can select to work alongside a regular cycle - this means that if the 50 degree Quick Wash cycle isn't suitable you can chose another programme, press the fast wash button and although it's not as time-saving as the Quick Wash, it will still reduce where possible the length of the wash without compromising on the wash.

One function the machine doesn't have is a half or small load button. I haven't really had much need for one and that is why I chose a large capacity machine, but sometimes I might have used it if I was doing a smaller white wash; however, the information booklet says that the washing machine uses 'fuzzy logic' to evaluate the weight of the load and adjusts the amount of water etc accordingly for smaller loads - I don't really understand it and I'm not sure if I can evaluate its effectiveness, but apparently that's what it does!

It's not particuarly quiet when running, but still, it is quieter than my old washing machine so it's not really a negative for me. Also, the Which review did say it wasn't one of the quietest machines they'd tested and that wasn't a real concern for me.

I did have a slight reservation about ordering this machine after reading a couple of negative comments that I found online, regarding the function that allows you to select your chosen programme, apparently some customers had problems with this aspect being faulty on this model. I emailed Candy about my concern and they emailed back saying that they weren't aware of any such recurring problems, which reassured me somewhat.

So far I have found it to be very reliable (touch wood!), easy to use and very efficient. I've been really happy with its overall performance and it has done well with smelly chef's clothes, stinky running socks, bed linen, large cotton and mixed loads, delicates and even hollow-fibre pillows. I do always use Calgon or a similar product as we live in an area with very hard water and I'm keen to try and prevent any problems with limescale, so hopefully it will last us for a very long time.

Summary: Excellent value for money for people with lots of laundry.

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