Washing Dirty Linen (Samsung SW 70A1)

Member Name: emil

Product:	Samsung SW 70A1
Date:	09/08/01 (856 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ease of operation, looks, excellent functionality

Disadvantages: The documentation

The following paragraph might be difficult to comprehend for the average UK resident. You have to put yourself in the Bombayite’s shoes to understand the space constraints we have in this crowded city and the innovative methods that are used to circumvent our handicap.

We had a National NA200 for many years and decided we needed a fully automatic machine. The NA200, for those who may not be aware, is a twin tub semiautomatic. These twin tubs have a rectangular footprint that is very wide but not too deep. We had renovated our house to accommodate the NA200 sideways. The resultant niche built in the wall for the machine was therefore just too narrow for most single tub machines, which have a squarish footprint. My decision on which model to buy therefore, was limited by the 21.5 inches width I had available for placing the machine. Ridiculous as it may sound, I carried a measure tape with me when going to buy our new machine. We went to a large showroom stocking a wide variety of models and chose this one for being one of the narrowest. Its been over 20 months now and I am very happy with our decision.

The Samsung SW 70 A1 is a fine example of beauty and functionality. It has a very nice control panel, which anyone can intuitively learn to operate.
One button allows selection of a wash course: fuzzy, heavy, speedy or wool. Another button permits selection of the function. This is used to set one or more among: soak, wash, rinse and spin. Then there is the water level button, which is used to select high, medium, low or extra low water levels. There is a button to select the water source: cold or hot. Another button permits delayed start from 3 hours to 18 hours.

Don't get intimidated when I talk of all these buttons. The default settings are usually good enough except the fact that, at start up, soak is not automatically set to ON. This may be because Seoul (S. Korea, where Samsung is headquartered) residents don't pic
k up as much dust and grime as we do in Bombay. After you turn on the machine and select your course, you may just press the start button. This will automatically select the right water level. All time setting is automatic except the delay, which you set as per your need. Now you can just relax as, after this, you are only going to be involved in hanging up the 80% dry clothes for complete drying. The machine sings a little tune to tell you when it is through. There is no tangled mess of clothes as happens with those twin tub semi-automatics.
Why they are called semi-automatics I cannot fathom as the only thing you don't do manually is keep time and rotate the drums yourself.

This particular model has a transparent lid which allows us to look in while the washing is going on in case we want to do any monitoring (Why? -- I don't know). The 2 digit LED display not only indicates time left for end of wash but also doubles up to display diagnostic info when there is a problem to report - eg. when water stops in mid-cycle. The machine also resumes at the correct stage if the power fails and comes back again.

Samsung's service is also prompt and efficient considering that my wife and I both go to work and so the timings for a service visit are restricted. The only con I can think of is that the manual ("Owner's Instructions") is very poor in content. This may be because Samsung feels that the machine is so easy to use that a manual is not required. Besides, the spellings and grammar are atrocious to say the least. It isn't as though Samsung cannot produce a good manual because I also have a Samsung refrigerator, which has a much better manual. In the troubleshooting guide they have covered a few scenarios but they have not paid heed to the quality of water in India. The machine has a filter at the water inlet. This filter had once got clogged due to dirt in the water. This is likely to be a common occurrence in Bombay,
particularly at the beginning of the monsoon season when the water can get a bit muddy. It is a simple thing to clean this filter but this is not mentioned in the manual.

All in all, this is an excellent machine which deserves a 5 star rating. I am constrained to chop off one star because of the quality of the manual.

Summary: