Still Thinking About Washers & Dryers

Yesterday I looked at Sears' website for information on the new Elite Oasis washers and dryers. They were introduced in January but apparently their availability was (is) limited. I entered the zip code for Frisco and the website said they would be available June 4. In late January I went to the Sears store in Stonebriar Mall in Frisco. I asked a salesman about the new washer with the window in the lid that I had read about, and he did not know anything about them.

 

I decided to go to the Parkdale Mall Sears store here in Beaumont yesterday afternoon. They had the Elite Oasis washers and dryers on display in every color. I talked to a very knowledgeable sales lady. She said the Elite Oasis models are proving to be very popular. They are $300 dollars less than their top of the line front loaders. The optional pedestals for the front loader washer and dryer cost $200 each. This makes the top loaders much more affordable than the fully loaded front loaders.

 

The Elite Oasis is a radical new design. It has a huge tub and does not have an agitator. I am leery of buying something that does not have a proven track record. Most of the time I have very small loads which become unbalanced in my Maytag. Consumer Reports has rated the new Elite Oasis machine. The one negative comment about the machine was that with some loads the clothes had a tendency to ball up and the machine became unbalanced. That is exactly the problem I am trying to avoid. I checked the current Consumer Reports ratings for high efficiency top loaders. The Whirlpool Calypso and the Sears Oasis got the top rating. They both had a score of 72.

 

On Friday evening I watched a CSI rerun on Spike TV. They had a story about a little boy that had been left on a bus stop bench. He was wrapped in a blanket that had all kinds of fibers and hair from many different people on it. It turns out the little boy had died in a clothes dryer in a laundromat. It made me feel nauseous to think about the things your clothes might pick up in a public washer and dryer. I have mattress pads that have tags that say they are to be washed in a commercial machine. I hate to take them to the laundromat. I am wondering if the large capacity Oasis machine could wash my mattress pads.

 

I will be doing more thinking about washers and dryers before I make a final decision.