A wise purchase

Author's Rating:

Pros: Easy to use, effective, powerful, quiet, fun.

Cons: Had some problems with aerator, but these were solved.

The Bottom Line: 
This is an excellent machine at a great price. It's quiet, powerful, and fun to use.

Author's Review
I'm a very cautious consumer, so I spent almost a year researching various portable washers before deciding on the Danby DWM99W.

I knew I wanted a washer with about 10lb capacity, and that I wanted an agitator rather than a pulsator (The pulsator pushes water back and forth through the clothing; from what I read, it’s gentler on fabric but doesn’t clean as well. As my boyfriend does a lot of heavy lifting for a living, I needed a washer that would clean thoroughly). The other comparable Danby model was a twin tub (one tub washes, the other tub spins out), and I didn't want to deal with moving the clothing around. The comparable Haier model has a plastic tub; Danby's is stainless steel, which is easier on clothing, cleans more effectively, and is also more durable. The Haier takes twice as much water (DWM99W takes only 7 gallons per cycle -- a Haier sales representative informed me that the Haier XQJ5031 takes 20 gallons per cycle), and had lower reported customer satisfaction. I also read complaints about the Avanti and Haier electronic control panels shorting out. There was very little customer feedback on the Avanti available online, and I didn't want to take a chance on it. A lot of feedback is available on the Haier XQJ5031, but much of it was negative. Kenmore has a portable washer, but it had the same features as Danby at about twice the cost. Danby DWM99W had consistently positive reviews, took the least electricity and water, and also looked best.

I'd read a lot about portable washers suffering significant damage during shipping, and the shipping and repair costs (and aggravation) being passed on to the buyer, so I went to Danby's website and worked my way down a list of local retailers until I found one whose price was comparable to most online retailers after shipping costs were factored in. (Some online retailers have this unit priced at around $250 but charge $100 for shipping; others have “free” shipping but price the unit at $350. All these online retailers end up charging around $350 for the machine with delivery, and they don’t guarantee that it will arrive in usable and undamaged condition. Every online retailer I contacted explained that the buyer was responsible for all shipping costs, including sending the machine back if it arrives smashed into a million pieces. Theoretically, one delivery-related incident could cause your $350 machine to cost $550, as you’d have to pay to ship it back to the vendor, and then you’d get charged again when they sent you a new machine. Personally, I didn’t want to risk this potential expenditure and aggravation, and went with a local retailer who guaranteed an undamaged product.) The retailer I went with (Kahian's in Hanover, Mass -- *very* nice people) also provided a five-year replace or repair home-visit warranty with Maytag for $100. If I don't use the service during the five years, the $100 is given back to me as store credit. I highly recommend other buyers investigate similar warranty offers from retailers, as any appliance that mixes electricity and water is bound to have some sort of trouble, and a home visit from any sort of service guy is usually way more than $100, if you can get him to show up at all.

It took a while for my Danby to get to me, maybe a month or so, but it was well worth the wait. It was gleaming and perfect, not a dent or scratch anywhere. The manual was pretty easy to follow -- you just tip the machine back to insert the soundproof plate (the manual said to use “the screws” but our model didn’t come with any -- of course we had some that fit, so no big deal) and attach the castors, then tip it back up, attach the discharge and intake hoses to the washer and the quick-connect aerator to the intake hose, and you’re ready to go. Despite what I read here, this model DOES come with a quick-connect aerator device for the sink. (It might be confusing for someone who’s never used a quick-connect device on their sink before, but you just remove your current aerator from the spout [end of the faucet], and screw the new quick-connect aerator onto the spout [you’ll need a wrench]. When you’re ready to use the machine, you grip the other end of the quick-connect unit [white plastic thing attached to the hose] with two hands, pull down on the plastic rim of the unit [you’ll see some little metal balls on the inside of the unit -- these will hold the unit in place when you release the rim], and clip it onto the other end of the quick-connect unit already attached to the faucet. Don’t try to force the plastic part onto the faucet part -- if it doesn’t slip on easily you’re probably not pulling the rim down correctly.) Then you put your clothing in, select your settings (we did cold washes on the “economy” setting), turn the water on (high, but not too high -- you don’t want to strain your pipes), pour the detergent (not too much -- the manual has instructions on amounts) and let Danby do its thing. (The only potentially confusing aspect of the operation is that the manual neglects to tell you what to do about the water -- the answer is that you turn it on when you’re ready to begin your wash and leave it on until the machine is finished running through -- just don’t forget to turn the water off and push the red button to depressurize the flow before unclipping the intake hose, or you’ll get a faceful of spray). The machine runs quietly (it makes friendly clicking noises during agitation) and cleans very thoroughly. Nothing leaked, nothing moved around, we didn’t have any problems with the hoses or any other part of the machine. It also spins out really well, which is great for us because we don’t have a dryer (we picked up a gullwing drying rack at Ikea for about $15 -- I also recommend looking into this purchase, as online prices for family-sized gullwing racks start at around $75).

I live in downtown Boston, and laundry costs me about $20 per week ($1040 per year). The energy efficiency tag on Danby DWM99W said that a year of cold washes should cost about $25 in electricity. But even if this machine didn’t save me money, it would be worth the $300 in the amount of misery and lost time it will save me. I really, really hate going to the laundromat, and having my Danby for just a week now has already improved my quality of life. I highly recommend this machine for any apartment dweller.

*Update: We've had the machine for over a month now and run a lot of laundry through it. I'm still very pleased with it. The only problem I've encountered so far is with the quick-connect aerator. There's a clear, flexible plastic washer inside the aerator that keeps coming dislodged. When the washer comes loose, the aerator sprays all over the place. The first washer ripped when I attempted to put it back in, and I had to get a new aerator. Danby sent the replacement right away. However, the new aerator started leaking after a few uses. I've ordered ANOTHER replacement, but the item is "on back-order" and won't ship for weeks (I'm thinking I'm not the only one who had this problem). I have written to Danby to suggest they replace the washer in question with something more durable. I am able to use the machine despite the leak (it was significant at first but I was able to reduce the leakage by adjusting the washer in the aerator). I consider this a fairly small setback and still recommend this product. The machine is fast, effective, pleasing to the eye, and saves me a lot of misery. I consider it my helpful little friend.

*Update #2: I've now had this machine for about 5 months. The new aerator works great and hasn't had any problems. The machine continues to perform very well. We run almost everything through on the economy setting and it gets stuff really super clean. The only things we have to run through on the regular setting are gym clothes or cat beds -- really dirty stuff. I am very pleased and impressed with this machine.

*Update #3: After about 7-8 months of frequent use, this machine is still working very well! We've had no further problems with the aerator. One of the hoses began leaking, but the unit came with a spare hose, and Danby sent us a replacement anyway. Most importantly, perhaps, is the issue of cost savings. After reviewing my electric bills for 2005-present, I can find no noticeable difference in the bills I've received since purchasing this machine (other than the usual rate hikes from the electric company). I've been putting the $20/month I used to spend at the laundromat into a savings account!

*Update #4: October 2007 and the machine is still going strong. At one point I thought it was broken, but I'd simply overloaded it. I love this machine!