I've had my machine for a couple weeks now and for the most part it does do a normal load in under 2 hours, but I have found that some loads like towels will take longer. There seems to be a little more maintenance to this machine then a reguar one. You have to periodically clean the boot because lint builds up on it. The machine is fairly quiet no louder then my old front loader, it also seems to spin at a much higher speed. It seems to have a little smell maybe like a mechanical smell when i initially take the clothes out, but it seems to go away and the clothes smell clean. We bought a pedastal with a washer called the sidekick because the machine does sit lower then my old front load washer so we needed to raise it up some. Overall I am happy with it.