Product review (4 stars): Great improvement by GE
After reading many reviews about washing machines before making a decision, I decided to purchase this GE washer. I've always liked GE products, but after owning one of their previous HE models for about four years and being terribly disappointed with it's performance I almost purchased a competitor's product. I'm happy that I didn't.

Note that this is not a paid review.

Now for the review:

Cleaning - 4 stars. This top load HE washer gets clothes clean. I would rate my previous GE HE at two stars, so a great improvement. I considered going back to an agitator washer but worried about capacity and the detrimental effect that an agitator has on clothing. The only reason I didn't rate a 5 is that I haven't tried to clean grass stains yet. It's winter time here so I have no grass stains to work with.

Capacity - 5 stars. The 4.6 Cu. Ft tub has plenty of room for larger articles, including a king size quilt that I recently washed. The last load washed consisted of 4 pairs of jeans, a pair of work pants, 6 shirts, including a 2X flannel shirt and a 2X sweatshirt, and a few pairs of socks. There are settings on the washer for washing jeans separately from other colored articles, but that isn't the way we wash laundry in our household.

Features - 5 stars. As mentioned above, there are plenty of settings for your laundry, 13 total, including one to sanitize with Oxy. There six water temp settings, four levels of cleaning (light through extra heavy), and four levels of spin cycle from no spin through max. All are controlled with easy touch buttons. If that seems like a lot of choices, no worry. You can set the "my cycle" button to remember your settings. I especially like the  slide out detergent and softener dispenser tray located at the top of the tub that mixes the detergent with the load as the washer fills. This also makes cleaning easy, although I've washed more than 30 loads and there is no residue showing yet. If you've experienced clothing stains in the past from fabric softener dispenser build-up, worry no more. For those who remember warm water rinse, that feature has also returned with this model. There is also a "deep fill" button, which I use frequently. Press that button and 5-6 more gallons of water are added. I like to see my clothes bathing in water. Also included is a "deep rinse" button, recommended for use with fabric softener. This uses a bit more water and increases cycle times over the 34 minutes they boast about, but I feel more at ease. The glass top makes it easy to see what is going on in there.

Noise - 3 stars. This compares to 1 star on my previous washer. I don't worry a lot about noise as my washer isn't setting next to the television. It does make some odd noises during the wash, also not a bother to me.

One drawback is the dreaded walk that washers sometimes do. The only time I've experienced this issue is when the load became unbalanced on the king size quilt. If this happens, press the pause button and wait about 30 seconds for the lid to unlock to situate the items in the tub.

The washer "walk" and the fact that I haven't tried to clean grass stains yet is my reason for rating at 4 stars instead of 5. I could have spent up to $200 more for another competitor's top load or twice as much for a larger capacity front load but I'm happy that I didn't. We aren't a large family and the 4.6 capacity is plenty enough for us. If you fall into that category, do some shopping for the lowest price and I think you'll also be pleased.