Product review (5 stars): Great Old School Washer!
When we moved to our newly constructed house last month we did not take our hard working 12 year old Kenmore 90 Series washer (made by Whirlpool) with us.  The timer (the critical electromechanical "heart" of the washer which resides under the main dial) had failed on it last Fall and though it was an easy if expensive DYI fix the wife had lost confidence in it.  She said it was just too old to move.  SO off to the big box stores to look for a replacement.  She is not a fan of front loaders and she had heard all the horror stories about top load HE machines so those were off the list.  Basically she wanted a top load washer just like our old Kenmore - manual load sizing, lots of water temperature choices, multiple speed selections, and an extra rinse.  All the traditional top load washer at the big box stores were basic, bottom of the line machines that had none of the extras she wanted.  SO off to the internet to see what was available online.  While searching on Amazon I stumbled on to Speed Queen by simply searching for traditional top load washers in order of customer ratings.  It seems that nearly everyone who has bought a Speed Queen has loved it.  It looked like the AWN542 model fit most of her requirements so after convincing the wife that the extra expense was worth it (Speed Queens are not cheap) I found a local distributor that handled them on Speed Queen's website and order one (nothing against Amazon's vendors, I just wanted to support our local businesses).  After a week it was delivered to the house and it has been doing an average of eight to ten loads a week ever since (nothing like moving to generate lots of laundry).
So far I have been very, very happy with the Speed Queen.  As others have stated it does not have any of the "bell and whistles" of more modern machines (ex. you can not manage it with a smartphone), it just cleans clothes well.  It is not an exact replacement of our old Kenmore - it has one less speed combination, it does not have automatic temperature settings and it does not have a warm water rinse (no machine does now thanks to our federal government).  It does have more cycle selections than the Kenmore although I have yet to figure out the difference between the Handwash cycle and the Delicate cycle.  As a previous reviewer noted the added fabric selector switch on the AWN542 model is actually a agitator/spin speed selector -  regular is fast/fast, perm press is fast/slow etc.  The hot water setting actually gets you HOT water at whatever temperature your water heater is set at.  It does not hold as much clothing as the Kenmore but despite the caveat in the manual about the 2009 mandate to reduce water levels the standard extra large load setting actually gets you a pretty full tub.  If you need more water the reset function works pretty well.  Just be careful not to overflow the outer tub and also beware that the agitator works really well and can splash water out.  (I have my AWN542 on a washer tray I bought at the blue box store so my learning curve on load levels was not as painful as it could have been.)  If you need to permanently change the load level there is a youtube video that shows how to do it but again be careful.  I left mine stock.  At the fast spin setting it does spin faster than the old Kenmore but it does not seem to get some items like thick memory foam bath mats as dry.  It is definitely better at handling unbalanced loads - it had no issues with those thick bath mats that the Kenmore bounced all over the floor trying to spin dry.  Just like the old Kenmore you can raise the lid and stop agitation to throw in a forgotten item and you can reset cycles and/or water levels without losing all your wash or rinse water.  One little glitch though - if you hit the extra rinse switch after it has completed a single rinse cycle wash it will go into the second rinse cycle even though the tub is now empty.  It is a traditional washer so it makes noise but it is unnoticeable in my washroom since I always run the ventilation fan when doing laundry.  It does get clothes clean fast - a typical load is done in about thirty to forty minutes depending on the rinse setting.
A couple of other notes for prospective Speed Queen buyers - please read the installation instructions when your Speed Queen is delivered BEFORE it is placed into your washroom.  The instructions point out (and other reviewers have noted - thank you!) that you need to wipe out the tub BEFORE you use the washer.  I not only wiped the tub out; I also ran the washer through an empty hot water regular cycle as recommended by the installer (I even used a washing machine cleaning tablet).  Unfortunately the installer did not mention the need to add one quart of water to the tub per the installation instructions (probably to prime the pump) before running the machine through that initial hot water cycle.  Fortunately I haven't had any problems due to this oversight.  He also did not use the provided rubber pads on the leveling legs.  My experience with these rubber pads is that they do protect your floor from damage and they work well on cutting down on noise and vibrations on tile floors but they also make it harder to slide the washer around and they will mark up your floor.  My AWN542 is on that plastic washer tray which is on a 4' x 5' piece of hardboard alongside of a Whirlpool WED4850 dryer so missing rubber pads were not an issue for me.  The instructions also state NOT to put the AWN542 on a carpeted floor but if you need to do so then a washer tray on a piece of hardboard or plywood on top of the carpet would work fine.  The AWN542 is remarkably vibration free.  But always recheck hose fittings after running any washer for the first time.  I did not and of course I had a small leak from the hot water line at the machine.  Fortunately for me the aforementioned washer tray contained the leaked water.  The hot water inlet fitting is a little harder to get good and tight.  Also be sure to get the AWN542's drain line is good and tight in your drain outlet - the washer drains with a lot of force.  Although the instructions said to strap the washer's drain line to a inlet line if you are using a wall box I have found that this is not really necessary as long as the drain line adaptor ring is tight in the drain outlet.  The inlet lines provided with the Speed Queen are decent quality rubber ones but I replaced them with better steel braided reinforced ones available at the blue big box store.
For those who are wondering which model Speed Queen washer to buy the only differences are number of cycles, extra rinse, and fabric (speed) selection.  The AWN412 has four cycles but no extra rinse and no fabric selector.  The AWN432 adds the extra rinse switch.  The AWN542 has the extra rinse and adds a separate handwash cycle and the fabric (speed) selector.  They otherwise are the same - no electronics to burn out, no touch screens to wear out, no programs to reboot, no lids that will not unlock.  They are old school, electromechanical controlled, built like a tank, ugly, and, according to the government, energy inefficient water hogs that just work and get clothes clean. Only time will tell how durable it will be but my wife is happy and I am happy we bought a Speed Queen!