Maytag Maxima XL MHW7000AG Washing Machine Review

Introduction

Well, almost. For the price, it still doesn't bring as much ka-pow to Dr. Doom Stains as we'd like to see, but it does have a very good PowerWash cycle (that's agent Heavy Duty's secret identity). As far as everything else is concerned, it's as subdued as that dark gray paintjob.

Design & Usability

Like a superhero from a mirror universe, much the same as the other models

The entire Maytag Maxima XL lineup features strikingly similar designs. There's the attractive, Cosmetallic gray finish, and dark, reflective plastic surfaces. The capacitive touch control panel looks good, but physical buttons may have been easier to use.

I've got some other minor complaints: Since I'm a tech reviewer, my hands are continually covered in snack food dust that transfers itself to the shiny black surface. Even if yours aren't, the control panel is a fingerprint magnet. And that big door always seems to drift shut, even after the machine has been properly leveled.

Performance & Features

Not faster than a speeding bullet, nor more powerful than a locomotive

The MHW7000AG has one really good cycle: PowerWash. True to its name, it blasted through through everything from cocoa stains to red wine, using 16 gallons of water in the process. However, one really good cycle is better than none. Since no really good cycles are better than a door in the face, our tests show the MHW7000AG several degrees better than a door in the face.

Like the Habsburgs and those jaws, the Maytag XL family has a shared inheritance of long wash cycles. The Normal cycle took well over an hour, for instance, and compared to faster washers, cleaning performance didn't seem to benefit very much for the extra time.

Overnight Wash & Dry is a pretty cool feature, inherited from the Maxima's Whirlpool cousin: Place in a shirt or two and, after the wash cycle is done, the washer will tumble the laundry all night while running a fan to circulate out the moisture. We tried it as directed and our shirts were still damp the next morning after more than 15 hours in the machine, but it was nothing a little line dry or quick jaunt in the dryer wouldn't fix.

Conclusion

The Maytag Maxima XL MHW7000AG may not be a grime-fighting powerhouse, but it's competent. In fact, the PowerWash cycle is far above average. But the machine's cost will likely be kryptonite for most consumers.

For a hundred dollars less than that $1,399 MSRP, you can get basically the same performance from the MHW6000AG. You'll miss a few features—a drum light and the ability to kind of dry a shirt overnight, for instance—but you'll keep all the other benefits of the Maxima XL series.

Science Introduction

A sausage walks into a bar with Tony Soprano. Then the screen goes blank, because no one wants to know who the sausage gets made. However, you can know how our washers get tested. Read on.

Cleaning Performance

Cleaning performance is based on analyzing standardized stains strips. These strips are covered in common household occurrences like cocoa and red wine. Each strip is placed in a standard eight pound test load and run through the core cycles. After a cycle is complete, the strips are taken an analyzed under a photo spectrometer. Light is bounced off each stain to measure how much is lifted.

As you can see in the chart below, the Heavy Duty or PowerWash cycle plowed through all the stains.

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Efficiency

At Reviewed.com, efficiency is a two pronged entity. It's about what a washer creates and what a washer destroys, the circle of life, and all that. What it creates is a water and electric bill. What the MHW7000AG destroys is your laundry, at least little by little.

Judging by national average costs, the Maytag Maxima XL MHW7000AG is going run you about $33 a year. That's not bad, on par with other front-loaders. The other metric here is clothes wear by your washer. You know, rather than the endless march of time or the neglect of man. Here, the MHW7000AG was basically the same as the MHW6000AG and the MHW8000AG. It was alright, but not great. The most effective cleaning cycles—like PowerWash, for example—were the greatest offenders here.

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