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  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Performance & Features

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Performance Tests: Cleaning

  • Performance Tests: Water Retention

  • Efficiency

  • Introduction
  • Design & Usability
  • Performance & Features
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Performance Tests: Cleaning
  • Performance Tests: Water Retention
  • Efficiency

Introduction

Sure, its overall washing performance proved just above average in our tests, but that’s like complaining about the lack of rear-seat legroom in a Porsche 911. If you’re the sort of impatient, high-strung person who tailgates in traffic, E-mails during meetings, and yells “Chocolate milk is for closers!” at your kids when they don't get their homework done on time, don’t even consider any other washer.

Design & Usability

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Lots of buttons, plus bright lights and tiny fonts

The wash selector knob is located square in the middle of the unit, on a surface that's curved slightly upward toward the user. This knob resets itself after every wash, so you can't just leave it on Normal in between cycles. All the other options are chosen on a secondary panel, which is very brightly backlit with text that's definitely too small for older eyes.

Happily, a large door opening makes the {{product.name}} easy to load. We liked the attractive finish that LG calls "graphite" too, but not enough to pay the extra $100 it costs over the identical model in plain white.

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Performance & Features

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Ferrari. Concorde. LG TurboWash.

The only thing that's important about this washer's performance is that it only took 39 minutes to complete a very respectable Normal cycle. Compared with that feat, nothing else it can do really matters. By contrast, the Bright Whites cycle took 79 minutes, used a ton of water, and didn't do as well getting stains out. For most loads of laundry, you could just ignore that cycle—along with all the others.

The TurboWash uses high-powered jets of water to change up the pattern of a cycle and reduce wash time significantly.

Among all the options that the LG WM3470HVA has on offer, the TurboWash really stands out, too. It uses high-powered jets of water to change up the pattern of a cycle and reduce wash time significantly. It’s the default option on the 39 minute Cotton/Normal cycle, but can be chosen for other cycles as well. Best of all, our tests show that the reduced time doesn’t adversely affect cleaning performance or efficiency.

Conclusion

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We'll boil it down for you: Buy the {{product.name}}. It's faster than Usain Bolt and has more customizable options than a Mr. Potato Head.

Overall, the {{product.name}}'s wash performance was only slightly above average, with some under-performing cycles dragging down the LG's cumulative scores. Otherwise, our only qualm with the {{product.model}} is that its control panel is cluttered with tiny words, making it difficult to decipher this from that.

The bottom line, though, is that the 39-minute Cottons/Normal cycle managed to get clothes very clean, very fast. That alone is reason enough to put this washer on your shopping list.

Science Introduction

At first we were skeptical of the LG's TurboWash, as we are with most portmanteau containing two capital letters. However, this appliance proved to be a genuine time saver. The Normal cycle finished in 39 minutes without exhibiting any detriment to its cleaning performance. The {{product.name}} is a powerful tool in today's world of getting everything done by yesterday's tomorrow.

Performance Tests: Cleaning

Wiki is a Hawaiian word meaning quick. The {{product.name}} is the wikiwasher.

We hooked the {{product.name}} up to water and electricity meters and gave it some common household impurities to deal with. These impurities came on stain strips with standardized patches containing substances like carbon, red wine, and sweat. After a wash completed, these strips were analyzed under a light spectrometer to determine how much of the stain was lifted.

Looking through the numbers, we have concluded that this LG's Normal cycle with TurboWash is the only cycle for us. Some settings used too much water. Others took far too long to complete. None of them had the same level of effectiveness.

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Performance Tests: Water Retention

The best appliances are team players.

Water retention is an important measure of how hard your dryer will have to work to get all that remaining excess moisture out. We measure this by weighing a test load before and after a wash cycle.

The LG WM3470HVA did better than most washers we’ve evaluated on this test, getting out more than half of the water that our standard loads of laundry absorbed during washes. Only the gentle Delicates cycle remained noticeably wet—and soapy, too.

Efficiency

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Meet the tester

Keith Barry

Keith Barry

Former Editor in Chief, Reviewed Home

@itskeithbarry

Keith was the Editor in Chief of Reviewed's appliance and automotive sites. His work has appeared in publications such as Wired, Car & Driver, and CityLab.

See all of Keith Barry's reviews

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Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.

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