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I ended up buying a Samsung front loader with wifi and AI for whatever it's worth. Will post my feedback after a few months of usage.

One question: is it worth buying extended warranty worth about 4.5k which pushes the warranty from 2 years to 5 years? I tend to think it's not worth it but would like to hear from others too.

These washing machines are built to last except the electronics which anyways the extended warranty won't cover most likely, please check.

So IMO, extended warranty doesn't make any sense. Speaking from experience of getting it on my LG FL and seeing it go waste.

Extended warranty is worth it if it covers MB and other electronics. Had one with my older LG WM (6 years total in special scheme). Was useful when MB conked off in the fifth year.

Bought our 8 kg Samsung front loader washing machine last year or so, and kicked myself for missing out on 2 features which I now feel is essential for nuclear families,

First is the biggest capacity at a VFM price. We went for a 8 kg unit, but now feel it is inadequate for washing duvets and bulkier items like sofa covers. Will definitely go for a 12-15 kg one next time. While you may end up paying more upfront, I feel the RoI is more than valid as you can combine multiple washes into a single load. Again, the high tech AI sensors ensure that your cycle time is appropriately reduced for smaller loads.

Second is the ability to add items even after a wash has started. My BiL has it in the US and it's immensely useful. Maybe I am ageing too quickly, but I get seriously irritated when I find some to-be-washed item in the kiddo rooms shortly after the wash has commenced!

My Bosch, bought 2016, has it. It is indeed very useful. No more left-out single sock! :)

Underrated useful feature this. My tumble dryer here is a dumb Bosch and what I miss from the smart Samsung dryer mum has back home is the fact it communicates with the washer and presets the cycle on the dryer as well as giving you a notification for how long a cycle will take once it's sized up the load. Not having that facility just makes timing back to back washer loads a bit of a faff. But yeah dynamic cycle timings based on loads are a big plus. It's probably just a weight sensor on the drum, nothing AI about it, but big utility.

Hear hear - it's SUCH a useful feature. I almost always miss that one sock that has a mind of its own and wriggles free.

Yes, a larger capacity is a boon. Had 5, 5.5 and 7KG machines before. Washing duvets was a hassle and most items could not even be loaded.

Now I have the LG 11/7 kg machine. Duvets are a breeze, even medium sized durries can be loaded and washed.

One thing that I realised is that the dryer is an extremely useful thing to have. Even though we get plenty of sunlight, so that clothes are generally died in three to four hours, there are times when you really need the dryer - rainy days (at most 20 days a year) and winter sunless days (20-30 days a year). Then there are times when you just have no time to wait for the clothes to dry, the dryer comes to your rescue.

Add items after the wash cycle has started is also there, but it works only for the first five minutes or so. Still at least it is there.

So my advise to all prospective byers is get the large capacity washing machine, 10kg to 15kg capacity with a dryer. The prices of large capacity machines with dryer are plummeting, and as these are slow moving items there are always discounts and other schemes for them.

I have a top loading LG WM and separate IFB dryer (wall mounted above the WM). This saves space and also both can work in tandom.

I deliberately chose to go with top loading WM so that it can work on generator power whenever there is main power outage. It makes it very convenient to operate without having to worry about frequent power cuts in my area as the WM continues the wash cycle whenever generator switch over happens. Secondly, it doesn't have heater which makes it less prone to hard water related corrosion thereby low maintenance.

I don't think we have actually tried it, but I wouldn't hesitate to run our front-loader on power from our generator. It copes with running a 2hp pump that keeps us dry when flood threatens, or an AC or two on happier, hotter days. I'm sure it could cope with the washer.

It is a fairly modest Honda 6kva machine.

I see. I live in an apartment complex with a common generator and 1.5kva backup for individual flats. In my case, heavy equipments like front load WM, geyser, MW etc don't work on generator.

Ah, ok, understood. But given the start-up surge of motors, I'm a bit surprised that the top-loader is allowed.

Usually big generators in apartment complexes have switch over mechanism to prevent sudden surge. My top loader is only 700w so works flawlessly along with other small appliances, lights etc.

I am surprised that a Washing Machine you bought only last year does not have a Pause function. This Feature has been around for some time now. 5+ years easily.

As for the sensors, while not AI governed, washing machines have had sensors that detect load. Gone are they days you chose a water level setting. The system knows how much water to fill based on how much of a load there is in the tub.

For capacity, yes. A little foresight helps to pick the right capacity. That said, don't beat yourself up over this. We have so many vendors available to pick up large items to wash that its not the end of the world if you can't wash a duvet yourself. Its also an item thats not frequently washed (maybe in your case it is), unless they get dirty soon.

For people living in apartments with limited space for drying clothes, i.e. like balconies, I guess it is not actually not too bad to have limited capacity machines as you still need to put these clothes out to dry. May not be applicable to you though, just a perspective. :)

Sleepless night with a new inverter/battery:

Had replaced my old inverter and batteries with a new V-Guard 1550 inverter and a V Guard 170ah battery yesterday evening.

At 00:30 in the night it started beeping intermittently.

Mains on

Charging on

Then it would go to battery mode with a single beep. After 10 seconds or so it would change back to Mains/Charging mode with two beeps!

And this went on and on. Reset the trip switch at the rear, no luck. Read the manual at 1AM and assumed there was some overload happening.

Finally at 0130 disconnected the damn thing and connected the supply directly and went off to an undisturbed sleep.

Woke with a clear mind and realized the lights were flickering and realized there was low voltage on one phase which was what was triggering the poor inverter!

If only i had turned on the lights at night instead of using my phone led.

Just one of those nights! :coldsweat