I love my front loader -- have owned it for over 10 years. I use less soap and water. I can stuff a sleeping bag into it, and it comes out thoroughly wetted and cleaned, whereas in my agitator machine it just floated in the same position through the cycles and came out with clumps of wet powdered detergent folded into it. I have successfully felted mittens and pieces of woolen sweaters that I cut up and use for pot holder innards. They don't have an agitator to get tangled in a length of fabric. My old machine's agitator once got tangled in a bra and ripped the straps off, and once got tangled up with a sleeveless shell and stretched one armhole to elephant proportions. I'll never go back. Oh, and I used to live downstairs from a woman who had a machine with an agitator that pumped up and down. It was like having a trampoline squad living overhead.