My Sister polled me extensively before buying appliances for her first kitchen, 20 years ago and then, just like her Mother before her, low-balled on everything so instead of getting the 606 she ended up with a Fabric-Matic that ended up giving her good service although she totally misunderstood the concept. Where she really f**ked up was she should have gotten the classic GE double oven with the Meat Thermometer and the Rotisserie and the two self-cleaning ovens and got the MOL with one and one and, IMHO it was a "lose-lose".

I think the Fabric-Matic was a good idea but I also think that when Maytag switched to the gold-paneled Center-dials it heralded the beginning of the end for tags. The only good thing that came out of that change were the new dryers that worked better than the HOH's and certainly featured more capacity for that fer-cocked 28-inch cabinet.

I recall a brief discussion some years ago with a couple long-time friends while at a haircut appointment.  Something cane up about washing machines.  Linda mentioned she tried a Maytag and would NEVER make that mistake again.  She wanted a machine with a delicate cycle that could handle her knit tops and sweaters (like the previous Whirlpool had done successfully).  The salesman assured her this Maytag model fit the bill.  Nope, said Linda.  The delicates were immediately ruined, twisted and stretched.  She found out it wasn't a two speed machine and insisted the dealer take it back.  Her advice:  ALWAYS make sure it's a REAL TWO-SPEED machine.

heralding in the advent of Maytag con-op washer with the ability to handle all your washables, including delicates and woolens.  When I was a freshman at a dorm in 1973-1974, my floor laundry rooms had the very same washer--all the way down to the avocado color.  Remember, this was still the age of polyester and double knits.  You can imagine my horror the first time I put said type of load in the machine on delicates and rgular agitation.  I nervously cringed through those 2 or 4 timer increments of aggravation inbetween the soak/pauses.  I waws very careful after that initial bout of laundry how I washed those fabrics again in the Maytag.  But here's what totally turned me off to Maytags in the future for when I had to buy my own set.  That very said laundry room set of 'Tags did another number on some other stuff.  Mind you, being a college student, the parents provided for only a "reasonable " set of towels and undies.  That, between gifts and their purchases, ended up with about 2-3 weeks worth of tidy whites (don't think I was wearing undershirts back then) and about 7 bath towels, wash cloths, as well as 2 or 3 hand towels.  Mind you, all the towels, except for one, were std. size--what 24" x 48".  Two of those towels & wash clothes went in with the whites.  The rest of the towels were their own other load.  I had one of the two essentially white towels and one of the dark towels, in their respective loads, have a nice big hole ripped in them because they got caught in the fins of the power-fin agitator (as in inbetween the agitator base (skirt??) and one of the fins.  And these were not crowded loads in those std. capacity machines _trust me I saw many a load that would choke a horse stuffed in them).  To say I was pissed was an understatement, doing that to two of my brand new towels.  I still have one of those towels today, it's been used for car washes and cleaning rag all these year.  Thus, I never wanted a Maytag.  And those commercial HOH dryers were very hot also. 

Tom, I'm suree you've seen a user manual for one of these FMs.  For delicates, woolens, and knits, it instructed the owner to use no less than the large water level on the ex-cap machines and to not fill it more than about 1/2 full of fabrics when using the "delicate" cycle and the fullest water level on said load.

That almost sounds more like a Norge description.  Except for the "brief" part.  :-D

I have to admit, every time I see this POD, I wonder, why did they limit the $25 rebate to only the A308?  Was iut simply because they had such a huge stockpile of this model vs. the even cousin A408 that was larger and had a bleach "dispenser" as well as push buttons for the fabrics vs. just simply the dial (and the 30 minute soak cycle) and these weren't selling?

I think there are far more Maytag owners, current and former, who will tell you they've never had a problem with their machines ruining anything or developing mechanical issues.  Far, far more than the dissenters here, who definitely do  have valid complaints that I respect.    By now, most people know how I feel about Norge washers, but those machines have a fiercely loyal following.   Both makes have characteristics that some people find appealing, while others would not.  It seems to me that the dissing of the subject machine stems from Maytag's attempt to pass off a one-speed machine as having two-speed capabilites.

I had the same vintage dorm machines as Bob, also in avocado but they never wrecked any of my laundry.  I had to create my own perm press cycle by opening the lid about 1/3 of the way through draining the wash water and filling an old percolator shell at the sink with cold water to dump into the tub for a "cool down" process.  They were seriously basic machines, and I had left behind my mom's new Kenmore, one of those off-beat '75 models with the gold and rust dial color scheme, maybe the first model down from the LK.

I will also add that the best, quietest, most efficient, easiest to use dryer I've ever owned was a mid-70's electronic control DG806.  CR always gave the HOH dryers a low rating compared to their consistent top-rating of the washers back in those days, but no dryer I've used before or since made me smile like that little HOH job.