Hoover H-WASH&DRY 500 Freestanding Washer Dryer, 9 Kg Wash + 6 Kg Dry, 1400 RPM, Combined Cycle Class D, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth, Auto Care & Hygiene Cycle, White, 60x58x85 cm - HD 496AMC/1-80

As with all new white goods this took a bit of getting used to. Overall I am really happy with it. Nothing has needed to be rewashed and it's quiet and doesn't wander across the floor! Normal size for a washer dryer and wasn't too heavy to set up alone. Haven't used WiFi yet but that's just a me thing!

I decided to purchase this Hoover combined washer/dryer as there isn't space in our kitchen for two appliances and we had converted the garage in our home. I am so pleased with the device that I just wish I'd done this sooner! Our old washing machine was a Hoover and we'd always been really impressed with it so it was the natural choice to choose another Hoover appliance. We chose the H Wash-Dry 500 due to the large 10kg load capacity and also the Wi-Fi capability. The appliance was really easy to install and setting up the Wi-Fi connection was really simple, following the instructions it only took 10 minutes. I was eager to try out the machine and as a family of 4 who are very active I can always count on there being sufficient wash loads available to load up. The 10kg capacity in the washing function is very practical and the huge choice of programmes available on the app means there is a wash cycle for any situation. The machine is so quiet when it is running that you can barely hear it. Using the app I am able to have control over the machine and change to a spin cycle or change to the dryer function. There are many programmes to choose from when drying and I have made use of the refresh cycle when the clothes off the washing line just need a little extra effort to get them completely dry as we move into the autumn months. Overall I would really recommend this appliance to those with a busy family life who need some control over their washer and also anyone for whom space is precious in their home.

Good points: The washing machine is quiet, fast and effective. You can only really hear it when the spin cycle is on, which is limited to last 5-10mins of the wash. Note, you will need to ensure that it is properly levelled to ensure you get it to be as silent as this (I.e. no vibrations). The machine has a good selection of wash times, offering a quick 14min, 30min, 44min for smaller loads. I always just used the 44min wash and maybe have the machine half full/5kg - does it great. My clothes always come out very clean and smelling lovely, even at 30 degrees. As part of new legislation (UK), manufacturers need to provide a warranty for parts for up to 10years. Bad points: The fitters were hopeless, I had to direct them how to connect it up (which involves connecting the hand screw water supply, the push fit waste pipe, and plugging into the wall). It’s really not that hard, save yourself the £20 and do it yourself. Also, they didn’t level it and I was left with a rattling machine. If you have a wooden/laminate/unfixed floor like I do, expect vibrations/rattling of everything in the room. This can be minimised by levelling the machine properly, but you’ll want to invest in some rubber vibration feet (£3-5). Mine is practically silent now with no vibrations. The drying can take quite a long time, and I don’t think it would be useful for big items like lots of heavy towels. It’ll do the trick for underpants/socks/nylons etc. as long as you don’t overload it. I mean, it would dry towels, but it would take probably >3 hours and your salary on electric bills. My honest opinion: If you need it to be functioning as a dryer as much as a washing machine, it’s not for you. But if you’re like me and want a good washing machine with the added option of drying small things once in a while (for the price of a washer) then it’s great. I bought this for an absolute steal on prime day (£380 including fitting/removal of old machine) - just FYI if it may sway your decision on buying.

Machine returned. Never buying a Hoover product again. At first I was very pleased with this machine and left a positive review but within months it began to go wrong. First electronics gave up, then the tumble dryer packed up and didn't work at all. I called out the repair service and they did a terrible job and made the machine much worse and left it damaged. The control board was loose, the tumble dryer packed up again after one day and it began to literally fly apart with parts actually falling off. In the end it wouldn't spin and wouldn't dry and made a horrendous noise and flooded my kitchen and just for good measure the door locked and I couldn't open it. As others have said, it also smelled really bad, even after using professional cleaning products. To make matters worse I had a terrible time getting the repair service to even respond to me and in the end I gave up and returned the machine and I'm still trying to get a refund. Another thing is that they spam you with your texts and emails and constant adverts to try to get you to buy insurance. I will never buy hoover product again. I was so disappointed because it was the first machine that I had of its type and I saved up to buy it. Never again.

I have been using this washer dryer for 2 months at time of writing. I have used it personally approx. twice a week, and I live in a houseshare with 4 others so it has seen it's fair share of use. Capacity and washing/drying ability: The main feature of this washer dryer is it's (at time of writing) unmatched capacity - 14kg washing and 9kg drying. This is accomplished partly via sheer size - the unit is extremely deep and the drum fills almost the entire body. I think I can literally fit twice as many clothes inside it as my previous 6kg wash 5kg dry washer dryer. The size is also backed up by washing/drying ability, as I have frequently filled the (giant) drum to 2/3rds or more capacity with heavily soiled and thick clothes, which have emerged both totally clean and also dry throughout, even on the quicker washing modes designed for lightly soiled clothes. Since these loads are so big I often use two washing pods instead of just one, and the manual recomends this for larger loads. Some examples of what I can wash & dry in a single load with no issues: - King sized sheet, duvet cover, two pillow cases, and two medium-large towels. This mostly filled the drum, and took about 7 hours total including 5+ hours drying time. - Three pairs of trousers including a pair of thick cotton joggers, two buttoned shirts, a thick jumper, 3 t-shirts, 3 sets of running shorts, 7 pairs of socks, and 7 boxers. This all fit with plenty of space to spare and washed and dried using the '59-minute' wash setting in about 3-4 hours total. Note that some of the more aggressive washing cycles (particularly the cotton cycle) take an extremely long time - approx 3 hours for washing alone, with lots of very loud spinning. However I have found the faster mixed washing cycles (such as the '59-minute wash') do the job just as well in a third of the time, even with fairly heavily soiled clothes. Controls/UI: The controls on the front of the machine are quite complex and not initially user friendly, requring studying the manual in depth to learn the meaning of all the different symbols etc. Once this is done it becomes a minor but noticable annoyance, as you often need to do lots of cyling through options with touch-sensitive buttons to get all the settings right. This is mitigated by the accompaniying app however, which after a rocky setup (which probably took me 1-2 hours of faff and trouble-shooting) made it a breeze to set up a few custom programmes to use repeatedly as well as coming with dozens of built in programmes for all kinds of washing loads. The optional notifications when a cycle finishes are also useful. Noise: I am overall impressed by the quietness of the unit, with it typically being inaudible through a closed door. The one exception to this is the higher spin speeds (1600 and 1200 rpm) which get quite loud, and have a somewhat annoying high pitched tone. Using the 800 (or lower) speed gets rid of this issue completely however, so I would be happy to e.g. have this installed in kitchen. Reliability/customer service: Due to an error by the amazon technician installing the unit (they did not level it correctly) after about a week of use the drying funcationality of our unit failed. After a call to the hoover-candy service line about this (only needing to wait ~5 minutes on hold) I was connected to a friendly and helpful UK-based support person, who after asking for details of the issue was able to arrange for a technician to be send out within a week to look at the issue - dispite this happening over the Christmas break during peak Covid. The technician was knowledgable and came prepared, and ended up being able to diagnose and fix the issue using a spare part they had brought along (it turns out due to the unlevel installation a fan used when drying clothes had come loose and gotten damaged, and needed to be replaced). Despite having an issue with our unit, I do not think this was the fault of the unit, and I was overall extremely impressed with their customer service to fix it so efficently. Conclusion: While I will need to wait and see what the long-term reliability of the unit is before I can draw firm conclusions about it, I am currently very impressed by it's performance and strongly recomended it. The main downsides are it's noisy high spin settings and confusing controls, but I think these are strongly outweighed by it's incredible capacity and washing/drying capability and the high quality of customer support. While it is quite expensive compared to most washer-dryers, if you are regularly frustrated by your unit's low capacity or poor drying ability I think it is worth the extra cost.

Very good machine cleans and dries very well

First impressions are that it’s a nice-looking machine. There’s not a lot to distinguish washing machines visually, but it’s smart and simple, with intuitive controls, and the instruction manual is clear. Having never installed a new washing machine before, I was a little apprehensive, but it proved surprisingly easy - a couple of pipe connections and plug it in to the mains socket. Connecting the machine to WiFi was fairly easy too - it could all be done by downloading the hOn Android app, and then pointing the phone at the QR codes on the WiFi router and the washing machine. There are a number of ways you can tweak the washing cycle on the hOn application, using either pre-built cycles or you can make your own. You can set a time-delay on the start of the wash, and I can see that being useful for setting up a wash late at night to start first thing in the morning. The app kept me informed with an estimated completion time for the wash, and once the cycle had finished I got a notification and was asked if I wanted to use the “refresh touch” option, to keep the clothes fresh in case I couldn’t unload it immediately. Everything came out clean, needing only a little drying. There are different drying setting for pre-ironing, putting away in a cupboard and extreme - I’ll explore those more to see what works best. I’ve done a couple of washes so far, and they’ve been quieter than my old machine (which was too noisy to be next to during a wash) and as far as I can tell from my smart meter, they’ve used less energy too. After the first couple of days, it’s a thumbs up! Some additional comments after exploring smart features - There is an option to set a washing cycle by taking a photo of your washing piled in front of the machine, but unfortunately you need about 2m of distance between the machine and your phone to frame it properly, so I couldn't test it. Another cool thing is that you can scan washing labels to build a clothing library, and configure your wash cycle using this.

So far, the only regret is that we did not buy this sooner. As our previous machine was a Hoover, it was relatively easy to get to grips with the settings. I would offer 3 pieces of advice. Firstly, we went from a 8kg capacity machine, so when my wife used the machine for the first time, she was far from impressed with the load capacity. However, it turns out the only thing that was 'wrong' was that my wife had not filled the drum correctly. She had filled the machine as she usually had done, but the drum is longer in length, and she simply had not pushed the items far enough back. Secondly, the dryer seems so much more efficient that we are able to pick the cupboard dry option rather than having to just use the full dry cycle. Thirdly, if at all possible, after the wash cycle has completed, put the load on for an extra spin cycle. It does reduce the amount of drying time. We have only had the machine for a few weeks, but if it performs anything like our last Hoover, we will be extremely happy. Our last machine survived with very few repairs considering its use level for 5 years; at least one wash a day, but usually 2 and it was almost unheard of for the machine not to be used for a day.