Samsung Ecobubble WF90F7E6U6W review

We’ve been really impressed with Samsung Ecobubble washing machines before, impressing us with their low-temperature cleaning power.

As a result, we were looking forward to seeing the WF90F7E6U6W in action. Available at a lower price than we’ve seen before, this Ecobubble washing machine also has the largest drum size of the range, at 9kg. This means there’s plenty of room to do a large wash or put larger items through, such as duvets.

POWER AND WATER USAGE

While all of the Ecobubble washing machines we’ve tested have had low running costs when using the eco modes, at standard wash cycles (30C and 40C) costs have been a fair bit higher.

This time around, Samsung has managed to keep costs down across the board. We were deeply impressed with the 30C cotton wash. The WF90F7E6U6W used 0.35kW for the cycle and 35L of water, giving a super-low running cost of just 15p for the cycle. Thanks to 1,600rpm spin speed, water retention in our test clothes was just 923g.

Washing at 40C, the cost per cycle did jump significantly, however, but it was still a pretty good rate at 25p per cycle. Here, water retention was low again on a 1600 spin speed, at 980g. Water usage increased to 53Land power nearly doubled from the 30C wash to 0.68kW.

When we moved on to the 40C Easycare program, the cost per cycle stayed the same at 25p. Water retention was slightly higher this time at 1.15kg, due to the slower 800rpm spin speed, but water usage and power dropped slightly to 51L and 0.67kW respectively. These results are pretty average across the board.

The Super Eco 20 cycle is there to help cut costs on power, carrying out your wash loads on lower temperatures. It’s kind to your purse strings and the planet. Well, that’s the theory.

Having to heat the water to a lower temperature helps cut electricity costs, with this cycle requiring just 0.26kW. However, water usage was 48L, which gave us a total cycle cost of 17p – slightly higher than the 30C wash.

We also calculated running costs based on the EU Energy Label (see how we test washing machines for more information). This gave us running costs of £52.30 for high usage, £39.23 for medium usage and £26.15 for low usage. For a 9kg machine, that’s an excellent result and the cheapest running costs we’ve seen at this drum size.

WASH PERFORMANCE

One of the biggest factors to consider when buying a washing machine is how well it cleans. For each machine we test, we put it through a series of cycles and use stain strips of pre-soiled cloth to detect the effectiveness of its wash performance. View our gallery to see all the cleaning examples: dirty cloth is at the top of each sample; the clean one is at the bottom.

Our blood-stained sample is usually a good barometer of how well a wash has been carried out. Overall the 30C Cotton wash was good, though the WF90F7E6U6W didn’t rid the stain as well as its brilliant stain-removing Ecobubble sister, the WF80F5E5U4W. Other stains were removed almost as efficiently, with just a hint more of each stain remaining in the fabric compared with previous tests.

Blood removal was good, with an even clean, although we have seen marginally better results from other machines

The 40C cotton wash was pretty much identical to the 30C in its stain removal, with any differences virtually undetectable. A good performance, but again we’ve seen better from other machines we’ve tested.

40C Easycare was very similar again, the only noticeable difference being that the washing out of the stain was incredibly even, where we often see lines where the stain has washed out more on a crease, we could see hardly any on these samples.

The 40C Easycare wash was very good, producing even stain removal as you can see in this red wine sample

On to the Super Eco 20. Slightly more blood remained in the sample, though the blood/milk/ink sample seemed to wash out slightly better than that of the Easycare cycle, although you have to look very close to see the differences.

Samsung’s EcoBubble technology means that low wash temperatures perform well, as you can see from the blood/milk/ink stain strip

As for the sound it emits while washing, this washing machine is on the quieter side compared to others we’ve seen, washing at 53dB and spinning at 71dB. That’s thanks to its Digital Inverter Motor that cuts down on friction and therefore noise and vibration.

EASE OF USE AND FEATURES

With regards to features, there are so many here, you’d struggle to think of anything that’s missing. It has wash modes for Hand Wash, Denim, Wool and Baby care among others. Suffice to say, if you’ve got any item that needs to be washed, this washing machine should have the mode to match.

A simple dial lets you set the wash mode, and you can adjust the Temp, Rinse and Spin options using the dedicated buttons. With all of the options appearing on the LCD screen, it’s easy to see exactly what you’ve set. One option that you’ll want to disable is the slightly annoying jingle that the machine plays when it completes a wash.

The simple controls means it’s easy to use all of the advanced wash options

You can use Samsung’s Smart Check app (iOS and Android) to help diagnose problems with the machine. The app simply reads any error codes displayed on the front panel, giving you detailed information as to what’s wrong without having to delve through manuals or phone an engineer.

We love the WF90F7E6U6W’s style. It looks sleek and has some nice design touches, such as the splashes of chrome and nice compact LED display which is bright and easy to read.

CONCLUSION

We found that the wash performance was marginally better on the Ecobubble WF80F35U4W, but that comes at a higher price with much higher running costs. For great wash performance and low running costs, it’s hard to beat the combination that the WF90F7E6U6W provides. With tons of features and great looks, too, it wins a Best Buy award.