Comparisons

Quick answer

Each page here settles one purchase decision rather than surveying a category. Both sides get a real card and a real price, because a comparison that links only the winner is a roundup wearing a comparison's title.

Across the machine catalog

An even spread across the price range.

Common questions

Why does each page show both options?

Because a reader who came to compare two things needs both of them in front of them. A page that names a winner and links only that one forces the reader to go and look the other up somewhere else, which is both worse for them and, practically speaking, worse for us. Both sides get a card, a price and a reason.

Are these head to head tests?

No. They are comparisons of published specifications, design approach and what each machine is built to do, and every page says so. Nothing on this site has been tested in person. What the site does test is your own machine, through diagnostics you run yourself.

How do you pick a winner?

By deciding who the page is for and then answering for that person. Most of these comparisons have no universal winner, which is why each one ends with a section saying plainly which reader should pick which. A comparison that declares one option simply better is usually hiding the buyer it does not suit.

What if neither option suits me?

Then the roundups are the better starting point, because they cover a whole category at three budgets rather than settling one matchup. The comparison pages are for the moment when you have already narrowed it to two and need the difference between them made concrete.

About this page

Every figure here comes from published manufacturer specifications, owner reported measurements and repair documentation, and each is labelled as either a standard or a convention. This is researched general information to help you diagnose and plan, not professional advice, and it cannot tell you what is wrong with one particular machine. Your own manual and the part number printed on your machine are the final word.