We love ours.

I have a set and absolutely hate them. It’s the first time I’ve “splurged” on a washer and dryer instead of buying the cheapest available options, and the Speed Queens are the worst I have ever owned in two decades of living on my own (moved around a lot and unfortunately have had to buy a lot of washers and dryers because of it).

Check out Foama cases. They’re a Canadian company that make laser cut foam inserts for hard cases. I have some for carrying cameras and lenses; full confidence in them to protect my gear.

See if you can purchase MAX cases in the US. I use them in the U.K. for transporting expensive tools and the quality is superior to Pelican cases (better hinges/better latches).

For your purposes “pick and pluck” foam would be sufficient for protection.

Here to say this!

[deleted]

I use baking soda to leach the taste or smell out of the cheap stainless stuff I have. Works really well. Dump a bunch in, fill full with hot water, shake vigorously and let it sit. Usually fixes the problem completely and sometimes permanently.

What catfish species is that?

Just looked, and it is not Energy Star rated. In fact, none of their top-loads are Energy Star.

This is very important for anyone looking for tax incentives and rebates- these do not qualify for any government incentives without being Energy Star.

The triggers on the elite controllers are prone to breakage. I had my elite2 for about 6 months before the left trigger died. I purchased and regular ass Xbox controller and it's working flawlessly after 18 months.

I have a glass Contigo auto-spout. The lid and straw are plastic but the rest is glass and it’s thick/sturdy. I’ve had it for at least 5 years. I did break a previous one by dropping it in the street but that was my mistake!

Haha, nice one

Pelican does have a line of "air" cases that are slightly lighter, if that's what's kicking you over the price limit. But they're not a ton lighter. Also, go for a case without wheels to save a bit more weight.

It's for a 17-year-old fantasy football league that we started together as soldiers in Iraq. Twice in the past five years, our current resin trophy (the top one, the Tenequer Memorial Trophy) was damaged during shipping. Now, we're ponying up for a legit Lombardi Trophy replica (but with our logo and name on it) affixed to a solid wood base with engraving plates for 32 different seasons (so we still have 14 years before we need to think about expansion). The common trophies available online are painted resin; our new trophy will be hand-crafted metal. The common trophy bases included with the painted resin trophies are MDF and the paint (or glaze or laminate, whatever it is) is constantly chipping and making it look cheap and beat up. Our new base will be solid wood that is stained rather than painted. Between the base and the topper, we're looking at $700+, so we want to protect it. This league is how we all keep in touch, so we are confident it will last for years to come and we want our trophies to as well.

Is your dad OJ?

You can idk what they're all frustrated about...

But it did serve in WW2…on the baddies side.

I know what Speed Queen is as a laundromat commercial company, but I’m new to this. What makes Speed Queen a better machine than some other brand?

Yea you landed on it. Pelican or pelican like cases are gonna be the best bet. The other option you can search is “gig case” or “road case”. Those are used in the music world. Those are the options. Look at any pro that travels with any expensive anything, it’s gonna be pelican or road cases. In regards to shipping, yea, that’s right, just build that cost into the operation now. I worked in shipping for 8 years, don’t cheap on important stuff.

I have a Contigo Purity and it’s my holy grail water bottle. It unfortunately looks like Contigo discontinued that style, but Amazon has a few left.

The part you drink from is glass, which was important for me. I’ve dropped it a bunch of times, and it hasn’t broken! The silicone bit attached to the lid did snap after 5+ years of use when I yanked it too hard, but that’s fine.

I have no advice but am very intrigued about what type of championship the trophy is for.

Lower quality stainless steel certainly does leave a taste and that “cheap metal smell” back when I would actually bother taking swag bags from work events and use the provided cheap stainless bottle I had this issue.

When I got a couple of Kleen Kanteens and a HydroFlask (I like size options) all of that disappeared.

None. Pelican or nothing

Can you not pause the wash and unlock the lid?

We just got a washer, and waiting for our old dryer to bite the dust to replace it. It’s such a good washer!