The TC5 is a commercial laundromat machine shrunk to fit your house, with a metal transmission, full tub of water, and an agitator that actually beats dirt out of clothes instead of gently tumbling them. Owners who can live with the jet-engine spin cycle report flawless performance for a decade or more, handling everything from baby clothes to muddy work gear without the mold, odor, or three-hour cycles that plague modern front-loaders. At $1,649 you're paying for longevity over features: no app, no steam, just a dial and decades of service. Skip it if you want quiet or eco-friendly; buy it if you're done replacing washers every five years and don't mind your laundry room sounding like a laundromat.
Speed Queen builds this washer with commercial laundromat guts, all-steel construction, simple mechanical controls, a 25-year design life, but the original 2018 TR7 cleaned so poorly that Consumer Reports called the factory thinking the test unit was broken. It wasn't. A 2019 update improved things to adequate, yet stain removal still lags competitors at this price, requiring more pre-treatment and manual fiddling with water levels. Buy it if you want a tank that will outlast your mortgage and you're willing to do some of the heavy lifting on tough stains. Skip it if you expect a thousand-dollar washer to handle laundry effortlessly on its own.