Roy,

The brands mentioned are for the most part commerical laundry
equipment. All except the SpeedQueen-Hubshe are pretty much different
machines. Except for a typical square cabinet model that is produced
and rebadged between SpeedQueen, Hubshe and Unimac. Other than this
model most models produced by these mentioned before are all different
under the hood.

The topload models in the laundry-mats only appear to last longer. But
note there are some brand on the market for the home that would never
make it more than a year or so in a laundry. GE, Whirlpool, Speedqueen
and Maytag are the only topload machines I know of that appear in a
laundry-mat, in my humble opinion, the Maytag and Speedqueen are the
best of the bunch and tend to last about 5 to 9 years before being worn
out. That figure seems to be getting closer to 5 years anymore though.

You might notice that I mentioned my home washer was a 35 year washer,
yep, the difference is great in todays models and those of yesteryear,
hence the reason I just keep on repairing the old gal until I can't no
longer.

Another thing, I might offer to someone thinking about buying a
commerical type of washer. Keep in mind, it will need to be serviced
one day. Make darn sure there will be someone around to do it. You will
find most appliance repair guys won't even bother to look at a
commerical unit for one reason or another.