Portable Washers: What 31 Spec Sheets Actually Say

14 portable washers state their drum in cubic feet and 16 state a load in pounds, twin tubs state two capacities, and 6 of 15 stated noise levels are the same 72 dB. Here is the class in numbers.

What we analysed, and how

This report covers every portable washing machine our site has reviewed and kept: 31 machines from 19 brands, sorted into the class by Amazon’s own category for each product, not by the category its review was filed under. For each there are two independent transcriptions of the listing, the review’s specification table and Amazon’s detail page, and a figure is called agreed only when both state it and match. Their listings give capacity in two different units, a twin tub states two capacities, and the machines span a factor of fifty in drum size, from a 1.5-litre underwear washer to a 3 cubic foot machine.

Capacity is stated in two units, and no listing converts them

14 of the 31 state a drum volume in cubic feet, the unit a full-size washer uses, and 16 state a load in pounds of dry laundry. None states both in Amazon’s capacity field, and one states neither there. The cubic-foot machines run from 0.06 to 3 cubic feet, a median of 1.7; the pound machines from 5 to 28 pounds, a median of 18. A shopper reading “1.6 cu ft” on one listing and “18 lbs” on another cannot tell which holds more, and our own laundry finder says as much: it filters on cubic feet only, and marks pound-only machines as not stated, because the two are different measurements.

Is there a conversion? 6 listings in the class give both numbers, in the title or in our review’s table alongside Amazon’s cubic feet. They give 6.5 to 28 pounds per cubic foot, and the table shows the spread is not rounding.

Five of the six lie between 6.5 and 9, a narrow band, and the sixth, a twin tub stating 0.46 cubic feet beside a 13-pound title, is 28. Our review of that one states 8 pounds, which would make it 17. So the listings that give both show a tendency and no rule. Six data points, one of them four times the rest, are not a basis for a conversion, and we do not publish one.

A twin tub states two capacities

10 of the 31 are twin tubs: Amazon files them as semi-automatic, with a wash tub and a separate spin tub. 6 of the 22 machines that give a pound figure in at least two places (the title, Amazon’s field and our review) give two different ones, and all 6 are twin tubs. Four of them show the pattern clearly: an INTERGREAT titled 25.3 pounds with 18 in the field, an Auertech titled 28 with 18 in our review, a VCJ with 14 in the title and field and 9 in our review, and a COSTWAY with 12 in the title and review and 20 in the field. The larger figure in each is consistent with a wash tub and a spin tub added together, which is arithmetic and not something any of the listings says. If it is so, the smaller number is what the machine washes at once, and a listing that advertises the larger overstates the load. Our own review tables have not always said which they quote, and on the twin tub and fully automatic page we show the INTERGREAT beside a fully automatic machine that states the same 18 pounds.

Where our review and Amazon disagree on capacity

The two sources agree on drum volume for 12 of the 14 machines that state it in both, and on the pound load for 13 of 16. The disagreements are the useful part. Pro+ 1.8 Cu.Ft Top Load Washer is 1.8 cubic feet on Amazon and 2.8 in our review; HAMILTON BEACH Portable Washing is 1.6 cubic feet on Amazon and 3 in our review. On the pound side they are all twin tubs: COSTWAY Portable Washing is 20 pounds on Amazon and 12 in our review; VCJ Portable Washing Machine is 14 pounds on Amazon and 9 in our review; Auertech Portable Washing is 28 pounds on Amazon and 18 in our review. Where they differ we use Amazon’s figure in the tables and treat our review’s as the one to correct, but a disagreement of that size is also a reason to ask which tub a pound figure describes.

Two kinds of machine under one name

10 twin tubs and 15 fully automatic machines make up the class, with 6 that Amazon does not classify. They differ by about a factor of two and a half in weight. The twin tubs that state a weight are listed between 5 and 36 kilograms, a median of 12.9; the fully automatic machines between 10 and 45.4, a median of 26.5. The twin tubs spin at a median of 1300 rpm and the automatics at 840, so the lighter machine claims the faster spin, and a spin speed on its own says very little about how dry a load comes out.

The price bands follow the type, as you would expect: 8 of the 9 twin tubs with a band on record are in $75–200, and 7 of the 10 fully automatic machines in $200–500. A band is a range and moves, so read it as tendency. The COMFEE’ and BLACK+DECKER page compares two of the automatics, which state the same 11-pound load and are ten decibels apart.

Noise: 15 state it, and 6 state the same 72 dB

Half the class states no noise level. The 15 that do range from 55 to 72 dB, a median of 62. 6 of the 15 state exactly 72, and they are not one brand: BLACK+DECKER, HAMILTON BEACH and one other seller, across machines from 1.6 to 3 cubic feet. A figure repeated across several machines in different sizes is more likely to have been carried over within a product family than measured for each, and a shopper should not read 6 identical numbers as 6 measurements.

What the listings leave out

Of the 31 machines, 9 state no weight, 13 no spin speed, 9 no voltage, 13 no number of programs and 16 no noise level. Voltage matters for a machine that runs from a household outlet or a camper’s inverter: the ones that state it say 110, 115 or 120 volts, and the ones that do not simply do not say. A weight matters for the same reason these machines exist, because a portable washer is bought to be moved. And of the 22 that give one, the middle half of the weights runs from 12 to 35 kilograms, which is the difference between lifting a machine into a car and wheeling it on its own casters.

How to use this

• Compare like with like. A cubic-foot figure is a drum, a pound figure is a load, and a twin tub’s pound figure may be two tubs added together;
• Ask for the other number. If a listing states pounds and you need the drum, or the reverse, look for a model number and a manufacturer’s manual and not for a conversion;
• Treat a repeated noise figure as one claim. Look for one that gives washing and spinning separately;
• Check the weight and the voltage before you order: 9 of 31 state no weight and 9 no voltage;
• to narrow by your own answers, use the laundry finder; to read one machine in full, use the finder, which links every result to its review.

Figures are the manufacturers’, as published on each listing and quoted in our reviews; none was measured by us. How we work · Affiliate disclosure