We have had one of the earier Maytag Neptunes for 3 years, and do 3-5 loads of wash every other day (2 year old boy in the house
). Our observations are as follows:
Front loader holds more, not less. No central agitator means a larger tub capacity, even though the tub looks smaller. We can do a sleeping bag or double bed comforter in the Neptune, couldn't in either of our old top loaders.
Clothes come cleaner. The first normal soil wash removed the yellowish tinge on a pair of old levis that had just been washed on heavy stain cycle in the top loader. Everything else we wash has come cleaner as well, and it is a lot easier to remove spots and stains.
Clothing lasts longer, much less wear on the clothing articles, and much less wet when coming out of the washer - less dry time needed. (very high speed spin cycle, and ours is no longer particularly fast compared to the newer front loaders).
Less soap used (but liquid recommended), a LOT less water used, and lower electric use noticed.
No more out of balance loads, normal washing is extremely quiet.
The only negatives are:
No glass door to see condition of wash load.
Often need to use extra rinse to get all the low allergen All soap out (but still save water over 1 rinse in top loader). This isn't a problem with some of the other soaps we tried, and we never tried the All in a top loader, so I can't compare.
Adding clothes during wash cycle means waiting a few seconds for electronic door latch to open, then to re-latch and start up again - very minor quibble.
All told, despite the high price, no way we would ever go back to a top loader, especially as there have been a lot of new features added to the Maytag (and new front load competitors) in the last 3 years, improving on already great performance.
Hope this helps.