Hisense WF5S1045BW

Verdict

A clever and feature-packed washing machine, the Hisense WF5S1045BW can auto-dose detergent and fabric softener, has a smart app and a very large 10.5kg drum. Washing costs are very low, particularly on the Eco 40-60 wash, making this a good-value machine in the long-run.

Introduction

Having a large drum in a washing machine, such as with the 10.5kg Hisense WF5S1045BW, can be handy.

Whether you just have a lot of washing to get through or you want to wash larger items, such as duvets, the Hisense WF5S1045BW can handle everything.

It’s also got a lot else going for it: a smart app, auto-dispensing and an A-rated wash performance. After weeks of testing, here are my thoughts.

Design and features

• Large drum
• Smart app
• Auto-dosing detergent and fabric softener

Smart and straightforward to use, the Hisense WF5S1045BW is a well-balanced washing machine with a large 10.5kg drum. That’s about as big as you get in a washing machine; the only machine that I’ve reviewed that’s bigger is the Samsung WW11BGA046AE with its 11kg drum.

Still, 10.5kg of washing space is a lot, handling large loads for big families or larger items, such as thick duvets with ease.

While Samsung’s machine was rather plain in terms of features, the Hisense WF5S1045BW offers a lot for the cash. First up is the auto-dispensing drawer, which takes liquid detergent and fabric softener, holding enough to cater for 24 washes.

This does make it easy to get on with washing: just load the machine up through its large porthole, pick your wash cycle and then hit go.

Using the main cycle dial, there are all of the standard wash cycles that you could want, plus some extras, including a 49-minute wash, a wool cycle and special allergy and baby care cycles that use steam to refresh.

Once a cycle is selected, the LCD shows the estimated wash time, plus the cycle’s defaults can be overridden, including the spin speed, temperature and whether or not steam is used.

This is a smart washing machine, controlled by the ConnectLife app, which is a little odd in that it carries no Hisense branding. It’s also a little fiddly to add the washing machine: I found that trying to scan the washing machine’s barcode failed, so I had to type in the product’s serial number manually.

Once added, the app gives remote control over the Hisense WF5S1045BW’s wash cycle and settings, plus there are some additional special-purpose cycles there. For remote start, the machine has to be put into the right mode first, which is a standard safety feature for all smart appliances.

If you happen to have a Hisense smart tumble dryer, then you get one extra feature: once a wash has finished, the best-choice tumble dryer cycle can be set to dry automatically.

Performance

• Low running costs
• Good wash performance on Eco 40-60

I put the Hisense WF5S1045BW through my normal wash tests. First, I started with the Cotton wash at 30°C. Here, I found that the washing machine cost 44p to run this cycle, which is good but not outstanding; the similarly-priced Samsung WW90T684DLH cost just 30p for this cycle.

My 5kg washing put on 44.63% in weight through water retention, which is a touch higher than I’d like; a figure of 40% or lower is better, demonstrating that clothes would take less time to dry if hung out.

I used a stain strip with the washing to test the cleaning performance. From left to right, my stain strip consists of red wine, orange juice, ketchup, cooking oil and gravy. On this wash, the ketchup and oil stains were removed, with the gravy stain faded a lot; the tough red wine stains had faded but were still visible.

Switching to the Eco 40-60 wash, I found that the cost per cycle dropped to just 25p, while my clothes gained 42.62% in weight through water retention. This is a lower running cost than with the Samsung WW90T684DLH.

Wash performance was good. Here, most stains were largely gone, and my red wine stain had faded a lot. I thought that the WW90T684DLH did slightly better, but it’s a close-run thing.

Moving to the quick wash, I found that the Hisense WF5S1045BW cost 26p to run this cycle, which is very competitive. My washing was comparatively damp, gaining 66.8% weight through water retention.

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