If you want to see your WM in SC, go for Korean brand, else Panasonic.
I just bought Panasonic 10kg non inverter for rm1150

Want to burst this fact meh
After this some cannot make money in forum liao

Make sure you buy the original belt for that particular car, not paper wrapped chicken stocks

The center I got from local shop for rm1150 including installing

The valve. You still need them to deliver, right

I can DIY, but somethings making my self look stupid is good

Oklar, so far so good, setback is not as quiet as my old Toshiba during new(10 years back)
But the cleaning are way better than Toshiba, paper that forgot to remove won't change to dust like last time also

2 person staying, if laundry not that much, a 10KG TL can do the job perfectly.
If worry on drying issues, just install a ceiling fan on top of hanging area. Ceiling fan won't cost you much on TNB bill, not to mention a 10KG TL only consume 1KW/H for a 2 hours wash. While a FL easily consume > 1 unit per hour.
Want headache-less, Japanese brand will serve you well for the first 6 years. Want to run high and low for warranty, always get Korean brands. Be reminded, the so-called 10-20 years of extended warranty can only used once.

Hitachi's quality are not up to par if comparing to other Japanese brands.
Suggest to change it.

Take out the belt and bring it to car spare part shops. Get the almost the same tension type. Should be about rm20-40.
Initial only eletrical shop telling me this. But when I'm looking for drain valve, even the service center also advise me to source it from spare part shops.
It is not hard to DIY, you need to sleep the WM, a screw driver and that's it.

Panasonic has their service center in each state.
While Samseng are direct sub out to local shops(Seremban confirmed)and always press their workmanship to minimum while charging more on this to end user. So the quality I won't say much.
If you want a piece of mind, Japanese brands are still the brand to go with. WM still Toshiba and Panasonic reliable, I never bother of them giving 20 years of warranty for motor, since it only can be used once.
But, if you don't want to use the WM for 1-2 months, then can always choose Korean brands.
And for WM, no need to go for inverter, wasting money since it only consume 50W of power lesser and may fail faster if you are using full load most of the time. Since inverter are using direct drive, fail means whole set needs to be changed while non inverter are using belt and this is the part that always fails and you need rm30-50 to change it.
Always check the back sticker on the power consumption, that's the actual power consumption.
Need fancy functions on your appliance, be prepared to waste money on repair. I'm a cheapskate, so still using the basic models that require minimum maintenance.

8-9 years is normal already.

Is a fact, Toshiba are quite good, been using it for the past 10 years, just change it recently to Panasonic, I'm a Panasonic fanboy anyway. The first WM I ever had also a Panasonic
If you are married and will be having kids, 10KG would be a better option as it can clean more and heavy stuffs.

By typing this model and search uncle Google, looks like is the water inlet valve failure.

Well, you can only reduce the vibration of a WM by not using it
In reality, as long as an appliance that having rotary parts, it will subjected to vibration.

That's 30 years technology that Japanese companies dropped.
And you are buying an old technology design
Korean brands you will hard to get spare parts unlike Japanese brands can be sourced easily. You need to go back to their service centers and get throat cut nicely.

Panasonic, Toshiba > Sharp > any made in China brand > Samseng, LG.
Always choose for belt type WM, last longer and cheaper to maintain it.
This is my third top load WM for the past 24 years, first is Panasonic 7KG top load that last us for solid 12 years, follow by Toshiba that last us another 10 years, change it because of drum leak and now back to Panasonic again.

This post has been edited by supersound: Jan 1 2016, 01:47 PM

What is your typical load?
Always avoid "new" technology WM, an inverter WM won't really save much power than non inverter. The price difference won't really give you handsome return unless it can last you for 20 years with everyday 4-5 washes. Not to mention direct drive = total lost. Using belt type maybe noisier but always the belt is the first to fail and you only need rm20-50 to get belt replacement and can even DIY changing the belt.

Yup, you are right, a farking lousy brand that lasted me for 10 years of everyday wash

If price almost the same, then deciding factor shall be service centers availability near to your place.
I won't bother to look for brand that the service center are > 20km from my house.

I can have a brand that gives you 20 years of warranty but it takes 1-2 months to rectify the problem
Also the so-called longer warranty means nothing as you can only claim once in that period of time.