Bold New Improvements
In Tumbling Technology

Let us begin with one basic tenet: No matter how many innovative developments you might make in the home related to laundry, as far as I am concerned, washing and drying remains a job of drudgery. And little has changed in the arena during the past few years, except perhaps for some sleeker designs, cooler looking electronic and digital displays to replace dials and some behind-the-scenes improvements in churning and tumbling technologies.

Even though it is a task every household must address in some fashion during the week, more home-related brainpower has gone into the invention of a myriad of garlic presses than in the question of how to clean clothes better.

But I recently got the chance to consider a trio of new products aimed at dramatically improving various aspects of washing and drying. The most ambitious effort tries to solve the problem of how to better dry shirts and sweaters and avoid hefty dry-cleaning fees; another product aims to remove spots more effectively by means of an "ultrasonic" pulse; and the third is part of an ongoing industry trend to untether the old-fashioned iron from its cord.

Since I was so sanguine about such matters, I enlisted the help of Ed, my able assistant, who becomes almost enraptured when dealing with laundry issues (and who will iron my pillowcases if I let him). Together, we tumbled headlong into the dirty clothes business to see if these products helped us clean up. And while the results from all three were mixed, each showed a kind of creativity that made washing and drying more interesting. Well, almost.

Maytag's Neptune Drying Center, which made its debut last fall with heaps of marketing and much attention, attempts to solve the dilemma most people have with their dryers: wrinkled shirts, mangled delicates and shrunken sweaters.

To remedy the situation, Maytag extended its popular Neptune line by adding a large appliance that includes a regular front-loading tumbler below and a spacious open drying "cabinet" above where you can either hang things or place them flat on removable shelves. At a pricey $1,200 for an electric unit and $1,300 for a gas one, along with it's bigger size, I wasn't sure how much people wanted to pay for the privilege of babying their clothes.

Maytag Neptune Drying Center Price: $1,200 for electric; $1,300 for gas Comment: Prevents mangled shirts and shrunken sweaters, but it's big in size and price too.

Literally, the two-in-one concept means that towels, T-shirts and other clothes are dried as usual below, while other more delicate items get extra special attention up above. Thus, baseball hats, undergarments and shoes get hung up on hooks inside the doors, sweaters are laid flat and shirts are placed on a hanger, all coddled with gentler air, a shaking "wrinkle-release" action, steam and odor removal options and much less agitation overall. You can fit a number of shirts or longer items in the cabinet or opt for five sweaters or other delicates on the shelves.

To test it out, Ed and I traveled a few hours by car to a special Maytag display store where we were able to use a working unit for an afternoon.

Lugging a pile of wet laundry with us, we entered the store and got to work as other customers browsed around. We were immediately pleased with the drying cabinet, which was well made and employed handsome LED touchpad controls that were simple to comprehend. We hung several shirts and a hat, laid sweaters on two shelves and added in a fabric softener sheet to its proper place in the idiot-proof machine.

The results were excellent, with all shirts and sweaters drying uniformly and relatively free of wrinkles, except for a linen one. The fabric felt soft too, unlike those shirts that dry by air and usually end up feeling stiff. That said, there's one big problem -- the drying in the cabinet takes about four hours on average, which seems an eternity, although it is shorter than air-drying. I also remained bothered by the size of the dryer unit, which took up as much space as a washer-dryer stacked unit. Most of all, I wonder how many of the people who can afford this dryer wouldn't opt for just sending those shirts and sweaters out to the cleaners.

Saving money on dry-cleaning is also the promise of the Tide Buzz Ultrasonic Stain Remover. If that sounds like a mouthful, its parentage is also a bit convoluted -- the device is made by a small appliance manufacturer called Applica Consumer Products, is "powered" by Black & Decker technology and uses a special cleaning fluid from Tide. Available in stores last month, its goal is to allow a person to get rid of stains on a garment before a washing. In general, most people now apply a dose of stain remover on a piece of clothing, let it soak in and wash it in the hope the stain will out itself. While I often wear a pizza or juice stain on my shirt without a care, Ed assured me that not knowing whether a spot will come out in the wash is an agonizing issue for many.

Tide Buzz Price: $49.99, and about $5 each for refills of pads and stain-remover cartridge. Comment: Ultrasonic magic works immediately on stains, but a wash cycle often does the same job.

So, in the interests of relieving their pain, I took a cupcake with chocolate frosting and smooshed it on my white sweatshirt and then doused a white apron with beet juice. As the final coup de grace, I applied a generous amount of cherry and strawberry pulp to a white dishtowel. Then, we let them all fester for two days, before Ed took action. Pretending he was filming a side-by-side comparison television commercial, he put the popular brand of Shout stain remover on one side of each soiled item and went to work with the Buzz on the other. The Shout side immediately got grosser as Ed wet it, with the icing, beet juice and fruit pulp stains spreading even further as he added more stain remover.

Then he treated the other side with the Buzz, which was an entirely different experience, but only after a lot of steps. First, Ed outfitted the bread-loaf-sized unit by inserting the cleaning fluid container in the top and plugging it in, putting a special "Stain Catcher" pad under the stain, pumping out stain remover from the nozzle of the attached wand, and then using the same wand to start the ultrasonic action, which had a slight sound of humming. That buzzing, to both of us, was the weird part that we thought would have little effect. But almost immediately, it eradicated every stain completely. Ed, not surprisingly, was ecstatic, and even I was impressed.

That said, there were several downsides. First, the unit itself was unwieldy and hard to move around easily. I wished it was much more portable. Second, it's expensive and requires a lot of extras to work -- the machine retails for $49.99, a container of cleaning fluid and five pads costs $4.99 with 15 more pads going for $4.99. We used several pads on each stain and much of the fluid on just three items. And, finally, even though we could see the stains gone immediately before washing, both the sweatshirt and the dishtowel treated with Shout came out just as clean after the wash, although Shout didn't beat the beets as well as the Buzz did. So if you're rich and impatient (and eat beets messily), the Buzz will make you happy.

Lastly, Ed tested a cordless iron, this one also made by Maytag. It's a good idea -- one becoming increasingly commonplace among all iron manufacturers -- since cords often become a nuisance when trying to maneuver the iron around the ironing board. The iron we tried is kept in a cradle that is used as a docking station. The cradle is plugged in, so every time an iron returns to the dock, it receives a small charge. But the device also turns off after 10 minutes if unused, which is terrific. And the iron also now uses electronic displays rather than the old dial method and is stored in a single integrated carrying case with a retractable cord. The Maytag iron Ed tested had a titanium sole plate, which retails for $149 (a stainless steel one costs $129).

Maytag Cordless Iron Price: $129 for stainless steel; $149 for titanium Comment: Doesn't stay as hot as the corded kind.

He ironed a large cotton tablecloth and a dozen napkins to test drive the product. On the plus side, he loved the electronic display controls compared to traditional dial controls that sometimes have a tendency to move from the setting you have chosen. He also liked the retractable cord and storage dome, which let you put the iron away immediately without waiting for it to cool. Most important of all, he was able to be more precise without having the cord in his way while ironing, the biggest selling point of the unit.

But it also meant Ed had to return the iron to its cradle to re-energize more often than he liked. Thus, every time he needed a boost, he had to wait for about 20 seconds for the iron to return to the cotton setting he had selected. He ironed two average size napkins, achieving that professional finished look, before having to dock the iron again.

Ed's conclusion was that the cordless iron is probably very well suited for the average person, who wasn't fanatical about ironing. But for those people who might be using it who do a lot of home sewing or for those who simply enjoy ironing and try and compete with professional dry cleaners or laundries, he felt it took too much time to achieve those results. In the exciting new world of washing and drying, apparently, time is of the essence.

Email your comments to rjeditor@dowjones.com.