Good dryer, but ...

We purchased this dryer in January 2006 because of its large capacity and numerous features, notably the sensor dry level.

After about 3 months of normal use (we have two adults and two toddlers in our family), we started to notice black marks on our light-weight items, such as pillow cases, bedding, athletic pants, and t-shirts. These black marks could be removed with a little detergent and some elbow grease, but it wasn't easy. The process of dealing with customer service was not enjoyable either, as the automated system was lengthy and the actual people seemed uninterested in my concerns. After two service trips, it appears that the problem has been resolved. Apparently there are some black composite strips that the drum rotates over. These black strips were creating residue as the dryer ran, which got onto the clothes. The repairman replaced the black strips with teflon strips (which don't create any noticable residue) and the problem has gone away.

Otherwise, this dryer met my expectations. It was priced lower than similarly equipped competing models. Our work clothes generally come out wrinkle free and the automatic drying time feature appears to work fairly well. I can't rate this product very well in terms of noise, due to a lack of reference point. Also, the door doesn't close smoothly unless it is slammed shut. That isn't a huge problem, but it is annoying when trying to not wake up the kids.

In summary, the black mark problem would prevent me from buying this dryer again. It created too much of a hassle, and has led me to the point of boycotting GE on future appliance purchases. In the future, I will only consider buying a well established model, no matter how significant the price difference is.