Hisense HV642E90UK 13 Places

Is the Hisense HV642E90UK 13 Places worth buying?

The Hisense HV642E90UK 13 Places is worth buying at £299 for a medium household that wants 13 covers, a two year warranty and a built-in water softener without paying Bosch money. The load takes up to 143 items in one pass, which covers a family roast plus the pans, and six programmes include Hygiene at high temperature and a one hour wash for the nights you cannot wait. Thirty-three owners rate it 3.8, so the price and the warranty are doing more of the persuading than the review base is.

It suits a busy kitchen in a hard water area, where the water softener and the salt refill funnel that comes with it save the real money over the years. It suits buyers who want buttons and an LED display rather than an app. Look elsewhere if you want a near silent wash or the lowest electricity figure of the group, because this one is neither.

What does £23.00 a place setting actually get you?

Divide £299 by the 13 place settings and each cover costs £23.00. That is £3.07 more than the Candy at £19.93 a setting and £19.95 less than the Samsung Series 11 at £42.95, which puts this Hisense in the middle of the field on value. The 143 items work out at about 11 pieces per cover, so nothing in the basket is doing anything unusual.

The running cost is where it loses ground. A cycle draws 0.92 kWh, more than the 0.79 kWh of the Hisense HV623D15UK Silver and the 0.76 kWh of the slimline Hisense HV523E15UK, and it carries an E energy class. Over a year of daily washes that adds up, so use the ECO programme rather than the intensive one for a normal dinner load.

What comes in the box and how does it fit?

The machine measures 55.5 cm deep, 59.8 cm wide and 81.5 cm high, so it drops into a standard under counter gap, and it weighs 30 kg before the door front goes on. A drain hose, a power cord, a salt refill funnel and the user manual come with it. The body is metal with a stainless steel interior and a glossy finish, and the controls are push buttons with an LED display.

A door fixing kit is not in the box and neither is the cabinet door or handle, so both are bought or made separately, which is normal for a fully integrated machine but has to be in the budget. It draws on a 230 volt supply and it is built in Slovenia.

Where does the Hisense HV642E90UK fall short?

It is not a quiet machine. The wash runs at 47 dB, which is 5 dB above the 42 dB Hotpoint H7I Maxi Space and 4 dB above the 43 dB Samsung Series 11, so in an open plan room you will hear it. It is also the thirstiest on electricity here at 0.92 kWh a cycle against 0.76 kWh for the slimline Hisense.

The review base is thin at 33 ratings and the average sits at 3.8, the lowest of the full size machines compared. There is no app control, no auto door opening to help drying and no delay timer mentioned anywhere in the feature set, so a cycle starts when you press the button.

The missing door fixing kit is the practical annoyance rather than the score. It adds an extra line to the order and an extra step to the fitter's day.

How does it compare with the COMFEE' 12 Place Settings and the Hisense HV623D15UK Silver?

The COMFEE' 12 Place Settings costs £199, which is £100 less for one fewer cover and £16.58 a place setting against £23.00 here. It also carries 864 owner ratings at 4.0, a far deeper base, and eight wash cycles with app control. For a couple or a small family, the COMFEE' is the better spend; this Hisense earns its extra £100 on the 143 item load, the water softener and the two year warranty.

The Hisense HV623D15UK Silver costs the same £299 and holds 14 place settings, one more than this model, at £21.36 a setting. It uses less electricity at 0.79 kWh a cycle and 11 litres of water, supplies a fixed door fixing kit in the box and opens its own door to dry. It rates 3.2 from 14 owners though, which is weaker again, so the two Hisense machines trade a better specification against a worse score.

If drying without a heating element matters most, the Candy does 14 settings with a door that opens itself for £279, £20 less than this one.