LG DLEX 3570V Dryer review: This dryer finishes cycles in a hurry but its design plays it safe

LG sells some of the most attractive laundry appliances on the market, but the $1,100 LG DLEX 3570V dryer isn't one of them. This machine has a drab color scheme and conventional appearance that could easily belong to any number of products from a wide range of manufacturers. What the DLEX 3570V lacks in distinctive looks, however, it makes up for in swift cycle speed and sheer clothes drying power.

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LG DLEX 3570V Dryer

The Good

The LG DLEX 3570V dryer is powerful enough to dry clothes quickly. The appliance also features multiple steam modes and dryer cycles to handle a wide range of clothing and fabric types.

The Bad

The LG DLEX 3570V dryer's control panel is cluttered and its 7.4-cubic-foot capacity comparatively small. The machine uses a tiny water tank instead of a water line input to supply moisture for its steam cycles.

The Bottom Line

If you often need to dry your clothes in a hurry, the LG DLEX 3570V dryer won't disappoint, but look to other models for greater capacity and style.

Those who need to wash large loads at once won't appreciate the dryer's relatively cramped 7.4 cubic foot capacity drum. For them, either the luxurious $1,800 LG DLEX 9000V or roomy $1,400 Kenmore Elite 81072 are a better fit. Of course if it's striking design you're after then consider the $1,100 Kenmore 69133 and $1,000 LG DLEY 1701V. Both high-performance dryers are sleek and lovely, and they sprint through their cycles quickly.

Don't be fooled by its ordinary looks, this LG dryer has lots of speed

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Design and features

Painted in what LG describes as "graphite steel" (also available in white), the DLEX 3570V dryer's gray-and-silver chassis closely resembles myriad similarly bland machines made by GE, Kenmore and Whirlpool. Measuring 38.7 inches tall by 27 inches wide and reaching a depth of 29.75 inches, the dryer is very close in size to the Kenmore 81383 and GE GFDS260EFWW, two appliances that also share a close resemblance.

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Even so, the LG DLEX 3570V is by no means old-fashioned. The dryer's control panel sits on the machine's front face and has modern LED indicators. At the center of the panel is a large dial that swivels softly to highlight your chosen dryer cycle. It's a far cry from the cantankerous mechanical knobs that still exist on some budget dryers such as the Kenmore 65132 and GE GTD45EASJWS.

This doesn't mean the LG dryer is a pleasure to operate. With a cluttered layout and text that's often too small to read quickly, I often found it tricky to tell just what the appliance was up to at any given moment.

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There are plenty of dryer cycles to choose from. Numbering 12 in all, the cycles profess to handle everything from permanent press and synthetics to bulky items, cotton garments and towels. The dryer can also perform two different steam cycles, "Steam Fresh" and "Steam Sanitary." The first option is designed to remove wrinkles and odors from clothing quickly. The second cycle hits the dryer drum with high heat and steam to destroy germs lurking within fabric.

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To supply moisture for its steam functions, the LG DLEX 3570V relies on a small water reservoir that you must fill manually. While it's a minor inconvenience, especially if you have access to a sink in your laundry room, the arrangement is more hands-on than using a dedicated water line.

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The dryer's 7.4-cubic-foot-capacity drum is a letdown as well. It offers less space for large loads than many competing appliances. For instance, both the Kenmore Elite 81072 and LG DLEX 9000V dryers boast massive drums with 9-cubic-feet capacities.

Performance

LG's DLEX 3570V dryer might look like an average, everyday laundry appliance, but its performance is nothing of the sort. In fact this scrappy dryer is currently the third most powerful machine we've tested to date, tied with the Kenmore 65132.

We design our test procedures to quantify how much water a dryer can remove from fabric plus the time required to finish the task. We also do our best to eliminate as many variables as possible during testing, including environmental conditions and test materials. For our tests we chose the machine's normal cycle (meant for "work clothes, corduroys, etc.," as outlined in the manual) and its medium temperature setting.

The LG DLEX 3570V zipped through its test loads in just 41 minutes on average. It's the same amount of time the Kenmore 65132 required but shorter than the average cycle times of other dryers including the LG DLEX 5000 (42 minutes), LG DLEX 9000V (43), Kenmore Elite 81072 (43), LG DLEY 1701V (44), Kenmore 81383 (46).

Truly telling, however, is this machine's water evaporation rate, which provides a bead on its true drying power. In a nutshell, the number outlines the amount of water on average a dryer can remove from test loads of wet fabric in a given period of time.

Drying clothes at a rate of 0.133 pound of water per minute, the DLEX 3570V dryer again is neck and neck with the Kenmore 65132 (0.133 pound per minute), which also secures a third-place showing for the appliance behind the Kenmore 69133 (0.139 pound per minute) and LG DLEX 5000 (0.135 pound per minute). Check the evaporation rate table below for more details.

Conclusion

While the $1,100 LG DLEX 3570 dryer won't blow anyone away in terms of its beauty or revolutionary design, the gray-steel-and-silver chrome appliance looks handsome enough. If you have no issues with the machine's conventional appearance and value a powerful dryer that's able to process laundry quickly, it will suit you just fine. Big families or individuals who need a dryer for tackling massive loads of clothes at a time will have to spend a little extra.

The 1,400 Kenmore Elite 81072 performs well and comes with a large 9-cubic-foot capacity. Likewise, the luxuriously priced $1,800 LG DLEX 9000 also boasts a 9-cubic-foot drum plus an attractive appearance and practically every bell and whistle in the book. Of course to really wow all who enter your laundry room, the $1,000 LG DLEY 1701 dryer is a truly beautiful machine which costs slightly less yet has a drum size just a hair smaller (7.3 cubic feet). The best all-around option though is the $1,299 Kenmore 69133 dryer that wields astonishing power, looks great and has a big-capacity drum (8.8 cubic feet).