I've had mine for about a year and love them! The washer can hold huge loads of laundry and does a nice job on the clothes. It's much quieter than our old washer, too.
To answer the detergent question, yes, you are supposed to use "he" rated detergent, and I do. If you don't use it, you'll often get a "suds" warning during the load, which causes the washer to take extra long to rinse out, and it's supposed to be bad for the machine. The detergent I buy is the same price as the regular detergent, so I don't mind buying it.