Best irons?

[peach]

My third Rowenta just died. Loved the iron when it worked but each one has given me a shorter life span than the one before. I think they are not made as well as in the past. I would like to know what people here are using as well.

 

[peach]

Non Rowenta suggestions please.

 

[bboysdontcryy]

See previous page.

 

[suited]

Coincidentally, my iron broke a few days after posting here, so I purchased this from Home Depot since it was $50 cheaper with their 20% off offer:

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/reliable-iron-maven-40-fl-oz-ironing-system-j420.html#.USd_1jcrHYQ

I've only had a chance to use it once, so I'm undecided. I will say that using the continuous steam feature will likely be a must, and because this thing puts out so much steam, that could cause the boiler to empty very quickly, so we'll see. It does hold a lot of water, though, so hopefully that should balance things out. The amount of steam it generates blows away other iron I have used. You could hold this thing up in the air and burn someone standing 4 feet away with steam. It shoots out with tremendous force.

 

[FlaneurNYC]

^ Reliable is great. My steam generator is a couple of years old and running like new.

Of course, as most of you guys here can probably appreciate, I'm freaking anal about using it properly.

 

[deveandepot1]

Rowenta are your best bet. They are cheap, reliable, and get the job done.

 

[ter1413]

Rowenta are cool....however, my last one died....

 

[marcodalondra]

Rowenta are great when they work, but max 2 years and leaks will start... Rowenta seems to expect it as well for what I got from their customer services... I now have a Vaporella 4500 R http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B008PRTDLW and cannot be happier. It was recommended to me by Mola, as model that work like a tailor iron, and it does

 

[violethour1951]

Writing this as a follow-up to my post here a few months ago, when I was looking for recommendations for a new iron.

I got a Reliable Velocity V50, based on a recommendation in another thread. It has worked very well over the past 2 months. I use it every weekend (only with distilled water) and it generates plenty of steam, is quite heavy, and heats up fairly quickly. The controls are extremely easy to use, too. Hopefully it will continue to work well for years to come.

 

[Douglas]

Adding my $.02, since I looked at this thread before settling on a Reliable J420 "Iron Maven."

Jeffreyd has to be considered the local authority here, as he literally wrote the definitive SF thread on pressing your clothes. But I have not been impressed with the Rowentas I've used; granted the one I have the most experience with is the likely Sam's Club model at my mom's place. But I found that one to be even worse than the really old POS no-name iron we lived with for years until it died. It's why I steered clear of Rowenta, though to be fair, I have no idea what model it was and like I say it was probably not their best work; knowing my parents it's from Sam's Club, where I've seen their irons before.

I am in love with my Iron Maven; it is by miles the best iron I've ever used. It's very hot, the large, deep soleplate seems to keep its heat, it generates steam like you can't believe, and it just makes ironing a real pleasure. With that said, there are quirks:

- I wish it had a water level sensor. Because it's essentially a mini-boiler, you can't have the sight like you'd have in a mere mortal's iron. But I literally have no sense for how much water it will take, how much is gone, etc. And I presume you don't want to refill the thing hot as it's under pressure, but I haven't read the manual. So I just make sure to put a cup or so in every other time I use it.
- I wish it had auto-turnoff. I think the more expensive J490 has an auto-shutoff but come on, that's like a $.20 switch they could have built in, and the J490 is an extra hundred bucks. Not the biggest inconvenience in the world, but you'd think you'd find it in a $300 iron. Even then, it would be fine for me, but my wife is a bit of a scatterbrain and left it on after her first time using it. When I protested, her comment was "your fancy $300 iron doesn't have an auto shut-off?" and rolled her eyes at me. I may have to go to the Depot and see if I can find a shutoff that plugs into the wall.
- It doesn't have a calcium sensor, which I gather is going to eventually tell me when I need to drop in the anti-calc powder. I sense that I am going to **** this up at some point in my future, either forgetting to put in the powder, or running out of it, and I will probably fry the thing eventually.
- It takes a long time to heat up. Like, 7 or 8 minutes. Given that my iron is in the basement and I most typically iron a single shirt for the day in the morning, this is an inconvenience.
- It is slightly awkward to handle. It won't stand upright like a regular old iron. The steam/power hose looks like it's made to pivot out of the way so that you could, but it just doesn't work. So I have to keep putting it back on its base - I presume that's OK because it sits up on what must be three little silicone pads, but it does not explicitly state in the manual that that's ok. Oh well, it is what I have been doing and the pads, though they did develop a bit of a flat on top after my wife left it on for 24 hours, appear to be fine. No smell of burning rubber. Also, the fact that there is a hose takes some getting used to. As others have commented, it might be nice if it were even 6 inches longer, but I haven't had a big problem overall. Just takes getting used to.

Anyways, that looks like a lot of complaints, but to my mind, the performance is well worth these little trade-offs. I was very frustrated with other irons, which could never replicate dry-cleaner performance for pressing shirts and (cotton/linen) pants. This can, no problem.

I'm even tempted to try to learn how to press suits and other wool clothes now.

 

[Kehar001]

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I didn't feel this warranted creating a new one.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this ironing system: http://www.amazon.com/Monster-IB40-...ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A17RZUR7SPHGZT

I'm on the fence about it. It has a couple features I was really looking for, mostly the vacuum system built into the board, and is much less expensive than other systems with similar features. It also has a good average review on Amazon, but I haven't found reviews on any other website.

Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated!

 

[dieworkwear]

I actually just bought a Reliable C81 board, which is somewhat similar. You can find them on Overstock for about $350 once you apply a coupon code. More expensive than this model, but it gets pretty good reviews. I unfortunately won't be able to tell you anything about it for at least another month or two, after I've used it for a while.