Does the Job
Pros:
great steam production, easy temperature setting, retractable cord.
Cons:
Though not heavy, moreso than the lightest irons.
The Bottom Line:
A good, serviceable iron that makes loads of steam and won't break the budget!
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I have an ironing press and use it when I'm doing tons of laundry. I iron everything but linens. I even iron my underwear because I travel and it stores in a smaller space. However, the Elnapress takes 10 minutes to warm up and another 10-15 to cool down. When I wanted to iron just one shirt this was too much. My little GE iron gave up the steam ghost years ago so I went to my friendly Wal-Mart and picked this iron. I use hotel irons all the time and knew the cheapest iron would get hot, what I wanted was steam. This iron was reasonably priced and I loved the transparent water container idea, so I bought it approximately 6 months ago.
I haven't regretted it. The amount of steam this iron will produce still amazes me. Perhaps they all do now, I hadn't bought one in 15 years. As another reviewer pointed out, there are actually 4 different steam-amount settings. What I truly appreciate, though, is the 'burst of steam' button. Often I'll have some wrinkles in a suit and all it needs is a couple of burst from this iron and a light touch and I'm ready to go. I learned it'll burn your hand just as easily if you're holding the back side, so be careful. There is a large transparent water tank but if I'm doing a lot of ironing I can go through all of that and more.
I didn't do any particular comparison shopping, but I can say that I use a lot of starch and I have never had any dragging, sticking or staining from the soleplate. My iron has never spit. I have used tap water in it and have had no problems with that, either.
This iron is a little heavier than my old one but certainly not as heavy as the "Classic" type that my mother had, one of those all-metal ones. I haven't dropped it but once and nothing broke off.
My other motivation for buying this iron was the retractable cord. I'm left handed and a lot of irons seem designed to aggravate us southpaws. Remember, I use irons a lot in hotels and I know! I didn't trust cordless so this seemed the best compromise. It's worked perfectly for the past 6 months.
While it won't put the same crease in my pants as the Elnapress, that isn't a fair comparison. I have been very happy with my purchase, particularly the steam production, and felt I got good value for the price.
