We need a new steam iron! :-) Please help, UK guys! :-)

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carlstock

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Sep 19, 2006
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Hi, guys! :-)

I thought I would seek your help with this. :-)

We need a new steam iron. It doesn’t have to be anything really fancy – it just needs steam (LOL) and spray. It does not need to be a steam generator! :-) If Miele or Dualit made a stream iron, I’d probably have it! ;-) However, I cannot afford Miele’s ironer! LOL :-)

Seeing as ironing often follows on from washing and drying, I though this may be quite a valid question. :-) My Mum has instructed me to ask you before making a purchase! LOL :-) Honestly, she has! :-) Well, she didn’t *instruct* me, but she wanted me to ask first. :-) The thing is, I’m not too hot on irons (boom boom!), and I don’t want to get steamed up (groan!). :-)

We currently have a Philips iron but would like to see if there is anything better out there. However, from what I’ve read, Philips are apparently good, but what do you think?

I certainly do not expect you to go through different models. :-) What I am interested in is which makes you prefer and which to avoid – in other words, what’s really good?

We can go up to about £75.

Many thanks for your help. :-)

Take care. :-)

Regards,

Carl :-)
 
Anything that dosnt bear the name Tefal!!!!
As I mentioned in my previous text Carl Tefal dont have the quality they used to have. I dropped my Mums Aquaspeed iron and it smashed into smithereens.
The Tefal Diffusion AquaScale jobbie before that did slightly better at living for 3 years but soon burnt out.
However saying that they are good gliders and if im honest the Ultraglide soleplate glides too much.
We (mum and Myself) have both said its too effective and the soleplate does not come into contact with the garments long enough to iron out creases.

Now I know this might sound odd as Tefgal irons are from the same company as Rowenta but Rowenta are way above Tefal.
Rowenta all the way. Im currently using a Rowenta Effective £20 from Asda. This steams well. heats quickly and is very comfortable to use.
Sarah and myself went thru aa few irons in the 2 years we were together due to my clumsiness in dropping and them burning out and i cant say it so strongly that you should also stear clear of any Morphy Richards Irons too. I had a 2004 Morphy Richards Pro (purple) that steamed well but couldnt keep the heat up. its soleplate also rusted badly within a matter of months.

Mum also has a green MR Turbo steam that my sister dropped. this actually creased the cheap aluminuim soleplate but it wasnt too good of an iron to start with.

Then I bought myself the last Rowenta Professional to have the chunky soleplate as opposed to the flat one and that was excellent but strangely didnt steam as well as my Effectiv.

Now I swear by my Breville Steam Generator whcih I can do the whole family of 5s weeks ironing in 40 minutes and i mean ironing everything. T Shirts jeans trousers work shirts etc etc.
The Rowenta I use for daily top ups and to freshen things that have been hanging in the wardrobe and need touching up.

Hope this helps. I know a few other Members here have the Rowenta Effectiv and says its the best.

Of course Id recoomend the Detacheable Water Tank version of the 80s if that was still available as Mums lasted years. Sadly it burnt out in the late 90s but...... My Granddad STILL has my Nanas!!!! Must be about 20 years old now and still works better than anything else and best of all...... You can use TAPWATER!
The best designed Iron ever!

Rob
 
Just been thinking.

My godmother with the very Hotpoint that did Started the Hotpoint thing for me as a child (Clear Dial Chrome door 1000rpm 1984 model with Toggle Switches) had the Detacheable water tank Rowenta too.

I remember us visiting and more often than not the Hotpoint was on but with Mum being so young when she had me (She was 21) My godmother who was the same age as mum, would often put a record on while they were talking/smoking in the kitchen. Usually some Bon Jovi or some of this terrific band - where I getmy olove of 80s muusic from as Mum was still young enough to keep well upto date with anything and listening to the charts on a sunday was as much for her pleasure than for mine.

We still have the "Popped in Souled out" Album on vinyl.
This song always reminds me of that Hotpoint which sadly died in 1993 and was replaced with another brown Hottie which Im not sure if they still have.

Rob

 
steam

i have a black and decker steam iron that works GREAT and it isn't bad to look at either.

michael
 
Hi Carl,

From a design standpoint I think Rowenta is hard to beat, but that said I've had four that didn't make it to the end of the guarantee period. Despite following the instructions to the letter they either suffered scaling problems or the steam/spray mechanisms just plain siezed up within a matter of days, in effect leaving me with a very expensive dry iron. Relatives who have Rowentas just fill theirs from the tap and had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned the self-clean procedure, yet theirs continue to work just fine. Try working that one out :o(.

Have had a Philips Azur before that I was very pleased with, always gave very good steam and was comfortable to use. Would probably still have it had I not dropped it; irons do not bounce off tiled floors all that well sadly!

My current iron is a Bosch TDA8313, and so far no complaints after using it for a few months. Again, good steam, nice long cord and it heats up very quickly. Think I paid £39.99 for it from my local House of Fraser store, although it could probably be had for less elsewhere - have to admit I didn't shop around for this purchase and just grabbed it in a hurry. There is a sexy black model available, but I considered the integral headlamp (?!) to be a frivolous feature not worth the extra money.

Also have a Polti Vaporetto steam generator, although rarely use this nowadays. For the amount of ironing I do, by the time it's heated up and reached ironing pressure I might as well use a regular iron and have the job done already. They do come in handy for marathon ironing sessions though, so it really depends on whether you prefer to iron a few pieces regularly, or save up several loads and iron them all in one go. If it's the latter, a steam generator is worth looking into and will make the job much easier.

Cheers,

Kirk

 
Thanks, Rob, Michael and Kirk, for taking the time to provide advice. :-) There is lots for me to go on there. :-)

I shall churn on the information given and let you know what we get. :-)

Take care. :-)

Regards,

Carl :-)
 
Carl,

I agree that you should avoid TEFAL and Moulinex. They have great features but lousy quality.
Unfortunately, Rowenta is no longer a brand you can buy "blind". Some of their stuff is very good, some very bad...and price is no guideline.
Braun, sadly, is no longer always good. Most BOSCH and Siemens are ok...
I have had good luck with Philips, but stay away from their aluminum junk.
Why not see if you can't find a vintage Hotpoint or Rowenta which someone's mum got two of for Christmas and never used? That's how I got my Rowenta over here. Things were still well built up through the mid-90's.
(Oh, just an aside - nobody else limits their threads to just one region like some folks in the UK do. Is there a reason? Would you rather we not read or respond?)
 
panthera,

Thank you very much for your very concise message. :-)

I hope to respond further soon, but I would like to say that my only reason for seeking UK=only requests is so that those in other markets do not have to provide information that may not be relevant to the UK market. I do not know a great deal about the market for steam irons, and I would not want to get into a situation where one member from outside the UK suggests a particular make that is owned by a different company in the UK – fot example, as with Hoover and Hotpoint.

I would hazard a guess that other UK members do what I have done for the same reason – that is, to save overseas’ members time. In any case, if one wishes to seek the advice of a particular group of members, then there should not be a problem with this. Indeed, I may ask for a group of members in a particular UK region for advice based on, say, retailers that tend to operate only in certain areas.

Please do not take what I have said here and before in a negative way. :-) I did not intend any offence by seeking UK-only advice. Indeed, there is still no reason why overseas members cannot contribute, as they have done here anyway. :-) Anyone is able to add their views on any threads here – their location is largely irrelevant. :-)

Many thanks. :-)

Regards,

Carl :-)
 
none taken

I was just curious, since the only regional requests I recall seeing were UK based.
Actually, and it is very sad, I can't think of any one single electric good which is exclusive to the UK market anymore. Just about everything which is 230V 50hz is marketed throughout Europe.
The domestic brands - Hotpoint, Hoover, Rowenta, Braun...are all just Chinese stuff with old familiar names on them.
In fact, many of those names which once stood for quality here in Europe like Hotpoint or Dual or AEG are exploited by cheap manufacturers to sell us their shit dressed up as shinola (ok, Ariston can build some decent stuff when they want to. Emphasis on want).
So maybe it doesn't hurt to share resources...certainly a lot of Germans would have been spared the Bauknecht fiasco if they had known what Whirlpool was doing.
Anyway, I hope you find a decent steam iron. The last really good one I had died in the same move which killed my first Miele Dishwasher. Since then, I've made do with all the brands I mentioned above. Kinda scary when you think that first Rowenta was already 20 some odd years old when I got it...and I had it for 14 years...
(In all seriousness, now that UK current and the continent are in harmony, you might even want to check out the continental Ebay auctions...perhaps you can find a vintage steamer over here.)
 

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