Anyone recommend a decent iron for DH's birthday?

[soontobeslendergirl]

:o

He has asked for a new iron for his birthday as he doesn't like he one we have - don't want to spend a fortune but the one we have (Tefal) is shite. We did have a really nice one which wasn't expensive and lasted for years but after it gave up the ghost we couldn't get the same one again (no idea now what it was).

I looked at reviews for the one we have now and they were all pretty positive, but still it is shite.

Recommendations please!!

You need one of the steam generator types. I'm ex army, so know my ironing, they are the business.

Thanks ninja I'd looked at those - not sure quite how they work - do you have a particular model/make that have experience of?

Steam generator definitely. Cuts ironing down time. I wouldn't be without mine. I have the Philips compact care. Go for at least 4bar pressure.

I have a Phillips Steam Generator ibex which I got free doing a trial on here.

It's great. Cuts ironing time down by over half.

I would never have a normal iron again - the big steam generator ones are ace. They are so worth the extra money.

Great thanks everyone, I'll go looking now :)

Are they complicated to use? - I am sure DH will be fine but my sons (12 & 13) do their own shirts - 13 year old is pretty good, he can rattle of 5 shirts in about 10 minutes but the 12 year old takes forever - lack of practice obviously :o

I would point out, I do iron occaisionally, and I do all the washing and putting away - much as I would love a bunch of man slaves, that is far from the truth! DH looks after the ironing and the dishes..........I do pretty much everything else.

I have had a steam generator iron for years, and it's a Tefal

The major difference with a steam generator iron is that instead of just getting a little puff of steam when you press the steam button it is continuous steam. It only stops giving steam when you release the button.

The water tank is separate from the iron and holds a lot of water. This is the base that the iron sits on.

You may well need a new ironing board to hold it on (I did) and I find that I can't stand and iron for ages as the ironing board gets wet from the sheer amount of steam.

But you shouldn't need to iron for ages and it just cuts through the creases. I was skeptical until I tried it, I would never go back to a normal iron again.

Thanks potterer, that sounds really good. We do have a good quaility large ironing board so hopefully it will be up to the job....or I know what he'll be getting for Christmas :o

Do you think that there will be a risk of burning from all the steam? Just thinking about No2 son here although I guess we could keep the old iron for his exclusive use.

Does anyone have problems with them getting sticky stuff on the soleplate? That is probably the main issue with the current iron, it seems to permanently get stuff burned onto the bottom which helpfully comes off on anything white

soontobe - I have a tefal steam generator. love the steam generator and, like others on this thread, wouldn't go back to a normal iron.

however the sole plate drives me potty. it is ceramic and really difficult to clean off any scorched residue.

it is quite old now and I am willing it to break so I can justify buying a new one - next one will have a normal metal sole plate.