NOW CLOSED: Philips PerfectCare Xpress Iron Feedback review thread PLUS your chance to win your own one (RRP £120)

[AnnMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the 20 MNers recruited to take part in the product test for the new Philips PerfectCare Xpress - Philips say this is "the World's first pressurised steam iron, with "revolutionary OptimalTEMP technology and compact steam generator, it's built for powerful crease removal and is faster than any other steam iron, as tested by independent institute, DWI, June 2011".

"PerfectCare Xpress has no settings, just one perfect temperature that's safe on all ironable fabrics, even delicates. Iron from jeans to silk, to linen, to cotton, to cashmere...in any order, without having to adjust the temperature, it's 100% scorch proof! Plus with an automatic motion steam sensor inside ironing has never been easier. Compact and convenient for storage it's perfect for ironing small loads, every day"

Seeing as this was a very popular product test and so many of you applied - as well as it being nearly Christmas, we twisted the arm of the Philips team and are pleased to say we have another one up for grabs! if you're not a tester, all you need to do to be in with a chance of winning one is - on this thread - pass on your best ever ironing tip or share your worst ironing disaster. Everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a PerfectCare Xpress iron of their own (RRP £120).

If you are a tester, please answer the following questions and share with the MN community your thoughts on the iron.
Please also add a review here.

~ Firstly - what is your general opinion of ironing?
~ First impressions - what did you think? How easy to follow were the instructions?
~ First use - what did you try it on? A mountain or did you ease it in slowly? How did it handle the first few items?
~ Did you have to adjust how you iron at all? How did you find not changing the settings?
~ Any comments on ease of use? Including size, weight, storage etc?
~ Any one else in the family used it? What did they think?
~ Is this an iron you think you'd recommend to other people (should the conversation arise)?
~ How would you rate the value for money?
~ Any other comments on the product?

thanks
MNHQ

Ironing tips - (to borrow from Nike)- Just Do It!

The ironing mountain casts a shadow over a corner of our kitchen, but if I stick Radio 4 on and just get it done, it's never as bad as I think it's going to be.

Failing that, get your OH to do it.

~ Firstly - what is your general opinion of ironing?
I hate ironing with a passion!

~ First impressions - what did you think? How easy to follow were the instructions?
I thought 'wow this iron is massive and quite heavy!' I read the instructions - easy to follow, easy to set up the iron.

~ First use - what did you try it on? A mountain or did you ease it in slowly? How did it handle the first few items?
I used it this morning on my mountain of ironing. I usually save it up for a couple of weeks then watch TV and iron until it's all done, as I did with the Philips Pro.

~ Did you have to adjust how you iron at all? How did you find not changing the settings?
I very rarely change the settings on the iron anyway, so it wasn't really very new to me tbh!

~ Any comments on ease of use? Including size, weight, storage etc?
The iron is massive and quite heavy, I don't actually have anywhere to store it yet, I'll have to find a home for it. I didn't really like the way it ironed, it seemed that the tip of the iron smoothed the creases but the rest didn't really do much at all. It dragged against lots of the materials and leaked water (I checked it wasn't overfilled and it was fine). I also found it very noisy, it steamed alot and made an odd chugging sound too - DP even commented on it's noisiness.

~ Any one else in the family used it? What did they think?
Only me, but DP picked it up and said 'It's a beast!'

~ Is this an iron you think you'd recommend to other people (should the conversation arise)?
I doubt I'll be recommending it, sadly.

~ How would you rate the value for money?
I wouldn't pay £120 for it! The iron I already have was my Grandma's and it's light and easy to use and probably cost no more than £30.

~ Any other comments on the product?
I was all set to love this iron - the premise is fab - no settings, easy and quick ironing. In actual fact I found it didn't work as well as the iron I have, imo, and I possibly spent longer doing the ironing today than usual. I even took a little break in the middle to sit down as I found the weight of the iron wore my arm out!

My ironing tip is to get someone else to do it

I didn't take part in the product test, but would like to enter the competition..

Ironing tips-

Do ironing in your bedroom, everything can be laid out on the bed sorted into piles and hung up in wardrobe straight away rather than bundles of clothes and hangers strewn everywhere.

Do ironing infront of the TV - I find it less boring and ironing flies by if I am watching tv at the same time.

Oh, I would love to win this iron !
My ironing tip: I like ironed clothes because, ironing kill all bugs, make clothes soft and they look much better than before.At first ironing was so boring but now I'm watching TV or movies on my laptop.It is so great excuse! My hubby looks after our son while I'm ironing. To be honest this way it works perfect, it is not so boring,I have some me time watching movie and doing one of essential chores!
About disaster: I only once burned my white linen jacket, it have brown patch on the front.After I did it my grandmum told that she don't iron whites with her old iron, for that purpose she had another one.....

My OH used it for a bit yesterday and was very impressed!

What the Jeff is with the deletions on an ironing thread? Did they bring up the controversial topic of ironing water?

Maybe there was a personal attack against the Philips iron

Best tip- train your kids to iron from a young age and pay them to iron instead of sending your ironing to an ironing service
Everyone's a winner...

Best tip - save some decent telly viewing for ironing time - I try to do a soap catch up or movie to pass the time (Mama Mia is my guilty pleasure )

Worst - managed to leave a huge scorch mark in dh's (then dp) formal shirt just before we left for our uni summer ball - poor sod couldn't take his dinner jacket off all night and he melted

My worst ironing disaster was quite a few years back. I had just finished ironing clothes on the floor with a cover over the carpet so i didnt burn the carpet. I got up and bent down to pick up iron all the while engrossed in watching telly, ive got it very near my face and im twisting the cord around still watching telly and not paying attension to what im doing. Next thing i know ive managed to burn my face with top end and the worst thing is that ive burned myself on the skin to the side of my lips so when it turned brown it looked like i had melted choc there and hadnt wiped my mouth.

No ironing tips, but my worst ironing disaster was this:-
While a teenage, I was staying at a friend's house. She has an otherwise lovely, but rather volatile mother,Linda, who was prone to exploding over unpredicable things. Linda went out for the day and as it was the Summer holidays she asked us to get some household tasks done, and I offered to do the ironing. There was a big basketful and I went through it with gusto. My own mother is very fussy about ironing so I was careful, or so i thought. I ironed a pretty half slip and the iron was too hot. It melted huge holes in the nylon slip. I was so worried about Linda's reaction that (not thinking straight) I folded the slip along with all the other things, intending (honestly!) to confess later. But I went home the next day and forgot to tell her. She went to work in the slip , having got dressed quickly in the morning, and had rather a shock when she went to the loo and saw all the huge holes. Luckily she thought it was hilarious, I was very relieved!

My tip: Don't drop your iron point-first onto a wooden floor. Not only does it leave a lovely crater in the floor but it also bends the special-tip-for-doing-buttons-on-shirts up so that it no longer fits in between buttons as well. It was when the iron was fairly new as well , never did it with my old, crap one.

My disaster: See above.

Ironing tips: Put easy iron trousers, such as children's school trousers, tightly folded on a warm radiator to dry. Much faster to iron.

Hang shirts on a clothes hanger to dry. It takes up less space and there are less creases.

Best ironing tip- get a good quality iron! A workman/woman can only be as good as their tools. Second tip- make sure you invite your mum round frequently who loves ironong and happens to be very good at it

Disaster- Letting husband who was trying to be helpful- loose on a pile of my new clothes ready for our holidays. He did not realise there were different heat settings for different items and managed to scorch three new tops before I screamed at him to stop!

Best ironing tip- It drives my mum mad that I don't iron, therefore send the baby round to hers in unironed clothes and ocassionally she offers to do it

Worst ironing disaster- in my very first days as a new mum I was obsessive about ironing DD's clothes, standing ironing topless and I burned my boob. Exactly iron shaped and ended up have to see an OOH doctor for antibioics following an infection!

~ Firstly - what is your general opinion of ironing?

Ironing is just one of those jobs that needs to be done. I think it makes you look better dressed when your clothes are nicely ironed so I do iron items of clothing, I don't iron underwear, night clothes or bedding etc.

~ First impressions - what did you think? How easy to follow were the instructions?
The instructions were easy to follow, fill with water (I use filtered water) plug it in and wait for it to heat up.
I was expecting it to have a separate boiler like steam generating irons so was surprised when it came in such a small box.

~ First use - what did you try it on? A mountain or did you ease it in slowly? How did it handle the first few items?
I just used it to get on with my ironing as normal, I did have a large pile as I always do. I gets the creases out and does a good job.

~ Did you have to adjust how you iron at all? How did you find not changing the settings?
I tend to iron everything on one setting anyway so not changing the temperature was not unusual, I noticed that it did move easily over everything I've ironed so far unlike in the past when the iron was clearly too hot and would stick a little.

~ Any comments on ease of use? Including size, weight, storage etc?
It is HEAVY, that is what I noticed most compared to my steam generating iron with a separate boiler, I guess this is because it's all within the iron body.
It heats up really quickly (much faster than my steam generator iron) which means it's good for those mornings when I've not remembered to put the clothes ready the night before and just want to iron what I'm about to put on.
It needs refilling often which means if I'm doing a large pile of ironing I need to keep the filter jug nearby and then it's not by the kettle for when I want a cup of tea. Depending on the cost the ironing filter thing might be a good investment.
Because it automatically releases the steam, when ironing small items like children's clothes I would often have finished ironing it before the steam starts to flow. Also the steam isn't that high a pressure.

~ Any one else in the family used it? What did they think?
DH has used it, It got the creases out he thinks it's fine, a typical man type response I think.

~ Is this an iron you think you'd recommend to other people (should the conversation arise)?
I'm not sure I'd rave about it and at the price I would be unlikely to recommend it to others.

~ How would you rate the value for money?
For a similar price you can buy a steam generating iron that has higher pressure steam.
£120 I would say is a very expensive iron.

~ Any other comments on the product?
If you are the kind of person who irons a few things each day rather than a big load once a week then this iron would be great. It heats up quickly is small to store and does a good job of ironing everything, (at least that I've tried so far).
If like me you do more ironing but less often then an iron with a separate boiler would be better, (spend the money and some of them also heat up very quickly) the iron is lighter so makes my arm less tired and the steam is higher pressure and flows as soon as the button is pressed. I will try turning the temperature down to see if it still irons well though because I think after reading the accompanying leaflet that this is how the Phillips Perfect Care makes it suitable for all fabrics.

Worst ironing disaster: ironing plastic place mats.

I was aged 10 so that is some excuse..

Best Ironing tip: don't iron plastic.

There is a theme there.

Worst ironing disaster:

Aged 14, ironing my favourite pair of trousers. An area on the front was particularly creased, so I thought to myself, "Oh, let's just press down really hard with the iron and leave it there for a few seconds."
Resulted in much crying and dramatics!

Best ironing tip, is not to struggle with DH shirts, as they take twice as long. The rest is easy, as long as there is enough water in steam iron. Although I hate my iron, it is forever leaking bits of what looks like grit. Wish I could have this iron that you never have to change the temperature for, that's amazing. How does that work?

~ Firstly - what is your general opinion of ironing?

I take the approach that ironing is rarely necessary. Uniforms are usually ironed, but little else. Work stuff tends to be dry cleaned.

~ First impressions - what did you think? How easy to follow were the instructions?

I was a bit thrown by the big, glossy book/catalogue that came with the iron, I thought I might have to read the whole thing to find the instructions . In the end it was straightforward.

I will not be using special water/buying a water filter though.

~ First use - what did you try it on? A mountain or did you ease it in slowly? How did it handle the first few items?

I went straight in, and ironed two whole loads of washing. Towels, uniforms, jeans, socks, t-shirts and a bed sheet. I've heard that people do iron bed-sheets, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I did the sheet first, because I was a bit wary of the 'one setting' thing.

Everything was fine, and very flat, by the time I'd finished.

I have, unfortunately, discovered that some things do benefit from ironing.

The babys dresses seem to have lengthened by a couple of centimeters now that I've ironed the creases out - so we'll get a bit more wear out of those!

~ Did you have to adjust how you iron at all? How did you find not changing the settings?

I was nice to just be able to plough through stuff, without worrying about thinks sticking to the iron, or shiney bits appearing.

~ Any comments on ease of use? Including size, weight, storage etc?

The iron was very heavy, even unfilled. It was sheer novelty that saw me through two lots of washing, I think I'd call it quits much earlier normally.

The safety cut out was useful

~ Any one else in the family used it? What did they think?

My husband had a go, but found it hard to find anything interesting to say about an iron.

My 8 year old ironed his Cubs uniform, but he hadn't much to compare it to. He was astonished that an iron could cost £100. I think he expected to 'press go' and have it do the ironing automatically.

~ Is this an iron you think you'd recommend to other people (should the conversation arise)?

I wouldn't discourage anyone wanting to buy one, but I'm not sure that there is anything 'stand-out' about this iron.

~ How would you rate the value for money?

It's difficult to say. I would never pay £100+ for an iron. I can't see that not having to change the temperature setting really justifies the price tag.

~ Any other comments on the product?

best tip
Errr.... When filled with water press the steam button a good few times and test on a towel or something prior to starting, to get rid of the limescale. So not to get lime scale ridden black trousers :)