Philips Pressurised Steam Generator Iron - Feedback Thread

[AnnMumsnet]

Dear testers

Thank you very much for attending the Philips Pressurised Steam Generator Iron event day - Mumsnet and Philips hope you all had an enjoyable and informative day. You should now have received your free Pressurised Steam Generator Iron. When you've used it, please take a few minutes to add your feedback below. Philips have some specific questions but welcome all comments on the iron and on the day.

If you did not attend the day but have any questions about the product - please post them here and maybe a tester could answer them. Philips will also keep an eye on the thread and answer any questions from non testers as well as testers.

1 Overall, how do you find the Philips Steam Generator Iron compared to your old iron?
2 Do you find using the Philips Steam Generator Iron helps you get through your ironing more quickly?
3 After using the Philips Steam Generator Iron would you say your ironing is less wrinkled and creased than a ?normal? steam iron?
4 If you don't like ironing, would you say using the Philips Steam Generator Iron makes it a slightly more bearable task?
5 What were the main difference(s) between your usual iron and Philips Steam Generator Iron (e.g size, quality, time)
6 Were you surprised by any features of the Philips Steam Generator Iron?
7 Have you used the steam function on its own to remove creases on delicate garments?
8 Considering the time you could save, do you think the Philips Steam Generator Iron is good value for money?
9 What did you think of Ben's insight on ironing, his ironing tips and advice?
10 Would you recommend the Philips Steam Generator Iron to a friend or family member?

Many thanks

MNHQ

The only slight drawback if you have the steam bit on the floor is that sometimes it means the cord pulls up over the edge of whatever you're ironing and creases it. Possibly this is more a problem if you are ironing something large and flappy. I now understand though, why industrial ironing machines have a sort of stand that the cord goes over, so the cord is always held above the board.

[ponders some kind of Heath Robinson solution to this]

Shame about the Lumea, I could really do with something to tackle hair removal - an unwelcome shaft of sunlight in the car this morning revealed I am morphing into Emilio Zapata.

Wilbur, [http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=mp_s_a_2?qid=1273765742&a=B000095ZGC&sr=8-2. It exists]!! And I saw one in Homebase yesterday

It exists!

Pretty Candles - that's fantastic! Although I imagine buying it would make my journey to the dark side of domestic goddessery complete.

Who knew that ironed clothes are half a size larger than wrinkled ones?

I am loving having crisp and freshly ironed clothes to choose from every morning - it's a real novelty that I hope doesn't wear off!

prettycandles, i think i gave one of those to the charity shop last week, not having a clue what it was!!

marking spot to read later as thinking of buying a steam generator

I wonder whether Phillips are going to read this, or just let the thread get on with the job of doing their advertising for them.

If you are reading this, oh clever designers of good irons, I have a short wishlist:

When ironing on low temperatures, without steam, it is difficult not to press the big-steam button. How about a little latch or slider to lock it off?

The printing on the thermostat dial is feeble. I don't have long nails, and don't do masses of ironing, but it is already coming off. Eventually the dial is going to be hard to read.

The steam hose is a faff to extract and tidy away. Particularly tidying away. I keep the unit out on the counter. I don't have cupboard space for it, and if I had to dig it out and lug it around every time I wanted to iron - well, I wouldn't! But I need to clear so much space around it everytime to manage that steam hose. Perhaps the hose could go up-and-over, or have an alternative routing.

This one applies to all irons: Just as you have a light to indicate that the iron has heated up, and is now at temp, how about an indicator that the iron has cooled down and is now at a safe temp for synthetics etc? Would be very useful. In theory you sort your ironing into increasing heat order, but in practice that often doesn't happen or doesn't work, especially when someone adds something urgent to the pile.

This is a way long post. I clearly have too much time on my hands. Must go do some ironing.

I think they will read it, yes. Imagine if we all had the same big issues and bitched about it relentlessly on the thread; I'm sure they'd want to smooth things over Not all publicity is good publicity!

1 The Philips Iron is fab. My old iron was 8 years old and did iron albeit very slowly and only after you let the steam bit push out all the calcium deposits on the bottom plate. I have been looking for a new iron for ages but it is hard to get excited about irons.

2 The iron is MUCH faster than before. The steam makes a huge difference and I even enjoy getting it out when needed.

3 My ironing looks much more professional. DH has commented on this.

4 I did not used to like ironing but it is OK now. I still get a pain in the back when doing it but maybe Philips can design a better ironing board for me?!

5 The new iron is much bigger but I have a separate room to iron in so it does not matter to me. I like the design but a retractable plug would have been great. The hot plate should have been designed to fit into the final storage design.

6 I like the double steam function. I mostly iron with the steam on all the time now.

7 I have used it on a silk dress to remove creases. It worked really well.

8 For me the cost is not really an issue as I got to try it before hand so even if I had to pay for it I would have, BUT if I had to walk into a shop without having tried it I would have found it hard to justify the price.

9 Ben's insight was helpful. I also learned from another mumsnetter about better ironing techniques.

10 I would definitely recommend to family and friends. I have already been told to stop 'banging on about your new iron'!

Dh did a stack more ironing last night - the initial excitement doesn't seem to have worn off yet, hooray! He also said he liked the extra-pointy tip for doing round buttons.

I might get him to put his manly tuppenceworth on this thread.

I just ironed a shirt (under duress but as a big favour I hasten to add!)... with my old iron Too lazy to get the big one out for one item. But omg the difference! I dont think I appreciated the true value of easy ironing until I went back to the old one and spent the whole time thinking 'why doesnt it do....!

Bums! Iron has spurted out brown onto a lovely white shirt. I'd emptied out the calc cleaner too - maybe that dislodged something?I do live in a very hard water area, so maybe need to stop using water straight from the tap. What a PITA

Oh no, cakey! And they promised it wouldn't do that.

Well, DP tried using it for the first time this week. I didn't know whether to laugh or scream, watching him, had to sit on my hands to stop myself taking over. I think he finds it a bit of a challenge changing the habits of a lifetime - couldn't understand why he couldn't stand it upright, kept trying and then laid it on its side! Didn't seem very convinced when I said it was more ergonomically comfortable laying it flat on the stand. Plus he does some of his ironing left-handed and kept squirting steam into the air instead of onto his shirts. I'll be watching to see if he ever uses it again. But he had to agree his shirts looked much better than with the old iron. Me, I still love it but am a bit worried now after hearing Cakey's experience. Any comment from Philips?

We have had ours for several years and we discovered a steam leak from the filler cap today. On closer examination it looks like a section of the thread on the cap has sheared and looks pretty dangerously close to stripping completely. I guess with the pressures of the steam it is now too dangerous to use. I would recommend anyone buying these to keep a close eye on the brass threads and put the unit on the shelf when it starts leaking. I am having problems finding a spare that would make it usable again. A great iron when it works. I'll update I manage to locate a spare filler cap.

Thanks Andrew. Has anyone else had brown marks come out of the steam? I ask as I did some of DP's shirts this weekend (as a special favour and got some brown marks on one of his lovely white dress shirts . Am wondering if Cakey isn't the only one with this problem...? Hoping they will come out with bleach!

I have returned to this thread to also ask about brown marks, also on DH's work shirts....

Anyone????

Hi, Susan from the Philips Press Office here!

Sorry to hear about the brown marks coming out of the steam iron. We advise that you rinse out the tank with water after every 10 uses or once a month to prevent this.

AndrewUK123 - Can you let me know which product model you have and we can see what we can do?!

Tanee58 - These brown marks should just wash out on your normal cycle, let us know how you get on.

I also have the problem of brown marks spraying out, also bizarrely on dhs work shirts

They do wash off easily but i am very disapointed

Thanks Philips - the marks have washed out - but they appeared after I'd only used the iron a couple of time...

Hello Phillips - thanks for coming back! My brown splurges are not coming out (on a couple of DH's shirts, it almost looks like rust (!)

I can send you photos if you CAT me......

pixiera - email them to me and I will pass them on....Ann

No brown spurges yet. Is this a London Water thing?

I have a pain tidying the cord away (I got the blue one). It never quite curls around and I have to loop the iron through it.