Need a new iron, what do Which? and GH recommend please?

[Rhiannon]

My iron is leaking, need a new one. Does anyone know what the Which? magazine and/or Good Housekeeping recommend?

Not more than £50 though, thanks

Thanks

You've never let me down before ladies, OK then has anyone got a super duper iron, that they'd recommend?

Rhiannon, I've got a super duper iron but I am afraid it aint under £50, do you want to hear more?

It is a Polti Vaporella, around £160 in ordinary shops or Costco had them for about £120. It is a professional steam iron (I think Polti do some that clean your curtains, oven etc but this is just the iron) and I have never looked back since buying it. My Mum took in ironing for a few years and ended up buying one of these so I bought one on her recommendation. It was only last year when it needed a small repair (cracked bit of plastic) and I had to use an ordinary iron again I realised how spoiled I had been, it is worth every penny and I am sure in the time I have had it I would have gone through a few £50 irons, so I have justified to myself that it hasn't cost me any extra.

Rhiannon, I can't remember the make of ours (but there's an identical kiddies' one in John Lewis toy dept ) but it's one of the common ones - and I admit after being a bit cheapo and spending £38 on it, I wish I'd spent more cos I'm a tad disappointed. so maybe Demented is right about paying for what you get..

Demented - how big is your iron - is it one of those 'press' types - or just normal iron sized.

I must admit that I go through irons rapidly for some reason (could be to do with very hard water where we live, despite water softener, & I would use a bottle of distilled water three times a week) so I tend to think it's just as easy to buy a new £20 iron every six months; but I'd be interested to hear more about your's - and how much room it takes to store - I keep my iron & board up permanently a) because I have the room and B) because I like freshly ironed clothes (sad!).

ooh - look, there's a Polti one on the John Lewis website

That is the very beastie! Only I have the 4000R, don't know what the difference is though, got mine in Costco. Most of the details are there on the JL website but I have found the tank of water that lasts for 1 hour a big bonus, the steam from the iron goes through the fabric and makes light work of even the most crumpled, dried inside clothes, you just leave the heat setting on high if you are using the steam and this saves you having to sort your ironing into different temperatures IYKWIM, the tank can sit on the floor and the hose leading to the iron is long enough to reach the ironing board and sit on one of those iron holder things on the board or you can sit the whole lot on the ironing board, probably suited to the type of board with the big flat bit at the end. Only two problems with it IMO, you have to wait for it to heat up so if you need to iron a shirt quickly in the morning it is a bit impractical (although I do have a very cheap iron in the cupboard that could be used) and if it needs a repair you have to either package it up and send it to them or get a local electrical repair person to order the part and do the job for you, however my DH phoned them up and said that he was going to repair an iron for a lady and could they send him the part and there was no problem, he was only replacing a bit of plastic so hardly rocket science.

Oh and if you do decide to get one you should check that your ironing board is one with the metal mesh rather than wood as the steam needs to pass through the board. HTH!

Just another thought, sad but I have been doing some ironing tonight so my iron is at the forefront of my mind! Having to send off for repair etc is a downside but on the other hand at least you can get it repaired which wouldn't normally be the case for an iron.

I might have a look what's in Costco next time I go. Thanks for the tips.

No one knows what Which's? favourite is then?

Hi, Sorry hadn't spotted this thread before. Which recommends the Philips GC 4015 Azur £48.50 from John Lewis as its best buy. Runners up included the: Philips HI 555 Azur Excel Plus £64.50 from Argos, Rowenta DM 520 £44 from Argos.

HTH

Rhiannon, Interested to know which iron you brought in the end as mine has just blown up this morning so face the same dilema about which one to buy.

Thanks

Ok, here's a Good Housekeeping iron testing article - a link won't work because of the commas but you can copy and paste. It's at:

magazines.ivillage.com/goodhousekeeping/consumer/appliances/articles/0,,284519_290097,00.html

You can tell I'm avoiding doing some work today.

Thanks for that. Think I know what I want now, shame is wasn't something more exciting

Oh gosh, it caught fire, think it was trying to tell me something! Got to go and get one now.

Got it, it's a Philips GC4018 Azur, couldn't get the ones recommended and this one seemed close enough. £46 in Tesco.

I'm really flying through the ironing at the moment, each thing is taking half the time, probably because the old Tefal was on it's last legs!

i have one where you can remove the water holder to re fill it - an elance