I have come to the conclusion that as much as I sew; an iron from my local second hand shop does me just fine.I had the same problem with them not lasting very long and decided I wasn't going to keep throwing alot of money away in the trash .So now i go to the local thrift shop and pick one up and use it until it dies and I've usually only spend $5-10 on one.Get more bang for my bucks that way!!