Thanks for this review. While I am a (probably one of the few) Rowenta fan anyhow, this is good info. You mentioned the water parameters...I think that is probably the main reason so many folks have issues with the Rowentas. I've had a couple now. The only reason for replacements have been my own doing - usually dropping a few times too many! I'm close to being in the market for a new one unless I can convince hubby to do some work on the cord where it goes into the base of the iron. But that rubber 'gasket' over it looks to be problematic to me. Him, probably not so much. We'll see. It still works but there's obviously a wiring problem in that location as it's sporadic.