I have had 2 Rowentas, both have gone on to iron heaven after heavy leaking. I put water in them and left it in. I had bought both second hand. I tend to buy all my irons at thrift shops for my studio. I have a black and decker for my work clothes, and have been happy with it,however, after much reading on here, I have not put water in it, a mister sits beside it. I happen to find a nice teflon base iron about a year ago at a thrift shop that I currently am using for my sewing. It to has a mister sitting beside it and I have been very happy so far. I've done a lot of reading on here about many that do not put water in their irons, I figure since my two Rowentas that died, died with leaking issues, I figure there may be something to not adding water to an iron and I actually like the mister better.