Right now I'm leaning towards the iron at the VT country store. It doesn't have auto shut-off, which is why I started this post to see if others have better suggestions I'm not finding, but it seems like none of the dry irons have that. Plus they have a 100% guarantee, forever. So I don't have to worry too much about it then. Waal, like you I've never put water in an iron (I did once many years ago and it leaked all over with the first use! so I never did it again) I always use them dry with a spray bottle. But I'm getting so tired of those darn holes! Like everyone knows they snag on the seams then mess up the fabric and you have to spray and iron it all over again. I've also never really learned how to use newer irons since I grew up with the old dry style that had like 4 settings on it. I don't know what half the little things on my current iron do. I just turn it to cotton (or whatever I'm sewing with) and use it. I would just keep using it since it still works aside from it's problems with the stickiness, but those holes get me every single time I use it.