With the heavy use of an iron, when using it for quilting, I really don't expect an iron to last more than a couple of years. Actually, that is pretty much the norm anymore for any 'small appliance'. When I used my iron for just ironing clothing for my family, my iron lasted over 10 years. But, that was using it perhaps for an hour or two a month. With doing quilting, I use my iron probably that much every day, sometimes more. I had always used a dry iron with quilting and used a spray water bottle and have found it lacking in what I wanted it to achieve
I was basically looking for a heavy/large iron that had a stainless steel sole plate, high wattage so it would get really hot, and wanted to try the steam iron. I am looking at the steam not just being constant, but to be a shot of steam that would quickly do the job when I needed it.