I am considering getting a new iron, currently mine is "borrowed" and my family offered to get me one for my birthday next month. I don't want to spend 100 dollars for one, or have my family do it either. I have heard mixed reviews on Rowenta, both good and bad. Currently my borrowed iron is a sunshine, or something like that.
Any tips would be great!
Thank you

I have a cheap $10 iron that works great!

I had a $130.00 Rowenta....that after a very short time, burned up!!!!! Not having the $$ to buy another one (and why would I?) I bought a $35.00 Sunbeam at local Bimart store....I'm so happy with this iron, you won't believe it! Much MUCH better than the Rowenta!

I had two Rowentas, gave one away and still have the other but do not use itl I have a $20. black and decker and a $20. GE and love them both. They steam good an are light weight Marge (both purchsed at Walmart)

I recently replaced my old iron with a Sunbeam SteamMaster Drip Free model for about $25-35. I'm sorry I selected this model, but will use it till I can't stand it anymore. It has a teflon coating, but the design of it is a pain and it keeps catching the fabric on the edge and puts more wrinkles in than it removes. It's top heavy because the cord winds inside the bottom. The cord is too short. My old one had a nice long cord. And the pointy end kind of goes up a little, so I have to lift it up a little to use the pointy end. I searched at several stores and didn't really like any of them...so I settled for this mainly because it said it was drip free. That was the one thing that caused me to get rid of the old one - dripping water all the time.

I also have heard mostly negative about Rowenta. I'd rather buy 10 cheap irons than 1 expensive one.

U use a cheap one, but the steam holes are driving me crazy, especially when pressing small pieces that the corners get stuck in the holes and wrinkle. My next one will be a dry iron from Home Depot (on-line only) no steam, no holes, about $26.00.

I have a Rowenta pressure iron and steamer. Love that thing. It gets hotter faster than any iron I've ever owned. Yep, it was expensive and I probably wouldn't buy another due to the cost, but I really love it. It has a steel plate which cleans easily and can use with or without steam (without steam is normally the way I use it when I'm making a quilt). The iron has a loooong cord and I can hang up a shirt on the door and give it a couple bursts of steam and have no more wrinkles without ironing...

I just replaced my Rowenta with a $2.00 iron I bought at a garage sale. Will never buy a Rowenta again. Give me the old heavy duty ones any day.

My Rowenta Pro is about five years old now, works beautifully. Cheap irons burn out after a year for me, or scald me with hot drips.

I use a cheap 20.00 iron, GE, and it works great!

HATE my Rowenta and Love the Black and Decker except for the holes that wrinkle corners too.

Rowenta irons were sold to a new company so the quality is not there anymore. If you can find an old one at a yard sale that would be great. The new iron on the market has a separate heating chamber for the steam so no way it can leak. It's a Reliable brand. The same company that makes commercial irons. It sells for about $100. I picked up a cheap iron at Walmart for $7 to take to classes and it has worked fine. But I don't iron clothes with my iron. I have a big EuroPro iron for clothes and it seldom gets used.

I've used both the Rowenta and Sunbeam and both work really nice!

I use a garage sale GE....Best iron i ever had :D :D

When I was in charge of buying a new iron for the guild I did a little research and found the best rated mid priced iron was the Black and Decker Digital Advantage. I found it on Amazon for a reasonable price. It's the most used iron the guild has. Everybody loves that one the most.

I bought a Black and Decker Classic for about $25 and love it because it gets really hot for pressing. My old iron never seemed to get hot enough to press cottons. That said, I never put water in it because the water comes out the fill spout for some reason so I get around that by keeping a spray bottle of plain water in my sewing room and it works for me. Other thing is the holes in the bottom sometimes grab the fabric and cause wrinkles if I'm not real careful. To me, it's worth it though, for the heat. Not really a lot of help, huh? :roll:

I'm with Scissor Queen. Have had the B&D Digital Advantage for several years and would get another one. I always empty the water out when done and use distilled water. Heats quickly and has plenty of steam.
Mary Ellen

I know I am in the minority, but I love my Rowenta Professional iron. It heats up super quick, and doesn't have an auto-shutoff (if you are a quilter, you do not want auto-shut off). It seems a lot of people have had problems with Rowentas, but mine has been great.

I bought the cheapest iron I could find at Walmart and it works fine. Make sure it has steam. I use it for ironing fabric before cutting.
For piece work I bought a Rowenta travel iron. It is small and easy to handle and perfect for pressing seams. It does require water often because it is so small but it wont distort your blocks. I love it.

I found a travel iron at the thrift shop for 5.00 It's a Black and Decker stowaway. The handle actually folds down and it becomes very compact. It has steam too. I love this little thing. I use it on my little ironing table that I use next to my machine. Works great. I've never had an iron that I paid more than 15.00 for, but that's just my preference.

DH got me a Proctor-Silex a couple of months ago. I LOVE it. Heats up very quickly and the cord moves around on a ball.

I go through irons like a 12 year old with sneakers. I have had two Rowenta's and they blew in a year , right after the warranty. I have had Black and Deckers, G.E. and Sears. I have found the Black and Decker just as effective and lasted longer that my $100 irons. I prefer the smooth metal plate to teflon. For small spaces I bought a tiny presser wand. They are good, but THEY WILL BURN THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF YOU IF YOU ACCIDENTSLLY TOUCH THE WAND PART. I think I am missing fingerprints on a few fingers. They do make a newer model with a shield around it. They probably heard some of us holler from the second degree burns :lol:
Ellis' Granny B

I have a Euro-pro. Bought it new on eBay for about $100 a few years ago. I love it. You can have a blast of steam for seams that refuse to lie down or just iron without steam. It has a "trivet" to set the hot iron on so you don't need to worry about scorching your ironing board or fabric. The reservoir (in the trivet base) holds a LOT of distilled water so you can iron a long time without refilling. Highly recommended.

I have a T-Fal . I bought it at Target about a year ago and I love it. It does have auto turnoff which I know some don't like but with my sorry brain I have to have. It sits sturdy on my ironing board which is something I had a problem with all the others kept falling over when I moved my board, which I have to do often to get at other things. It does have steam but I only use it occasionally. I mostly keep the steam off and use a spray bottle.
It gets hot quickly. I have no complaints about it except the steam does leak but so has every other iron I have ever had. As Ricky Tims said on his show one day ,all irons get incontinent eventually"

http://www.target.com/T-Fal-Ultragli...Comfort-Handle

This is the iron , I see now that Target is not carrying them in the store any longer but this is the price I paid for it then too.

Ok I just checked the link and it says not found. So just go to Target and look for T-Fal and look for the iron. They also make pots and pans.

I have a Rowenta sew 'n press that I have been using for years. This is the second one I've had. The first Rowenta died after years of constant use and the kids bought me this one for a Christmas gift. I found another Rowenta that I have for a back up at a department store on clearance for $40 or so...no box and it was the display model. Love the Rowentas and don't know if I would ever switch.
Chris from AZ

i always use the GE or the sunbeam ones. plenty of steam. non-teflon is my preference but i can't always find it. i take it anyway. i'm not easy on irons. i bump into my regular board in the laundry room and knock the irons off. the one i'm using now has no off switch anyore :oops: but it still goes great. i just unplug when i'm done. the plastic is all broken, but no drips. i never NEVER spend more then $20. usually floor models for $10. :mrgreen: i have never had a problem that butterflywing did not cause :lol: :lol:.

the GE i'm using now is about5 - 6 yrs old. i already have it's grave dug, but it refuses to die. :wink: .

The gal I took my quilts to be longarmed quilted put me on to the Black & Decker model 2020. I just love it. My husband bought me a Rowenta for Christmas(at my suggestion) and I do not like the way it takes awhile to heat up. I also use a Black & Decker fold up travel iron found at thrift stores for me quilting classes. Good luck!

I never use the steam function of my iron so I have no problems with dripping or rust stains. Instead I have a fine mist spray bottle (baby tagle free conditioner) and use a press cloth when I need steam.

I have a heavy "retro' looking Black and Decker that doesn't shut itself off - that's a feature that's hard to find! I've had 2 rowentas - both began to leak after a few months. I had a class where I used the Rowenta steam machine, and it leaked terribly! I'm going for HEAVY moderately priced ones from here on!

My Mom just replaced her iron with the Shark iron. I think she bought it at Target for about $30. I test drove it over at her house and I love it! I will be replacing my iron with the Shark. I have the Shark steam mop and I really like the mop too.

P. S. She previously had a pricey Rowenta and was not happy with it.

I have a ProctorSilex steam iron with a long retractable cord and teflon sole plate. I paid between $20-$25 for it and love it. My all time favorite iron was one my mom had when I was still home...a Sunbeam dry iron...nope, no steam back then. This summer I bought a Sunbeam steam iron for my sister after I trashed hers when I used it to fuse interfacing on a project and gummed up the sole plate big time. She loves the Sunbeam (she, too, had a Rowenta iron, but it burned out for her, and she said she'd never get another as they are too expensive.) the Sunbeam was $26.95 at the local hardware store where my sis lives in Montana.

My mother volunteers in the electronic department of a HUGE rummage sale in Jersey (if you are in the Jersey area the first full weekends of May and October you should go - they have an amazing fabric & craft room - yes, room!!) well, anyhoo.... she gets Rowentas in and she hardly ever keeps them - they tend to not work when they are brought in... so I'd steer clear of the hefty price tag.

I bought a $15 iron a B&D from Walmart and I love it. In fact two of my friends have gone out and bought the same iron after using mine!

A few years ago I bought a $20-$25 iron at Walmart - GE 10667IR- based on Consumer report recommendation. I am still using and also bought my daughter one two years ago which she is still using. I had a Rowenta prior to this which lasted 18 months. Don't ever plan to buy another one.

I have a Rowenta and it worked great for a couple of years. It began leaking about a year ago, but I still use it sometimes. I pinch pennies so much and that iron was a huge splurge for me (even with a 50% off sale at JoAnn Fabrics), so I just can't throw it away just yet. My sister has a Rowenta professional iron that has a big tank for water. I love that iron--the water line from the tank to the iron is long and that thing produces steam like a dream! I won't be getting one though, because the price tag is beyond my budget. My favorite iron though, is a Black and Decker that I got at a thrift store for just $3.99! It is the best iron I've ever had. When I go the buy another iron, it won't be a Rowenta. It will definitely be a Black and Decker!

Here is the iron I'm thinking of getting,
thank you all for your help!
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-NI-S...=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

Looks nice! :D

I have used a T-Fal for quite a while now. I had a Rowenta. Hated it. Just this year at the Sewing Expo in Pyuallup I bought the new Oliso. Cost quite a bit, but I love it. If you are wanting to stay inexpensive you can't go wrong with a T-Fal.

ROWANTA is the only way to go, and ALWAYS use bottled distilled water. You will never have a steam problem. Mine is automatic 'shut off' if you forget and leave it on. My first one was called "steam and seam' but it did not hold much water, and you have to keep filling it. the one I have now holds more water . :

Does anyone have the Oliso iron that Fon's and Porter use on their TV show? I think it looks so easy to use when you don't have to set it up.