Iron recommendations
 

I have an iron that I don't like, it works fine, but the handle is wearing out, and is somehow sticky as it's wearing out (collecting dust and bits of fabric that just don't come off, and my hand sticks too, and it was dropped years ago so part is wonky, but doesn't affect use. I never use the steam function (I use a spray bottle with distilled water instead) and HATE the holes on it due to trying to get nice smooth fabric and good seams. The holes catch on every single seam. I found an older style iron without steam that gets good reviews, but it doesn't have any safety features like auto-shut off etc which I also really want.

Any suggestions out there? Price is an issue, so nothing horribly expensive. Thanks!!!

I like my new cordless iron. Panasonic, I think. Amazon.

Like aashley333, I purchased a Panasonic also, mine is the 360 degree ceramic cordless iron and I really like it. You haven't mentioned the price range you are going for, but this one was $144.00, on Amazon.

I finally found my perfect iron, the Reliable Maven 120IS. I bought it direct from the website, refurbished, for half price. Same warranty as new. I don't know why I waited so long. I use steam a lot but since you don't try this one:

WASING Classic Dry Iron for Industry Household Usage Upgraded Mirror Stainless Steel Soleplate Without Steam 1000W

It is less then $40 at Amazon.

I'm like Bonnie Hunter. I buy mine at the Thrift store for a couple dollars and have a spare on hand in case they quit. I like the older irons versus the newer ones. I never put water in any of mine. I use a spray bottle on wrinkles. Not out much money this way.

[QUOTE=Onebyone;8477589]I finally found my perfect iron, the Reliable Maven 120IS. I bought it direct from the website, refurbished, for half price. Same warranty as new. I don't know why I waited so long.

That looks like a great iron for those of us who love steam. I did see that the water filter is about 45 dollars to replace. How often do they need replacing?

I bought at Walmart a small travel iron similar to what Angela Walter uses. Steam option but well is WAY too small. Just use a spray bottle.. Get's hot. Steamfast is the name...about 13.00!
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Steamfast...Iron/186719139
Now since it's a travel iron, small sole plate. Use all time. If I have a lot of block pressing, I'll move it with my wool pressing mat to my sewing table. Some times just don't want to stand for a long time.

I'm with waal, have a collection of old irons, so when the one I'm using goes bad, I just toss it in the recycling and use another. I don't use steam either.

I'm disappointed in the travel size Steamfast Iron, Brand new out of the box it barely gets hot.

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.

The filter for the Reliable is $15. Maybe that price was for two in a package. Reliable online chat rep told me to have a shop that sold Reliable products order the filter and save the high deliver cost. I haven't had to change the filter yet so don't know how long it lasts. It's about a year old and I use it almost daily.

Home Depot sells this iron and I have requested the filter be in stock. The service dept rep said she would check into it and didn't see why it couldn't be in stock if available.

I had a Reliable iron that I loved, it was a gift. It died and when I looked at replacing it with the same model, it was over $100.

I bought a Proctor Silex iron at the hardware store, of all places, for $18. It doesn't have auto shutoff. I like it so much I went and bought a backup.

I never use a steam iron anymore. I use a misting bottle and put a bit of cheap vodka in the water (made of wheat or potato which contain "starch" but completely clear) I spray my fabrics on a scrap piece of old fabric then move it to my woolen matt for ironing. So almost any iron will do, no steam iron required!

I did a search and found several online shops that sell the filter. Sue Spargo's site sells it for $8 shipping. I called around and was told the filter took care of any tap water that wasn't optimal. Using the water for baby formula the filter wasn't needed but needed to stay in iron. Take it out and reinsert. I'll buy the filter if Home Depot gets them in stock.

Onebyone, thank you so much for all your researchon that filter. I did see it listed for 15 dollars but it had 30 dollar shipping from the Reliable company. I looked for a reconditioned one but they are out of stock right now. They will send me an email when one is available. I used a Rowenta for nearly twenty years but it finally gave up and I hate the replacement cheapie I bought on the internet. Can't see how much water is in the tank!

I have and really like a Sunbeam Steam Master Professional iron. I do use it with steam some (most) of the time. I've never noticed the holes catching on seams. I really like having the auto-off feature. This iron beeps softly before it turns itself off, which I like. (My previous iron would just start flashing a light when it turned off the heat, and I sometimes found it sitting there still flashing, hours or days later.) It has a clean mode to flush out the calcium and other mineral that build up from tap water. (The manual specifically says to use tap water, not distilled water.) Even with the auto-off feature, I try to always unplug an iron when I am done with it, just to be extra safe.

GardenGal i have the one from Vermont Country Store too. dry iron, no holes in sole plate. I had cordless but it drove me crazy shutting off all the time when upright. This iron is good and dependable. I turn dial to off and then flip my cord connector to off and leave the room. I will stay with this iron for as long as it lasts.

I have the Laura Star Lift (yes, I got the red one). I got an Oliso when my first Laura Star gave up the ghost. It was okay, but I was never really sold on it. I still make garments, so I do use steam and love the Laura Star for that. Its pricey, but worth it to me.

I would love an iron without any steam holes. I agree that sometimes fabric gets stuck in the little holes. I kinda like my Cricut Heat Press. It keeps me from moving the iron around and stretching the fabric, even a little bit. If I need steam, i just use a spray bottle. I avoid starch. I read somewhere that starch will attriact bugs. I don't think I would use vodka. My family might think I am a closet drinker! (JK)

BTW, I plug my iron into a surge protector with a control toggle switch. I use my toe to flip the power to "ON" to the surge protector, which powers iron.

Oh I'm so glad someone here has this iron! The reviews are pretty good on it, so I assumed it'd be ok, but I wanted to hear from a quilter on here just for peace of mind. I worry about it not having auto shut-off but it's not like I use it in some room I don't go into often, I drag the darn ironing board and iron into the living room and it's kind of in the way, so it gets moved after I use it. But just as a safety feature I wanted it. Oh well. I'd rather not have auto shut-off and not have the steam holes! Thanks so much for responding! The warranty is great too so less to worry about there as well!

It just occurred to me that you could set up an auto-shut off for your iron by using a Lamp and Appliance Timer. You plug the timer into the outlet, and then plug your iron into the timer. You can set up the timer to switch into off mode at the time interval you want. Now, this "solution" does add some cost, in that now you have to pay for a timer, but the timer is also useful for turning lights on and off, which I find very useful when we go away on a vacation, as I like to have the house look lived in so that it does not look an inviting target to thieves.

The auto-shut-off for me is more about it shutting off for a bit while I'm sewing, if something distracts me (have to use the bathroom or eat or make a cup of tea of something) and it takes say 20-30mins to get back the ironing part I don't want to waste the electric or wear out the iron too much. It's less about leaving it on on accident when I'm all done, as I normally iron in the middle of the living room, which it has to be moved to do anything in that room when I'm done.

OK I'm bringing up an old post, but when I search for things on forums I get frustrated when I see a post and then they don't post what happened...

Well the VT Store iron was good, but I did have to send it back. The part of the handle that connects to the iron body itself got a bit hot and my fingers hit it a couple times. Plus the bottom of it wasn't nice and smooth, it kind of "stuck" to the fabric while ironing so it was hard to use and would drag my fabric a bit. Maybe over time it would smooth out and become more slippery, but I didn't want to chance it. It did go over seams VERY nicely compared to the one I have with the holes, for that part I'll miss it. So I'm still searching. I guess I'll probably wind up keeping what I have until it dies then worry about it!

I’ve been using a Sunbeam Steammaster Steam Iron I bought from Amazon. I’ve tried more expensive irons but found this works just as well and less expensive.

I went back to using my cheap black and decker when my shoulder was sore, as it leaked, I used it dry. OK....so today I put a quilt on the longarm that had been pressed with that iron. Oh, my, I found that the seams had not stayed crisply pressed and I had to make sure the seams were actually laying flat before I quilted over the seam. I have never had the problem before. So it looks like I will be going back to my heavy professional Rowenta. I had noticed the light weight Black and Decker did not heat up quite as hot as the Rowenta.

I'm also in the market for a new iron, and I much prefer steam, especially when pressing fabric before cutting. (I wash all my fabrics before taking them to the sewing room.) Anyone with steam iron preferences?

I asked for a simple iron for Christmas and my Dear Son and Daughter-in-law got me a Black & Decker Easy Steam Compact iron. It is a full sized iron, smooth face plate, nice point, and does nothing but get hot and steam if I want it. No auto turn off, no retractable cord, no fancy little feet. They laughingly mentioned it is hard to find an iron that just irons. You bet'cha!

I am going against the stream here, but I want an iron that turns itself off. I am ironing, the phone rings, somebody comes to the door, the dog starts barking, a delivery man comes, the dryer rings it is done, etc. Problem is that sometimes something else is a distraction and I may forget that the old iron is just sitting there. When I get ready to iron something, I bring it to the ironing board, give my iron a shake, arrange my pieces to press and by the time they are arranged on the board, the iron is hot again. My iron simply heats back up pretty fast with a little shake. There have been times when my iron is blinking at me indicating it has turned itself off and the sole is totally cold. Oh my, was I ignoring my iron that long? The safety folks made iron's that turn themselves off for a reason. I think if you called and asked your local fire department what they think of irons that don't turn themselves off, you will get an opinion. Now you may be more focused than I am. I do unplug my iron when I am done or know I am not going to need it for a while.
Oh, I do have my ironing board where I need to get up and walk to it as I figure I need to get up and move once in a while so I press my piecing in batches, not as I go.

I too have a cordless Panasonic on my little ironing setup next to my machine. It is getting ancient! Our tap water is very low in mineral content (it is from rainwater) so I use the steam setting on my iron.

At my big pressing station (a converted IKEA table) I use a corded iron, the "Reliable Velocity". Nice iron!

I love my Oliso, but I wish I could make the feet not squeak every time they move up or down.

Originally I purchase a Black and Decker iron. It never really was easy to use. I had trouble pressing seams, and I always was snagging the cord. I finally was able to afford a Panasonic cordless, with the pointy sole plate. I got it as a repackaged item from Amazon. It had a gummed up sole place because the previous buyer apparently didn't read the instructions, and used it on a synthetic using the high setting. I managed to clean the gumming off, and it glides so smoothly. It's easy to use due to the lack of cord. And it gets very hot compared to the Black and Decker. From what I can tell, it does a better job of pressing the seams due to the sharper edged sole plate. At least my pieced fabric squares are flatter, and the seams more sharply defined.

I recently bought a Panasonic cordless but I'm not thrilled with it. I like the cordless feature but it doesn't seem to get hot enough and it shuts off too quickly. I don't use steam, rather I use a water bottle instead. I'm kind of disappointed overall.

The Panasonic I got gets much hotter than the Black & Decker I had. I guess it is a toll everyone is always trying to find a better one. So far I am delighted with mine. I guess not getting the iron jerked out of my hand by the power cord snagging is the best feature for me. I have severe arthritis, and hanging onto anything is a plus for me.