I too have a reliable and you can't beat them. Yes, the price is high but worth it.

I just got my rowenta at Costco too and love it.

I have an old Rowenta that has survived several trips to a concrete floor and has continued to work for years after my dh put it back together with heat-resistant glue. Love it because it heats up FAST and becomes very HOT. It does, however, have the auto shut-off (which, for me, is necessary). I love it so much I have 2 backups for it, exact same model, that I found in thrift shops for $5 each. Lots of quilters bought this iron and didn't like the auto shut-off on it. Among Rowentas, I believe it is much better to buy the type that has the tank attached to the iron; it is those with removable tanks that tend to develop leaks.

To prevent an iron from learning to spit, I think what you need to do is purchase water at the grocery store that has been through reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis means the water has been completely de-mineralized. If only this water is used in your iron, I think it is unlikely to develop spitting issues (and will probably never require cleaning). Wish I had realized this years ago for my wonderful Rowenta. I can get this type of water for 39 cents at our rural grocery store (refilling a plastic gallon jug that is sold in the same area of the store). Some people use it for drinking water because it has virtually no taste, but my understanding is that the complete removal of minerals makes it not so good for drinking water because we benefit from ingesting those minerals that have been taken out.

Some level of salt in the water is necessary for some irons/steamers. You need to read the directions to know if you have one. Usually the info tell you what type of water your particular iron needs.

I've got the Reliable and wouldn't have anything else. It never spits, and steams forever because it has an internal boiler. I've steamed for 15 or 20 minutes with it only stopping the steaming once or twice to reheat. It's expensive, but TOTALLY worth it!!

I LOVE my Reliable Digital Velocity. Had it for about 2 yrs now.

You can turn off the auto-off feature. LOTS of steam power.

I have a Black & Decker model F2200 ceramic plate iron that I adore. It has about a five min. Turnoff but almost as soon as you pick it up, it's hot again. My hubs is an electronic engineer and he told me to try the ceramic iron. I love it. It was not nearly as expensive as the one that died ($159.99) I believe I paid $35.00 at Ollie's bargain center. You might try it and see if you like it. I do about 20 quilts per year, so I do a lot of ironing!

Another vote for the Reliable Digital Velocity. It doesn't spit.

I bought two irons in the last year and neither of them have the automatic shut off. One came from Amazon and tjhe other from Walmart.

I LOVE my Reliable Digital Velocity. I have had it several years, it does not leak, and heats up quickly. I use distilled water or rain water. If I collect rain water, I then strain it through a coffee filter into a clean container.