May I continuer your rant? We also have too many choices to make with any product. Look at the cereal aisle, or soaps, etc. I would prefer a few good ones to choose from and stop all this nonsense of inferior things. OK my rant is over too.

I have had 2 Black and Decker irons for 15 years and both died. I went looking, after reading all the comments on the board about irons, and after examining them all, I bought another Black and Decker at Kmart for a very reasonable price. It works really well. Good luck.

My shark iron did that also. bad product.

I had no idea-just thought it would be purer than tap water-I used it all the time in Vanuatu (It rained all the time there and we had the WORLDS HARDEST water) and never had a problem-I run it thru a coffee filter first-I'll continue to read everyone else's posts to see if others have used it. Thanks-I'll look into that and not use it if it can cause staining or damage to the iron

I have a Black & Decker First Impressions. Don't remember where I bought it, but it was probably Wal-Mart. I love it. The auto shut-off takes a long time to shut off and when it comes back on, it gets HOT very quickly. I also have the Rowenta "small" travel iron, but I have not used it yet.

I too am having iron trouble :cry: I bought a Shark iron at KMart it leaked.... a lot...and turned off while I was using it..grrrr. I returned that one. Have tried 3 other types of irons and returned them. I really am not usually hard to please but I am having trouble finding one I like. The one I liked was a Rowenta (sp) It lasted a year and I loved it until it quit heating. I called a service number for it and the woman told me they can't repair them. So because of that I didn't buy another one, imagine paying so much and they can't be repaired. I will continue with my search for a good iron at a reasonable price.

I was reading my operation manual on my Rowenta and it says that the iron is made to use tap water, not to use 100% distilled water, altho depending on hardness of water, you could add 50% distilled water. The iron will leak and dribble if tap water isn't used.

After reading some of the posts about leaking, I couldn't help but wonder if we've not reading our manual and adding the wrong water to our irons.

just wondering

warm quilt hugs, sue in CA

I have a Shark that I love to use on clothing. I don't use it for quilting/sewing, it just isn't suited for it. I use a cheapie from WM for such!

We read all the reviews on irons from Consumer Guide, and settled on The Black & Decker 26. I love it, at less than 1/3 of the price of a rowenta it does everything just as well. I had a Rowenta and it leaked all the time from the steam plate, but this one does not, and it stays on longer on the autyo shut off. Really felt like a good deal

I have a rowenta that I bought several years ago at a yard sale for $3.00. I dropped it and the back plastic broke off and it melted my carpet that stuck to the sole plate. I cleaned it, stuck the plastic piece on and it is still going strong.