I bought a new iron last week but after bringing it home and using it, I don't like it. It takes wayyyy to much time to get hot, the steam sucks, and everytime I turn it on, I have to push a botton 6 times to get to the cotton setting. It's a Hamilton Beach, which I really thought would be a good one.

I have seen the Rowenta, which I have drooled over for the past year, but DH would die if I spent $100.00 on a iron and I can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on one. I did find several Rowenta's on eBay for about $50.00 (that includes the shipping). They have been refurbished by the manufacturer. I've checked the feedback on several of the sellers the bidders seem to be happy with their refurbs.

Is there a Rowenta clone out there that I haven't heard of? What kind of iron do you use???? And if you do use a Rowenta, how long have you had it???

I had two Rowenta's and was unhappy with both of them. They did not steam well at all. Gave them away (and they were not cheap). Have a $20. Black and Decker from Walmart and love it. When it dies I will purchase another one.

I'm going to be completely honest about my experience with Rowenta . I bought an expensive Rowenta iron and it was a piece of junk .It leaked everywhere after about 3 months. I had all kinds of trouble with the manufacturer about replacing it. I take great care with all my things and the Rowenta people decided that I had dropped my iron and that they would not replace it. They would not even inspect it. After the way they treated me I wouldn't use another of their products if someone gave it to me.

I have an expensive Bosch iron that is super nice for huge pressing projects but being honest, I bought a simple $30 Sunbeam at Walmart 3 years ago and it is awesome . I love it.

I love my Rowenta, and I have never had any problem with it leaking. My Mom had one and also loved it and didn't have any problems with it. I had one of the cheap ones from Wal-Mart and for me it was a piece of junk.
Everyone has their own experiences and it is just something you have to decide for yourself.

i have had 2 rowentas. Guess i didnt learn very expensive and were a piece of junk not good for steam. will never get another. But i am drooling over those new ones that lift themselves off the table

i believe you got your answer.....

I never owned a rowenta and after reading I doubt I ever will. I had a black and decker from WM for 15yrs that I had dropped several times but it always worked great. I almost cried when it quit working.

I bought an olisio iron (the one that goes up and down on its own) and am very pleased with it.

I spent about $100 on it but worth it with the new puppy, he is a great dane and loves to sniff the ironing board and with this iron less of a chance of him burning his nose on it.

I bought it at Joanns and it was 25% off at the time.

I originally bought a Rowenta and gifted it to my mom, I really did not like it but she loves it.

My favorite iron of all times was an inexpensive Black and Decker but my daughter and the dog knocked it off the ironing board and broke it.

I have a Shark Euro Pro. I like it best of the ones I've tried. I paid $30 on sale at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I won't spend more because it tends to get dropped in my house. The only complaint I have is that the heat selector button is easily bumped and I have to watch that. Good steam though.

I have had several Rowentas, from inexpensive to really expensive. I think they are pretty much overrated.

I now use a Laura Star iron, one that my husband bought for me in Germany about ten years ago. It uses 220 volts, and gets hot VERY FAST. DH re-wired the sewing room for 220. He tells me that the 220 voltage is what makes the iron get hot VERY FAST.

This is an ironing system that is absolutely without equal. 220 is the way to go if you want FAST service !!

If you do a search this has been discussed over and over and over...

Another Rowenta owner here- didn't like it. Went back to a cheap one that I love :)

I have had Rowentas and when my last started leaking, I bought a less that $20 at WM. HATED it and it went back promptly. I had even asked my friends which iron they had and if they really, really loved it. I bit the bullet and bought another Rowenta. I love the steam and this one is 1700w-just can't do without one. I've had several and you can't say when one will go, but I guess I'm a die-hard "gotta have a Rowenta". This one does not have an automatic shut off-I plug it into a heavy duty strip along with a bed lamp turned on and hang onto a cabinet door above ironing board. The light is on when the strip is on and I know when to turn off the iron.

I have a "Professional Series" from Hancocks - think I paid around 30.00 for it and it was the best money I ever spent :thumbup: It is a heavy iron - heats up fast lots of steam

I also have a cordless Rowneta- not worth it - slow to heat up cools fast - very light weight

I love my Black and Decker Digital Advantage. The only disadvantage (lol) is that every time I turn it on I have to reset it to the cotton setting. Those 5 button pushes are just too much some days.

I love my Rowneta have had it for what 15 years? no leaks and heats up fine, and for me the auto off is great, have walked away from iron and left it on for 2 days! so auto off is a must hAVE FOR ME lol

This question seems to come up regularly.
First of all, I would never buy a "refurbished" anything. My experience with this has not been good. Most are refurbished because they've been returned to the store so can't be sold as new. They've been returned for a reason!
Secondly, I'd rather spend the $100 on fabric!
Third, my $10 Walmart special is the best iron I've ever had. And at that price, if I have to replace it once a year even (due to calcium deposits from our water) so what?
IMHO

Sorry Sadiemae, I guess I should have searched before posting.

Thank you everyone for your choices. I will check WM to see what they have to offer.

Personally, I have a Sunbeam, and I love it! Problem is, I bought two more exactly like it, and they both had issues. One the steam button didn't work, and the other one the spritz button didn't work. I guess they are hit and miss.
Our LQS has Rowenta irons to use in their classroom. This one in particular http://www.shoprowenta.com/detail/RO...act_Steam_Iron is very nice. It's compact and works very well. Some of the ladies have bought them and said that they use it more than their regular iron! :)

I need to add that when I worked for Target, we had several people return the Rowenta irons that had the self-retracting cord. The water reservoir would leak into the cord compartment creating mildew all over the cord. Then the mildew covered cord would get the fabric all dirty.
Maybe all irons are hit and miss....

I have a Euro-Pro special Edition. It is 14 years old works like the day I bought it. If I bought cheap, I would have gone thru at least 5 in that length of time. It was a fantastic buy at $110.00. The 6200 is $98.00 and it is well worth it.

I loved my rowenta before it got bugs I now use my old black and Decker which I love (loves both though my rowenta was the $60 on with retractable cord)

I have a Sunbeam that I got 12-15 years ago at either Odd Lots or Target or Kmart. It was probably $15 or less, I doubt that I would have paid more than 20, and if it was from Odd Lots (now Big Lots) it may have been less than 15.
The steam work great, heats up fast.

Go to Big Lots, if you have one local. I picked up my Rowenta there for cheap. And it's fabulous!

I never put water in my irons. If I want steam I have spritzy bottle to mist a bit of water then iron. I have never had any luck with any iron when it comes to the steam feature. They all leak eventually and some sooner then others so I just quit putting water in them. Seemed to extend the life of my irons after that. My Walmart special just bit the dust this weekend (was probably about 5 to 7 years old) but I knew it was at deaths door because it wasn't getting hot like it used to. I went to Big Lots and got a refurbished Rowenta for $30. So far so good but I have barely used it. The only complaint I have is that even with auto off it really isn't off, just down to warm. I have to unplug it. I took a closer look at the dial and sure enough there is no "Off". Never noticed that in the store.

I've had 3 Rownetas and two Olisa. They all had issues and none of them lasted long or the money I spent on them. I now have a Eurosteam which I paid about $200 for and it's worth every penny. My second choice would be the cheapest Black and Decker you can find, just make sure it has a lot of steam holes on the bottom.

I have a Shark Euro pro and I love it. It does good steam. It also has a large reservoir.

My old Proctor Silex (20 years!) just went out 2 weeks ago and I dreaded buying another iron because my little "cheapie" was the best iron I've had. I also have a Rowenta but it's my DH's iron...yes, he does all his own ironing. Bless his heart :) Anyway, I went to K-Mart and bought a Shark. I used it for a couple days and hated it! When it shuts off automatically, you can shake it to go back on and then it's at the lowest setting so you had to push the button for it to get to the cotton setting and then wait for it to heat up. I took it back and bought a Black and Decker Classic...you know...the old fashioned black one like your mother had. It's very heavy and the sole plate is "scratchy" and the steam holes are too big...they catch the fabric. I'm taking that one back, too. I don't shop WalMart too much but I had to go to pick up a couple things so I looked at irons. I ended up buying a "cheapie" for about $7.00. It's another Proctor Silex :) I used it yesterday and I LOVE it!! So, my conclusion is...price doesn't mean anything when it comes to irons!! Give me a cheap one any day :)

I love mu Rowenta and haven't had any trouble with it. It's about 7 or 8 years old.

i got one from Lowes fro $35 so far i like it

I have had two top of the line Rowenta irons ( over $100). Both died the same way... the temperature just kept getting hotter and hotter , literally burnt the thread right off the fabric.
I will not buy another. I also found that after I got a cheapy iron some of my carpal tunnel issues were not as bad. I guess the weight of the iron ,and my marathon sewing sessions really aggrivated the situation.
My opinion , loved the steam , hated the cost, hated the limited lifespan.

I have heard not to buy the Rowenta type that has a removable water container. I bought a Rowenta many years ago (attached water container), and it has never given out on me -- even after several unschedule trips down to a cement basement floor. For years now it has been held together with heat-tolerant glue and duct tape (my dh's idea!). Occasionally I have had to clean calcium deposits out of it, from hard water; otherwise it has been the best iron I have ever owned. It heats up fast and produces lots of steam.

Occasionally I find Rowenta irons at thrift shops. Have purchased several over the years, about $5 each. I'm sure some of them were owned by quilters who paid full price for them and then did not like the auto-shutoff feature (which I personally love!), which is why they got sent to the thrift shop. These are my backup Rowentas in case my first love ever dies on me......

My ROwenta recently died. First the temp selector dial broke but DH could glue it again. Then the sucker got so hot it melted cotton - now THAT's hot.

I switched to a EuroPro Shark but it is an automatic shut off and while it is great when hot, it shuts off too soon and I hate to wait for the iron to get going.

I had a Rowenta and it also leaked water called and had to send it in to make a long story short they sent me a brand new one. In the mean time I needed an iron so I went to Wally World and bought a $20.00 cheap one and have had no problem with it.
:)

I had a Rowenta steam generator and had trouble with it spitting and leaking. I complained to the company and my reply was that if the iron is used every day it should not leak. What?!?!?!?! My daughter has a Rowenta and uses her iron every day before she goes to work and hers doesn't leak. I now have a Shark and just love it. It heats fast, has a shutoff after 10 minutes of sitting, but heats up very fast. It has lots of holes and you don't have to use special water like Rowenta does. I use my dehumidifier water. I would never again pay the outrageous price Rowenta wants.

My mom bought me a Rowenta on sale at Hancocks as a birthday gift 5 years ago. I use it with water and dry with a spray bottle it always works great, heats quickly and never leaks! Good luck with your search!

i also have a shark euro pro and love it. It was hard to find an iron that did NOT have teflon coating on the bottom and had lots of holes.

It does seem to heat up fast and it does have an auto shut off, but many of them do these days - i've just had to get used to it. I think it heats back up quick enough

I just can't spend $100 on an iron - it killed me to spend i think it was $50 or $60 on the Euro pro....

I have a sunbeam steammaster xl...It has lots and lots of steam and auto shut-off..I bought it several years ago and it is really a good workhorse...

Don't be sorry. I just wanted you to know that you could look and find a lot more topics. Good luck on whichever you decide.
I would like to know what the little iron is that Sharon Schamber uses on her videos. It looks like it gets really hot and would be great for those little jobs.

I finally bought a Rowenta and absolutely love it. It is almost fun to iron. I would not be with out it. I got it at Tuesday Morning and got it for $60.00. It's a pink one and can't rave about it enough. Guess there are all kinds of favorites but I have been married 55 years, so I have had alot of different irons over the years but this is my favorite.