Rowenta Iron Steamer for Clothes, Focus Stainless

Best iron brand – Period
Hands down, Rowenta makes the best irons. I purchased this as my second of the same brand after the wire in the cord on my old one finally broke…after 15 years! Given the tremendous satisfaction I had with the old Rowenta (made in Germany), there was no other choice for me except to buy another one. The price was fantastic (<$60), and despite what the Country of Origin shows on Amazon, this iron is made in France. It has rugged and solid as its older brother and I expect to get at least 15 years out of this one. Super-pleased with this purchase!A couple of points:1. Always use distilled water in your iron. I do not care how good your water quality is, it will always have impurities and those impurities will eventually gum up the jets. I'm a 27-year military veteran who has ironed a gazillion uniforms...trust me, distilled water will make all the difference!2. Do not wrap cord when finished. Instead, loosely coil it and pass through handle. Repeated wrapping and unwrapping will stress the wire in the cord and shorten the life of the unit.3. I also recommend storing iron as soon as possible when done using it. Irons by their very nature are heavy and not well-centered. To avoid having it fall off the board, put it away.

Irons and steams well; seems like it should last. Read the instructions fully.
This review is for the 1725 watt iron, without the cordreel, in the blue and white color, and it was purchased in November 2022. Overall, it’s fine, but be aware of the following things: the different steam settings, having some common sense, the poorly-described self-clean “function”, and the sole plate.The iron is simple to use: fill it with water, plug it in, set the temperature, and wait for it to heat. Once it’s ready (i.e., the pilot light goes off), set the desired steam level, and start ironing. You’ve got three options for steam: off, “Eco”, and max, and the switch has four positions.If you’ve got it set to steam, but nothing comes out, press the steam button. That’ll clear out whatever might be clogging the holes in the plate. Then try ironing.Now for the steam switch: the first two are positions are basically off, and no steam will come out. The ‘Eco’ setting only kicks in at the third ‘click’ of the switch, and takes a second for steam to come out once the iron is horizontal and moving. The fourth position (all the way to the right) is max steam, which is exactly what it sounds like: a lot of steam for as long as the iron can sustain, before it needs to heat up again.Once the pilot light turns back on, don’t press your luck, or else you might get water dribbling out toward the end of the cycle; set the iron upright and wait. Also, don’t expect a lot of steam (or any at all) to come out at lower temperatures: expecting that just doesn’t make sense. If you want to iron at low temperatures, and need moisture, use the built-in spray function before pressing your clothes.A lot of the “water leaks out!!” reviews probably don’t realize that yes, if you’ve got the steam switch wide open, there’s a valve that will let water through, and yes, that water (in liquid form) will dribble out of the sole plate because they’ve got a low temperature selected.About the self-clean “function”: it’s not a function, or a dial setting, or anything like that at all. It’s a sequence of things you do, and the procedure is described toward the end of the manual.Lastly, the sole plate isn’t smooth-shiny like my old Rowenta. I assume the new one is stainless steel just like the old one, but the new one has a matte and slightly textured surface that drags ever so slightly. It’s not a big deal, but if you’re expecting a mirror finish on the sole plate, this iron isn’t it.The actual ironing performance: it works fine and gets the wrinkles out. For heavy and deep creases, no iron alone will solve that problem.Summary: The iron works well if you have some common sense about when to expect steam at high versus low temperatures, and exercise awareness with the steam switch; the self-cleaning function isn’t really a function at all, but just a series of steps; and the sole plate has a slight texture. I iron at least once a week, so if this iron doesn’t last, I’ll update the review.May 2022 update: It’s still working fine. If it doesn’t start steaming right away after the iron is back in the horizontal position (and the steam switch is in the third or fourth position), I’ll hit the “steam burst” button. Also, if you haven’t ironed in a while, hit the button anyway but do it over a rag or towel so you don’t spew mineral crud over what you actually want to iron.October 2023 update: Still going strong after weekly use. With semi-regular maintenance (the cleaning feature) and using the steam burst function to blow out any mineral build-up, this thing is working great. Looks like it’s currently $80 which is a huge amount cheaper than what I bought it. Like Leonard from Community, I rate this a “buy”.

Excelente marca y plancha, no es la primera vez que compro la marca ya hace años había comprado otra y se plancha bastante bien, sin esfuerzo y muy suave el movimiento

This is a solid work horse of an Iron. It’s a bit heavy but I think that’s a good thing in an iron. Well designed with common sense controls, well sealed lid over the water container. Makes lots of steam on demand. My dad was a tailor years ago and this reminded me of the irons he used in his workshop.

Good quality Iron … great steam, not heavy, easy to use. The only thing I don’t like about this iron very short electric cord