Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I sometimes think that I shouldn't tell people, "I'm a quilter." Instead, I should say, "I iron a lot, and occasionally I sew together the fabric that I iron." Because anyone who quilts does a HUGE amount of ironing. Every quilt block is ironed after each seam... and most quilts have thousands of seams. As a result, in the last 15 years I've worn out more than a few irons. They generally appear to follow the same law as kitchen toasters: It doesn't matter how much or little you spend... they all last five years. I've learned to choose the equipment based on the features I need, without telling myself that I'm investing in an heirloom. Still, I've kept an Oliso going for several years, as well as one over-priced iron that I bought at a home show. Neither would earn 5 stars, but they are functional. I haven't yet given myself permission for a super-fancy iron with a separate steam-generator; I "met" one of those in the workshop of a professional embroiderer, and I fell in love. (I fear that it, too, will follow the Toaster Rule, just more expensively.) Anyway, the point is that I've used a whole bunch of irons. When Amazon Vine offered me this one, it was a no-brainer: You can't have too many irons! Certainly, the big selling point is that this Black+Decker iron is cordless. It means you can plug in the iron where the power plug is convenient, instead of draping a wire across the room. And it means you don't struggle with the cord getting in the way, which is a distinct problem when you're trying to iron, say, a big tablecloth. And this started out promising. The iron itself is sturdy but (relatively) lightweight. It holds about 1.5 cups of water, which is a convenient amount for most steam-ironing jobs. The charging base lights up with color-coding to let you know when the iron is pre-heated. The light on the base unit changes color and beeps when the system decides that it's time to recharge the iron. And while it truly doesn't matter... it looks very cool. Really, it all sounds great... on paper. On cloth, not so much. One annoyance is that you cannot easily see the temperature setting. It has the usual swivel where you turn the temperature from "minimum" through "knits" and up to "cotton/linen." But even when the iron is brand new I can't see a notch to ascertain where the needle is pointed. This sounds like a quibble, but it's a big deal when you're using the equipment in a room with imperfect lighting. But the real problem with the iron is that it doesn't hold enough heat to flatten a single yard of fabric. I used it with a stack of crumpled-up fabric I'd inherited, with the aim of getting it ready to cut into smaller pieces for a "Scrap Therapy" project; it was definitely time for the "full steam" setting. With the water tank full-up, it took perhaps 5 minutes for the base to glow green to let me know the iron was ready to use. And the iron did an excellent job at smashing the cotton fabric flat... for about four pieces of fabric. And by "pieces" I mean "each smaller than a quarter yard;" you could not have finished ironing a shirt in that time. The iron base chirped that it was time to reheat the iron, and it was accurate in that assessment; trying to flatten the last piece was like using a cold iron. Back on the unit it went, for another 2-3 minutes of heating. During that time I went into "cut up the ironed pieces" mode, which was okay to a point (though would not be if I were, say, ironing an entire dress). Back and forth... until I was forcibly reminded that the Black+Decker iron turns itself off after 8 minutes of inactivity (a setting you cannot override), and you have to start all over again. The bottom line is that it doesn't deliver on the promised convenience. If I have to reheat the iron every 3 minutes (and then stare at it impatiently for 2 minutes), it isn't a help at all. And then heaven forfend I sew three seams without the iron turning itself off. I'd rather struggle with a power cord. I wanted to love this iron. But I'm not sure that there's even a reason to keep it.