Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Black & Decker Steam Iron F210 I wanted a lightweight steam iron since I have arthritis in my hands and plenty of ironing to do. Almost every iron I looked at, especially the more expensive ones, seemed to have been designed and tested by men who've never ironed in their lives, and are weightlifting body builders with huge hands and strong fingers to press steam and spray buttons. Fill one of those irons with water and you'd be lucky to drag it across an ironing board, never mind lift it and maneuver it around the garment 20-40 times as you iron each item. The Black & Decker F210 steam iron seemed perfect for my needs, very lightweight, with all the key features I want, except auto shut-off. It has adjustable continuous steam, dampening spray, fabric heat settings, even a bonus ridiculously low $14 price tag, everything I wanted without the hand-numbing weight. Pleased with myself and my purchase, I toted it home, filled it with water, plugged it in, and from there it all went downhill. The F210 proceeded to sputter, spit, spurt, dribble and drool water all over the ironing board and garment while I tried everything possible to make it function properly. I adjusted the fabric heat settings and steam settings, gave it more time to heat up, laid the iron flat, stood it up vertically (on its rather wobbly base) and checked to make sure I hadn't overfilled it, but nothing cured this iron's chronic incontinence, it continued to let loose all over my clothes. Amazed this iron had even made it onto the market, I gave up, unplugged the iron and got ready for bed. Two hours later, just as I was drifting off to sleep, I was awakened by the sound of water spontaneously cascading out of the iron's reservoir, spilling over the ironing board and streaming onto the floor of my bedroom. Wanting to be fair, I wondered if this could be a a fluke, a one in a thousand defect peculiar to my iron, so I looked up consumer reviews of the F210. Apparently leaking and dribbling is a standard feature of this engineering masterpiece iron. At least half the reviews I read complained about it. So, unless you want to waste your time and money, don't even consider buying this iron. IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: As if this wasn't enough reason to look elsewhere for an iron, the bottom of the F210 box warns the consumer in tiny print that the power cord on this iron contains lead "a chemical known ...to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling." How does the U.S. government even allow this iron to be imported and sold in the U.S.? Why would a well respected manufacturer like Black & Decker abandon their company's goodwill and reputation by hawking a cheap defective iron with serious potential health risks? I would have happily paid twice the price for the same iron if it worked, were made in America and didn't contain health hazards. Wise up Black & Decker, you used to be a reliable and well respected company. Keep manufacturing off-shore cheap foreign health-risk lemons like this one and you'll be out of business with no one to blame but yourself. Ever heard of "quality control" or "Made in America"?