It's still an iron!

Bought one half the Amazon price at comet (£75). Didn't know what to expect. You get a bulky water reservoir which if, like me, you have a smaller ironing table, might be a little inconvenient. But its well made, generates a lot of steam and does the job well. I would not have paid any more than £80 for ANY such iron as I would consider it a waste of money (unless it did the ironing for me too!)

Good and comfi!

I have just recently bought this iron and think it's great. it's very sturdy, comfortable to hold and weighty. It was bigger than i'd imagined but get's through the work load easily and quickly.

steamer

its great when on steam but not much good off of the steam facility
and when turned up high spits water out all over the place also there is no indicator as to when the water needs re filling in tank so u have to guess

fast and efficent

the best iron i have ever purchased. it iron clothes to perfection even when they are extremely creased. definatly speeds up the process of doin a load of ironing

Ultimate Glide

I bought this iron today and have finished what would have taken me weeks to iron in just hours. I read every review on steam generators possible, but could not get any of them locally, so I took a gamble on the breville. I hate ironing but I am so impressed with the speed at which it irons I may now do it weekly instead of when we need it. We are a family of 5 and the washing machine is on at least 3 times a day. This irons both sides at the same time, it really is a good iron for the money.

Russell Hobbs Steam Generator Iron

I bought this to use as a second iron. I thought it would be a cheap & cheerful alternative to the Tefal Turbo Pro Express I already own. The former is certainly true - the Russell Hobbs steam generator iron is cheap at about half the price of the Tefal - but sadly it was not as cheerful as I would have hoped.

I was disappointed with the quality of this product - I really expected better from a supposedly reputable manufacturer. Although the packaging looked brand new, the item itself was grubby - the cord was grey and muddy and the feet looked like it had been standing around in the factory for some time.

Whereas the Tefal is ready to use straight out of the box, this Russell Hobbs iron requires the unit to be"primed" by pumping the air pockets out of the tubing before use. This involves pressing the trigger down so that the pump squeezes out the air - the machine goes through a series of loud pulsating noises as it does so (their description, not mine! I wonder why they don't advertise this more widely?). The pulsating noise continues as you work...

The Russell Hobbs steam generator does the job of removing creases well enough, but it disappoints as it leaves a trail of damp patches as you iron. I was less than impressed with the small puddle of water it left on my carpet too!

All in all, this is an OK machine for the money. It's not the slick performer that is the Tefal Turbo Pro Express, but it does the job so I guess I can't complain too much. It's fine as a second iron for occasional use, but if you intend to do a lot of ironing, I would recommend you take a look at the Tefal first!

laurastar steam iron

When it works, this is a terrific item. Unfortunately, in the past year it did not work for six months. The after sales service is the worst that I have ever experienced.

The servicing and repairs are carried out by a single company in the UK. The first problem we had was that steam constantly escaped. This happened within about one month of purchase. We contacted the service company who arranged for it to be returned. We lost only about four weeks. The next problem was that the handle broke. We called them and they said that we must have dropped the iron. We did not. But it seems that their own opinion was more valuable to them than what actually happened. We returned the iron again.

After many follow up calls, and little action, they said that they would (wait for it) sell us a reconditioned one! Needless to say, we told them that that was unacceptable. They eventually sent a new one.

About three months later, we broke the reservoir. It was virtually impossible to get a replacement. This was despite contacting the manufacturers in Switzerland (who ignored our emails) and repeated telephone calls and emails to the service company. Calls were not returned, emails were ignored; weeks passed and there was no advance on the replacement. I managed to get hold of the agents, who then told me that they would supply the part, and I paid for it. (It took six weeks to arrive). I took the opportunity of telling them when I had them that the steam was again escaping. They told me that they would arrange to have the iron uplifted. They did not do so until I sent them loads of reminders. And weeks had passed.

I have now returned the item, and have been promised a full refund.

It is really disappointing that the after sales service is so bad, as the product is so good when it works. It is far from cheap. My advice? Don't buy a Laurastar unless you are prepared to survive the frustration of zero after sales servicing.