Energy Savings An iron uses the most energy when it's heating up. As an iron steams, the soleplate temperature drops. As a result, the iron needs to draw more energy to restore the temperature. The Rowenta Eco Intelligence iron has an Eco steam setting that uses less steam without sacrificing ironing performance and consequently consumes less power. If you iron big batches of laundry at once, you'll love the Eco Intelligence.
New Soleplate Designs Soleplates are now made of a variety of scratch-resistant materials to reduce the overall weight of irons and help them glide easily over fabrics. In addition, the location and number of holes on soleplates are being changed to make ironing easier. Several of Panasonic's newest steam irons have soleplates with channels that concentrate the steam into the fabric.
Steam Burst Button While the ergonomics of an iron used to consist of how heavy it was, designers are now also taking into consideration the ease of accessing the controls. In our recent review of steam irons, we found that a quarter of the models we tested had the steam burst button positioned on the right side of the handle. This would be a convenience for lefties because their thumbs would rest on the left side when they were grasping the handle. If you're a lefty, check out Black & Decker, Electrolux, Proctor Silex, and Shark irons.
Auto Steam Control Do you wonder how much steam you actually need to get out wrinkles? Take away the guesswork with an iron like the Electrolux Perfect
Glide that has preset steam levels. With this feature, there's no chance that you'll overdo the steam on a delicate fabric.