Rowenta DW9080 Steamium 1800-Watt Steam Iron Non-Stick Platinum Soleplate, 400-Hole, Brown

BORING HISTORY OF PREVIOUS IRONS: This is my third Rowenta iron. My first was 1800 watts, might have been a DZ9080(?) and I loved the amount of steam it would generate. Alas, it began to leak water after less than two years. I purchased another Rowenta - the large plate and amount of steam really make ironing much easier and I iron A LOT. My next was the DW8080. This model is 1700 watts and I could tell a difference in the amount of steam, sadly. But it was still a good iron. Right up until about a year and a half later when it also began to leak water. This time I realized the leaking was tied to the iron turning off. When these babies go lukewarm, they leak. I disassembled the bottom and saw where the power cord was shorting out in a spot where it is crimped inside before it is separated into connections. I was able to stabilize the short with electrical tape and moved the cord further into the bottom of the iron and crimped a new section. That bought me another year. This time I was unable to fix the short. I've considered cutting the cord and completely re-wiring so I can hand off to my daughter. Yeah. It's on "the list". THE DW9080: So far the iron is operating well. It does not generate as much steam as my first 1800 watt model, which is a bummer. But, the soleplate works well on different fabrics and it does generate a fair amount of steam. Whereas previous models allowed me to set pretty much constant steam via a button on top of the handle, this model requires depressing a large button on the bottom of the handle. You have to grasp it continually to get the amount of steam a button used to generate. I have had to learn how to relax my hand in a closed position too get ironing done without my hand cramping. I do not know why they added this un-improvement. It would seem that none of them do much ironing? I will use this iron until it dies the death I have come to expect. Then, I think I will try something new.

Have been using this new iron for a couple of weeks now. It was purchased as a replacement another 10 year old Rowenta. I was looking to upgrade the quality and find a true workhorse iron, and boy did I find it. I agree with the other reviews that recommend buying the Rowenta that is made in Germany versus the China manufactured irons. The weight and performance is very different. So is the pricepoint, but don't be afraid to spend a little money to get the best. I have used this for several functions: One: I usually wear suits to work and get those creases begind the knees, in the elbows of the jacket, and across the back where you sit. The vertical steam is powerful and all I have to do at the end of the day is hang the jacket, blast it a couple of times with the steam, let it cool over night and rehang it in the closet in the morning. Very easy and saves pressing at the dry cleaners. It also works to easily remove folding wrinkles from sweaters and knits. Two: I am a home sewer and crafter. I make quilts, sew and alter garments, and craft gifts in fabric for my friends. As a regular iron, you get high performance. Setting and pressing seams is simple and easy. The iron heats up quickly and stays ready for a long time without shutting off while oyu run back and forth to the sewing machine. Three: I still iron some shirts and especially like a freshly ironed pillowcase. In seconds the pillowcases are crist and readt for the bed. I have also started ironing the fold down on my sheets and the bed looks beautiful. You can do it right on the bed even after it is made. Without a doubt worth every penny. It is like having an assistant to all your ironing chores. If you are looking for an iron that stands up to heavy use, this is for you.

This iron is OK but not much better than the cheaper irons I've owned in the past. My biggest complaint is how quickly it goes below the programmed heat zone. I iron cotton dress shirts and use the cotton setting. I use the steam feature moderately to lightly and it falls out of the cotton heat setting in less than a minute. I have to constantly wait for it to get back to its heating zone. Not acceptable to happen so often for an iron in this price range. I do love the fact that the water opening is large enough to fill right from the faucet without the water dripping all over.

I like this iron for the simple reason that it does a fantastic job at getting the wrinkles out. I can't imagine an iron working any better than this one. Nonetheless, this iron isn't perfect. For starters, I don't like that it requires a PhD in water chemistry to figure out the precise type of water this thing wants. Not too hard, not too soft, not filtered, use tap but not if it's treated, can't be distilled. I mean come on, it is a bit absurd to be so picky on the type of water. My untreated water is likely too hard. I have a water softener but according to the instructions I can't use that water either. I'd feel stupid buying bottled water because who knows if that's exactly what it wants. Crazy. I will just use my softened water and hope for the best. So far, it works fine. Rowenta's don't last that long anyway, so I'll just plan on buying another in a couple years. My other gripe with this particular model is that it is too easy too accidentally rotate the fabric type dial. At least there's a very visible indicator on top to see what you have it set at, but I wish the dial had more resistance so it wouldn't be so prone to accidental changes. Other than that, the ironing performance is legendary. All those steam holes must make a difference and the easily accessible button to "inject" the steam makes ironing with this thing a joy.

First, I rarely use this iron; it is my wife's favorite, she really loves it. She thinks it is the best she has ever had (previously another Rowenta, and a Black & Decker) but after two years of use it quit. All of a sudden it stopped heating. The display started changing the setting indications randomly and then simply went dead. I checked it out and found out that the cord had developed a discontinuity. Right where the cord enters the iron there is a plastic clamp that mounts the cord to the body of the iron. This clamp holds the cord by pinching it. But the way it is pinching it, is that one side of the clamp is like a channel groove and the other is like a knife that matches the channel by going right inside the groove and it is pretty sharp. So as we were using the iron moving it forth and back, the cord was wiggling, and over time the wire threads inside the cord got cut right at the point where it was clamped inside the iron. The cord looked fine and by inspection I was not able to see anything wrong with it but when I tested it for continuity it was dead and when by wiggling it I could get some intermittent connection. I took out the two screws that hold the clamp closed and disconnected the wire and then I made an incision along the wire. Sure enough, right at the point where it was clamped, the threads were cut and it was black from arching when wiggled. So in my case it was pretty simple and I suppose that fixing it means eventually just shortening the cord about 3 inches to remove the old pinching point because otherwise the control board and everything else are fine. Now, don't go fooling around with the insides of an iron if you are not qualified because you can hurt yourself or put your house on fire. You should take it to a qualified technician and *if* your problem is because of this same reason, then he should be able to fix it fairly easily by shortening the cord by about 3 inches and using two new crimp connectors (if the old crimp connectors can be carefully removed so that the blue and red wires don't get too short). However, some technicians depending on warranty policies may just have to change the whole handle assembly. So, the wife says it is wonderful and works like a dream, satisfying steam production, easy gliding, best ironing ever (while it worked of course), but the above problem is bad design and it is quite likely to present itself given the mechanics of its operation. The plastic sleeve that guides the cord into the iron is a joke. It is not mounted in a stationary way on the iron; it floats freely in its seat and so most of the cord's motion is transferred to the stationary clamp that is inside the iron at the base of the sleeve's seat. Well, how much can you wiggle a wire which you are holding sharply pinched before it gives up? My opinion is that the design of that part is really bad and such an expensive iron should not have such a ridiculous flaw. I personally like the old B&D - which the wife snobs since she discovered the Rowentas. But I never had to repair any of the B&Ds (two, which still work fine) but I did have to repair *both* the Rowentas.

I bought this iron to replace one that started to leak and overall was not working well. I have never had any experience with the Rowenta brand but after doing some research I found out that they are one of the top brands when it comes to irons. A key thing to note about this model is that it is made in Germany instead of China and I would also suggest reading the instructions in its entirety. This will save you some headaches as well as make the unit last longer. The first thing I noticed when unboxing it is that it is a lot heavier than my current iron. It isn't big enough to make me not want to use it but it is important to note that if you need a light iron, you may want to look elsewhere. The unit has a large reservoir which is nice because you do not have to keep refilling it while ironing. The first thing I had to iron was a shirt and suit. I was amazed at how well it ironed the shirt. It is quite a bit larger so it doesn't take as many passes to finish the process. Turning on the unit was a piece of cake with the digital display. You just turn the nob until the digital display lights up to what you are ironing. As the instructions state, you want to start out with the material that takes the lease amount of temperature since it is faster to heat up the iron versus cooling it down. I moved on to my suit and used the steaming feature to take any wrinkles out of my jacket. This works with curtains or anything else that you need to just take the wrinkles out of but you can't iron. With a press of the button it shoots out a good amount of steam in the vertical position and did a fantastic job of taking out the wrinkles. If you do not mind the iron being a little heavier, I would strongly recommend this iron.

TL:DR Summary -- I broke my Rowenta DZ5080 by dropping it. Loved that iron, wanted an exact or better (if even possible) replacement. Bought the Rowenta DW9080 because it was top of the line. Did not like it at all, returned it to Amazon and bought the Rowenta DW8080 instead and LOVE it, find that it performs just the same as the DZ5080 did. The DW9080 had inconsistent steam production, delay in producing steam, would not truly "auto" steam, and when the steam finally decided to start coming out it was not any more than the DZ5080 or DW8080. I would not recommend the DW9080 to anyone, but would recommend the DW8080 to everyone. If you have only ever used cheap irons, you'll honestly be blown away by what you're missing with an iron like the DW8080. Long version... A little background... I had always used the cheap walmart irons that everyone is used to. Never enough steam so constantly pressing the burst button, takes forever to iron things, might not get all the wrinkles out entirely, etc. Honestly, I didn't know what I was missing until we registered for and received a Rowenta Focus DZ5080 iron for our wedding. I was immediately blown away by how much steam came out effortlessly and how quickly and effectively it could iron. I actually enjoyed and looked forward to ironing, even a couple years after initially receiving it. It wasn't as annoying/daunting of a task. Fast foward to a few weeks ago, when I accidentally bumped the ironing board and knocked our DZ5080 onto our concrete laundry room floor and cracked the water tank, rendering it unusable. I was very upset because I loved that iron, and immediately went to Amazon to order the exact same model. What I learned is that that model was discontinued and replaced with the DW5080. It might sound silly, but I didn't like the color of the DW5080 (ugly brown instead of blue) so I didn't immediately order it and decided to see what other offerings Rowenta had. (If I had seen the DZ5080 still for sale I'd have ordered it immediately with zero extra research). After searching around, I ordered this DW9080 hoping it would be like our DZ5080 only even better, because after all it had 30% more steam. After the first day, I did not like the iron one bit and immediately ordered the DW8080 instead, which I absolutely love again, just like our DZ5080 (it performs very similarly to how the DZ5080 did, suppoedly has more "burst" of steam when you burst it, but I don't really use that function much and the eyeball test says the difference isn't dramatic). Long story short, I love the DW8080 but do not like the DW9080. I did see that the DW9080 had mixed reviews before I ordered, but decided to trust the good ones and trust Rowenta that their top tier iron would be better than their lower tier irons. Anyway, here are the issues I have with it: -First and foremost, even when you set the iron to the "auto steam" settings (aka cotton/linen), it does NOT "auto" steam. You HAVE to hold the trigger in the hand grip for any steam to come out, no matter what. I tested this multiple times. Sometimes it seems that there is a little steam "left over" when you previously held the trigger, and then let it go, but this leads to the inconsistent steam problem I'll mention more below. When starting the iron after it sat for a while and went cold, if you never push the trigger, it WILL NOT steam, no matter the dial setting. At least, the one I had didn't. Anyway, this trigger seemingly activates some kind of pump inside which then generates the steam. For me, it's not that the trigger is annoying to hold, or is inconveniently located or anything like that, what really ticked me off is the delay after pressing it until the steam comes out. It's like 3+ seconds. In other words, when you set the iron down, re-adjust your clothing, pick the iron up (while simultaneously activating the steam trigger), and lower it onto your clothing, you can't immediately start moving it around to smooth out the wrinkles, you have to wait a few seconds for the steam to get to full force again. Every time. With the DZ5080 and now the DW8080 the steam comes out at full force nearly instantly after lowering the iron. For me this is huge. I love grabbing the iron, and getting to business right away, not waiting a few seconds every time I readjust the clothes just to have effective ironing. Couple this with the fact that the steam I was receiving out of the DW9080 was no way 30% more. It was inconsistent in how much it let out at any given time, and in its best mood it would give out equal steam to the DW8080. The DW8080 consistently and immediately, puts out a TON of steam, without pulling a trigger. Some of the inconsistency seemed to be related to the trigger. As I mentioned, there is no "auto" steam function where steam comes out without holding the trigger, but it did seem that after you did a round of holding the trigger, there was some residual steam that would come out when you tip the iron and don't hold the trigger. What this led to, is, coupled with the delay of normal steam coming out after holding the trigger, is, you lower the iron, and only a small amount of steam is coming out initially, not enough to be really effective, and then after a few seconds, the trigger mechanism pump catches up and ups the steam to the regulated (and effective) level. -Not only did the DW9080 have a delay in producing steam and inconsistent steam amounts, but it regularly would "spittle" water out of it's steam holes in one particular location (on the left middle of the face of the iron, every time). This water would get your clothing wet (not soaking, but a little more than a few drops every so often). VERY annoying. I never experienced this at all with the DZ5080, and haven't yet with the DW8080. I may have given the DW9080 a longer audition if it weren't for this problem (I'm really glad I didn't, because I might have decided to put up with it, and never would have went back to the much much better DW8080 iron). It did it every single time I ironed with it. Very very annoying. One thing I was hoping would be an improvement is the face of the iron having the platinum coating. If I had one slight criticism of my old DZ5080 its that if you set the temp too high for your clothing, it would make the face of the iron instantly melt the fuzz on the surface of the clothing (VERY slightly, not NEARLY enough to ruin the clothes AT ALL, but) enough to have a few tiny fibers stick to the face of the iron. What this did was make the iron not glide as smoothly. I see now that they make special sole plate cleaner which I may try with my DW8080, but with the DZ5080 all I did was keep a small piece of 0000 steel wool near the iron boarding and periodically would clean the sole plate with it if it happened. That worked fine. Anyway, I mentioned this to say that perhaps if I kept the DW9080 I might have found that the platinum coating would help prevent this situation. But I didn't get that far, so I have no idea. Either way, as I mentioned, it is not a big deal as the steel wool is very effective and can be used while the iron is hot (if you're careful), which is the key. But ultimately, you really shouldn't set your iron too hot for your clothing, and you won't have this issue. At the end of the day, this iron is still way better than your average cheap walmart iron, and if you can put up with the annoyances, it will iron your clothes much more quickly and effectively than those walmart irons, however, there is literally NO reason to put up with the annoyances when there is an almost identical iron in the DW8080 that will perform exactly the same, sans the annoyances, and costs less to boot. I expected a lot more out of Rowenta's top tier iron.

Don't get me wrong, this is a fairly good iron. It works, generally, ok. Like any other steam iron. The only problem that I find with it is the steam trigger under the handle. You have to compress it with a finger motion to get the iron to emit steam. That motion requires gripping the handle firmly. If you have more than one or two articles to iron and you have any level of arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome you won't like how your hand feels after a few minutes of gripping that handle. The last Rowenta we had at our house didn't require that a button be pushed to get the steam going. Wish we had that one back. I wouldn't buy this one again and wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

Best steam iron ever. Nice and large and heavy. The steam is very powerful, so keep your fingers away. The weight of the iron makes for crisp creases on your pants, and the large size makes quick work of ironing shirts. Make sure you empty the water reservoir after each use to prevent scale buildup.

The closest to an industrial iron you can get. Has a great deal of steam, perfect for flattening those seams and giving a beautiful finish to your home sewn garments!

Good iron, strong steamer... but breaks easily. The rotary section button broke after less than a year of normal, gentle use. This is not what I expect from one of the most expensive home iron on the market. Every one knows how troublesome it is to have a small appliance repaired, even if on guarantee. My next Rowenta will be bought from a local store that will assure me that they will take it back for repair.

I did a fair amount of research before I bought this iron - my third Rowenta. It was a complete disappointment. The main problem I had was that I got no steam unless I pressed the burst of steam control. I don't think you should have to hold down the button to get constant steam or any steam! The auto steam meant you could not control how much steam you got which meant I could not turn it up. I returned the iron after a few days. Before I did, I did some more research and found that other people had the same problem. I would definitely not recommend this iron and in fact I have had problems with the other Rowenta's I bought - one just stopped working after about a year and the other after 6 months - this is a little disappointing given the cost.

I did a lot of looking at a lot of irons before I decided on this one and I've no regrets. Its a big iron but not to heavy and it does the job perfectly, the burst of steam is so powerful. Best of all as someone who can get distraced is the automatic shutoff !