Philips Azur GC4890/02 Steam Iron with Anodilium Technology Soleplate, 2600 Watt, Black

I've been using this iron for about a month and I am absolutely delighted with it.

After reading the user guide (which appears to be generic and dependent on the user to sort out which of the possible options is included with their iron) to see if there was anything specific I needed to do before using it, the iron was plugged in and set to work.

The first thing of note is the water tank, which has see-through sides - so you can see your water level rather than having to swing the iron around and judge by the sloshing sound inside. It is 335mls in size, so you should not have to stop ironing as many times in order to refill it. Which brings me to my second item of note.

There are 6 steam settings on the iron; however, if you need to add more water to the tank you must make sure that the steam setting is at zero for your own safety. Obviously, the higher the steam setting the more water you will use, so being able to see the water level is important.

The steam is at a base power of 50g/min with a 170g/min steam boost. Not being technically minded I'm not sure about these figures but I can say it is powerful enough to steam velvet successfully.

Using the iron is easy. The controls are, thankfully, very straightforward. Once you have plugged it in and switched it on, you turned the control disc under the handle to the type of material that you are ironing and the temperature light will indicate when the iron has reached the correct heat.

If you need steam then you push the slider to the strength of continuous steam that you need, or press the button for a short burst of steam. You also have the ability to spray some water from the iron to aid with any stubborn creases.

The cable is 2.5 metres in length and gave me plenty of slack when I was using the iron.

The iron has a given weight of 1.6kg empty, but you need to keep in mind that with a full tank of water it will weigh more. In saying that this isn't the heaviest iron we have had.

It has a smooth annodilium (metal) soleplate is supposed to be scratch resistant, so zips, clasps, studs, etc, should not have an adverse effect on the irons life span.

There is also a 2 year warranty should anything go wrong.

The iron comes with an anti-drip facility, along with anti-scale and self-cleaning, this should help stop those horrid explosions of dirt that can emanate from old irons.

In my opinion this is a superb iron, easy to use and maintain.

I can see why this iron won the "Which?" award for the "Best Small Home Appliance 2011". It is well worth considering if you are looking for a new steam iron.

The thing about Philips Azur irons is that they tend to be a bit on the big/heavy side, and that has pros as well as cons.

On the pro side, a bit of heft, coupled with a super glide sole plate means that you use less effort to just push it over the creases. In tests we did, we had some overly dried shirts and chinos and the Azur made mincemeat of all of the creases ... there is steam a-plenty on tap, and with a decent reservoir of water, enough for a good 30 mins of ironing (who wants to do more than that anyway). We also tried it on some more complicated pleated material and again, the Azur rose to the occasion ... but it also highlighted one of the cons.

If you are gliding over creases the heft is useful, if you are doing more complicated stuff, having to constantly lift the iron, then the weight becomes more noticeable ... at about 1.8KG with some water on board it feels heavy at the end of an ironing pile.

I am not a great fan of red on black print on the dial ... I find it a pretty challenging combination to read, so would have preferred white on black (but I am going for an eye test later ... maybe it is just me). I do like the silicon dial, It moves very freely, and hopefully should not suffer the fate of old irons with plastic dials that used to stick.

I have pretty big hands, and my wife has quite small hands, we both find the soft grip handle quite comfortable. It is too early to see how the de-calc function works, but we have had Philips irons in the past and they have worked fine.

All in all, a good basic workman like iron that should give years of service.

Its funny everything I buy these days uses less energy; or is more efficient; except for my new Iron. A year ago I reviewed the previous Azur and was impressed by its steam generating ability and how much lighter it was than my considerably older iron. In 2011 the New GC4890 Azur uses 200 Watts more power taking it to 2600 Watts; which is almost a 10% increase over the previous model and a poke in the eye for mother earth. Having now used a more powerful Iron I am more convinced that having more power in your iron makes quite a big difference when using it. Its immediately noticeable in two places; it heats up very quickly and its able to generate an awful lot of steam without stopping. Both of these mean that the Iron is on power for less time so hopefully balances out the extra power required.

To my eyes the GC4890 Azur has a nicer design than the last model (and the black and silver colour scheme looked good.) The controls are clear and easy to read with bold red on black. I think the water tank is overly fiddly to use - there is a seal to stop it leaking back out and I don't think it opens far enough as the door gets in the way of the spout when you are filling the iron. The baseplate on my Iron is new so it glides really well as they all do last years ceramic base plate held up well; hopefully the new Anodilium baseplate is a step forward but only time will tell.

Once you have filled the tank you are ready to go; setting the temperature and plugging it in it heats up very quickly and seems able to generate steam in under a minute. One big step forward with this iron is you have more control over the temperature and there are clear indicators if the temperature is changing on the handle. As a man doing his own ironing it feels that the 80 or so steps on the temperature dial are overkill but its reassuring to know the control is there if you need it. There are also seven levels of continuous steam which for my shirts i left on the highest and it seems to work brilliantly. If you haven't used a continuous steam Iron; its a big step forward over heat only and steam blast on demand - especially if you are ironing a lot of cotton. The steam getting through layers of the fabric and makes ironing quicker and look better. When you need it you can still get a blast of steam to help with deep creases; or you hold the button down for long periods to get a longer stream of steam. The Azur works great on your ironing board each week; but the steam feature also works vertically and the Azur can steam curtains, or jackets where they hang if needed. If all this steam has you worried about your hard water; don't - the iron has a descaling feature which you run from time to time and clears out any deposits without the use of chemicals. In the 2010 azur this worked well; its still on the 2011 model and if its anything like the rest of the iron it should work as well if not better.

On my pure cotton work shirts a using a high continuous steam setting helped me breeze through them quicker than ever; the steam tip working well around the buttons - and the pulse blast of steam putting the creases right in my collars. Compared to last years iron; the Azur has a nicer grip with a rubberised upper surface where you do most of the work. One downside to the continuous steam in last years model was I felt you had to replenish the tank regularly; this is still the case - though being able to change the steam settings more easily seems to keep the iron going for longer before refilling.

Its an incremental advance over the last model; but the extra power and control make it a lot easier and quicker to get through your ironing.