Philips GC8261 Steam Generator Iron

We bought this iron as a replacement for our "Which? Best Buy" Tefal steam generator. That lasted just a couple of years before its cord covering frayed badly, a fault we put up with for a further two years. At £50.00 to repair we thought it wasn't worthwhile even though it had been an excellent iron in other ways.

Yet, as good as the Tefal was, this Philips surpasses it in every detail but one - the Tefal had a better cord storage system that worked well (a small detail). The Philips is light (so much lighter than a standard steam iron), it's powerful (much better than the excellent Tefal even) and it's very compact for such a powerful device.

It does everything it says it will and does it very well indeed. Ironing is a pleasure with this product - done and dusted quickly and well. If you haven't used a steam generator iron, really, you don't know what you are missing. This one is, I think, the current "Which? Best Buy" and is also Good Housekeeping Approved and recommended - and when you own it, it soon becomes utterly obvious why. Buy one with confidence and own it with pleasure. It's good.

After much research and having previously owned and been happy with the Philips Azur iron, which had an excellent non stick ceramic sole plate similar to this iron, I decided to buy the GC8261

Philips have an excellent product here, I can see why the model below this, the GC8220 is a Which Best Buy. It is well built and very ergonomic, making ironing much less of a chore.

I was not sure if I would like a Steam Generator iron, so bought from Argos, as easier to return if it was not for me, but it makes ironing so much quicker (You only have to iron one side) and the iron weighs a lot less than a standard iron, so less tiring to use. I'm definitely keeping it!! It even irons well without steam.

Philips also give a 2 year guarantee for a bit of extra piece of mind.

I iron for a family of five and this product is a godsend, highly recommended.

Having hesitated for the longest time over whether or not to get a steam generator iron (as I had a perfectly good steam iron in full working order) I finally decided, after much research, to purchace this model.

Now I have used it for the first time, I am impressed. At first I put the steam output on medium (3 options of low, medium and max) and yes it did get the creases out, but I had to put in the same effort that I would have had to of put in with a normal steam iron (not the effortless time saving ironing promised by using a steam generator iron). The only time saving feature that I could see at that point was the fact I only had to iron one side of the garment and the creases fell out of the opposite side also. Then I turned the steam output to maximum and I could finally see why everyone raves about these irons. It melted through the creases in my jeans with the lightest of touch and minimum effort, and again it only required me to iron one side. I would say it knocked an hour to an hour and a half off my usual three to four hour ironing marathon. Another point was that I did not feel like I had done a two hour ironing session at all, it was not tiring in the least.

However, this is only my first use of the product so as yet I have not had it long enough to see if it develops the same problems that the previous reviewer has found. We were recommended, impartially, to get the extended cover on it as apparently steam generators are known to be prone to developing problems, no matter which brand. So even if you decide not to purchace this particular iron I would pass on the recomendation of purchasing extended cover just in case. Also I was advised to get a mesh ironing board, as with the constant steam output, water would be accumulated on a traditional wooden ironing board.