LaurastarLift Steam Iron in Original Red: Swiss Engineered 3-in-1 Steam Generator that Irons, Steams, and Purifies Your Clothes

Excellent for flattening quilt tops on a long arm quilt machine.

ok...although I generally rely on Amazon reviews, I never write them myself. But I'm making an exception for this ironing system. The Laurastar Lift is the third Laurastar product I have purchased. I bought my first one at an Atlanta Homeshow around 2001 for $800. It included the iron, steam boiler, and ironing board. it lasted for almost ten years. I LOVED it!!! I could press a blouse in 60 seconds...a heavy pair of jeans in two minutes. The results were professional! I was in Paris one year and sent some items out to be pressed. This ironing system replicates the French press! I think that first system would have lasted another ten years, but a housekeeper I hired tried to fold it up, and not realizing how heavy it was, dropped it to the floor and it broke. Ok...I bought another. I had an independent business and provided uniform blouses for my employees. They were white, embroidered, tunic length blouses. Every Sunday evening I pressed 30 of these in less than an hour. Clients constantly commented on how professional my staff looked in these blouses. Fifteen years from my first purchase, I retired. I still used it at retirement in Florida, with folks commenting on my perfectly pressed white cotton capri pants. Then, about ten years from my second purchase, the system gave out. So this time, I purchased the portable Laurastar Lift. I still had the ironing board, the steam cord whip, the sole plate, etc., and at about half the price of buying the full unit, I was satisfied. Well...guess what!!! That tiny floor model still shoots steam 15 feat down the hallway as I prepare to iron! The iron size, the steam, the heat, the incredible pressing value is all there -- at about half the price of the all-in-ones! My neighbors come to me to press their clothes for cruises, for cotton tablecloths that would be unusable without this steam iron, for heavy denim jeans that would be unwearable, and for delicate rayon/polyester fancy dresses they probably would have to throw away if they had to iron with an ordinary iron. Do yourself a favor and buy this ironing system. You probably need to start with the basic $1200 iron and board system, but you don't really need the $2200 system for now. I love this thing, and this portable unit fits in my retirement budget!

The US Market is flooded with disposable irons. You name it, I tried them all. Even the known-brand irons that cost between $100-$140 were no match to this Laura Star. This Laura Star Steam-generating iron seems to be very well made. It even has a water filtration in the tank to keep the internal ironing system and pipes clean from contaminants in your tap water. I was very reluctant on spending this much on an iron but it has been such an amazing two weeks with this iron. I usually iron a week's worth or 2 week's worth of work clothes in one ironing session. This product literally cut my ironing time in half and I would call it the Mercedez of all consumer level irons! Do yourself a favor, if you like to save time ironing and even start enjoying ironing again then buy this iron! I recommend also getting the following to enhance your ironing with this product: 1) Purchase a small clothing display stand to hang your shirts to vertically steam them. 2) I also recommend getting a vertical steam pad that you can attach to a door to vertically steam your garments. 3) Get a Laura Star Steam Cord Holder for regular ironing on a flat ironing board. This product did not come with a Steam Cord Holder.

I wanted an iron with lots of steam. This has it. The three minutes it takes to heat up enough to generate steam seems like a long time but you can iron dry while you are waiting. I love that I can steam on my board and also steam vertically with garments on my dress form. This iron is nice and heavy and feels very well built. I love the red color. I like that I don't have to use distilled water. It comes with a filter that allows the use of tap water. I know I will eventually have to purchase refills for my filter but they are not expensive. I've only been using this iron a few months. So far so good. I love it. I may change my mind if it doesn't last for at least ten years because this iron was an investment for me.

I like a really hot iron and lots of steam. I found both of these qualities in the LauraStar iron. This iron also has a large chamber to hold water. This iron enables me to iron my wrinkled items faster. So it is a time saver for me.

I really can't give this item a very high rating due to the fact I had problems with this iron the first time using. Had used it just a few minuets when it gave a big burst of water soaking my item, and then shut off leaving a light blinking red. I shut it off, let it heat up again and it did the same thing.

PROS: produces hot steamCONS: braided hose has come apart in less than a year, making the hose quite hot to the touch.takes SEVERAL minutes (up to 6 minutes) to warm up when first turned onauto-off feature kicks in much too quick, making pressing while sewing awkwardiron's sole plate does not glide smoothly over piecing. sometimes it wrinkles more than helpsiron does not stand up alone and the silicone plate does not protect my ironing surface.

Laurastar simply makes the systems on the market. Bought a floor model LS at a convention over 14 years ago and it just died on me probably because i didn't maintain it properly. Worth every cent!!