Reliable140IS Maven Steam Iron - 1500W Ironing Station with Ceramic Soleplate, Iron Lock for Easy Carry, 1.5 Ltr Removable Water Tank and Auto Shut-Off, Digital Display, Continuous Home Steam Iron

*images include a shirt with knife pleats in the sleeve made using just this iron. Fabric is a linen/rayon blend and heat setting was at 4/5I sew garments and quilts as a major part of my work. If you are familiar with sewing-- you know that you're using an iron as much or more than a sewing machine. I've had this iron for about a week and a half-- and I've put it through its paces.I've worked with rayon challis, quilting cotton, heavily wrinkled linen yardage that I forgot to pull from the laundry (oops!) , flannel, upholstery fabric, cotton poplin and more...Pros: The iron heats up very quickly (almost instantly able to use it), has a 1.5L water reservoir (which lasted over a week with consistent use), auto shut off (I know the lack of this safety feature is a reason a lot of people prefer to avoid gravity feed irons), light-weight hand unit, consistent heat and steam, effective performance upon initial contact (even with heavily wrinkled linen- I only had to pass the iron over it once) and it's designed to be easily portable. Bonus- it doesn't require installation to work properly and the tank doesn't need to be elevated to work (again, in contrast to gravity feed irons.).Note: While the iron feels lighter weight than other irons I've used in both the home and professional categories, I didn't find that it affected the performance. I wasn't pushing harder or trying to add more weight to get press and iron my projects and clothes.Considerations: The larger tank does have a bigger footprint than a traditional home iron (due to the 1.5 L reservoir), cost (this iron is in the investment category for home irons), and safety. While, overall, I would recommend this iron for a safety-conscious home (little kids or mischief makers, I know, can be a concern) the one note I will make is that the rest for the iron can get be hot to the touch, and shouldn't be touched with a bare hand.Apart from that, the lighter weight and auto shut off are excellent features and overall I would still recommend this iron as a good option for the safety-concerned home.Finally, I thought it might be helpful to specifically compare this iron to home irons and gravity feed irons, separately.Home iron: I have worked with many home-irons. The major differences I was able to notice were that, instead of filling the iron up several times a day, I have only had to refill it once in the past week and a half (bear in mind that I am usually ironing a good portion of my days). I also think the heat plate is ceramic, rather than metal-- and maintained an impressively even heat (I didn't notice any hot spots). Finally, this iron heats up very quickly-- so even if the auto-shut off gets triggered, it's no time at all to be able to get back to pressing my work (within seconds).Gravity feed: For comparison, my gravity feed iron has a 1 gallon reservoir and I can go 2-4 weeks between refills, and with this one it was a little over a week until I needed to refill. Gravity feed irons don't have the safety features of the Maven-- no auto shut off, etc. My gravity feed doesn't heat up as quickly (by several minutes) and therefore can't perform as well at producing/maintaining steam at lower temperatures. Gravity feed irons also need to have the reservoir elevated by at least 3 ft from the ironing surface in order to work-- and the Maven reservoir doesn't need elevation or installation to work.The Maven is portable/ travel-friendly (it locks into place on its stand and can be carried by the handle.) If you RV, do on-sight costume/garment work, teach or attend sewing retreats, etc-- this is definitely a model I would seriously consider. The unit itself is not heavy and still performs consistently well.I couldn't find this in the paperwork-- and got this information from the company. The iron temp maxes out at 395 degrees and has a selection of setting for heat and steam.In the spirit of transparency, Reliable did reach out and ask if I would provide a review-- I agreed with the understanding that all opinions are genuine and my own. To that end, as a company they've been truly delightful and my experience with them has been exemplary-- they've been responsive and thoughtful and were able to answer my questions.I saw several notes about issues with steam from the iron-- I had no such issues. Occasionally the auto-shut off would kick in without my noticing, and I was able to hold down the power button to get things back up and running quickly. I'll continue to work with the iron and return with any updates.

My old iron did not get hot enough, steamed your face off and had to be refilled with water 3 times before you finished ironing a shirt. It took forever and the garment still did not look great.I have had this iron for a week or so and I love it! I sew on a daily basis and need an iron that works. The iron works great for sewing and pressing with a more professional looking finish. I like the size of this iron station too! It fits well on my small ironing board.Looking back, I can't believe how much time that I was spending trying to iron. This is a game changer!

I am very disappointed in this iron, it's bulky, heavy, takes too long to heat up and most of all, I detest the fact it auto shuts off after only 10 minutes. It was supposed to be my everyday iron beside my sewing machine but it's shut off way before I'm ready to use it again. I wish there was an over-ride button or something to help with this huge problem. That being said, when I do get it to heat up, it's hot and that I do like. It is too heavy for me to use all the time and takes up a lot of space on my sewing table. It costs too much to just toss so stuck with it but I don't recommend this iron for anyone who does a lot of sewing.

So on the recommendation of a friend I bought this during Black Friday since my old iron was acting like it wanted to die. My mistake was believing in the reliable company name as quality. I just tried to use it for the first time last week, followed the directions, and all I got was a clicking noise. No steam. The pump wasn’t working. So because I waited I now have a nice new $200 paper weight. Since it is supposed to be under warranty, contacted customer service through email and have not heard back. Tough lesson learned. Don’t trust a company brand and immediately try it even if you bought it early as a gift for yourself.Just heard back from customer service. The sent me a video to troubleshoot. If anyone else has issues like mine above. Do the normal startup, soak cartridge, however unlike what the manual says 10 -30 seconds, (you have to do it longer, I also never had a clugging sound but had a clicking sound) press and hold the steam button for two minutes. You will hear a bunch of different clicking sounds and they will eventually stop and then you will get steam.

Since I couldn't afford the best Reliable, I thought this would be a good compromise. I have been very disappointed. There is no shot of steam. Heavy steam CAN be finally produced after holding the button in tightly. The touch controls are a nightmare. I have to make multiple tries to get the right temperature and shutting it off takes multiple tries. It shuts off after ten minutes, so I'm constantly turning it back on and punching the touch pad to get the right temperature. It always has to be returned to the base as it won't sit upright on the ironing board. It does an adequate job of ironing clothes, but it is about at the same level as an inexpensive iron. For sewing and quilting, it does not do an adequate job. On the positive side, it does hold a lot of water. But I'd recommend sewers get the expensive Reliable, or get a Rowenta. I'll be getting a Rowenta--soon!

Works better than any iron I've ever used.

Having a TFal steam station prior to this unit, I found that the steam is not under pressure like the TFal and also having to deal with replacement cartridges at $20.00 a pop every 6 months is a big draw back, thus far I only found these cartridges available through Reliable.The unit itself is much lighter than the previous TFal. It seems to be well put together, I have used it several times thus far and I am very pleased with the performance after adjusting to the different working feature from the TFal unit. The unit heats up pretty fast and the iron is light and glides very well. I would like to see an option to purchase the replacement cartidge with the unit. Overall, I am satisfied with my purchase and would recommend this unit to anyone looking for a steam station.

It does a great job

Its certainly not a ROWENTA thats for sure, terrible steam quality, rinky dink water chamber and the ceramic sole plate does not glide easily over fabric- returned the product.

It is not bad iron but not so powerful. We were looking for something strong but we couldn't satisfied with this one. The back of the iron is not designed to put the iron in an upright position. This is a huge problem. Unfortunately, it causes difficulties in use. If your ironing board does not have a separate place to put the iron, you have to put it in place every time. Also, the iron does not have an on/off switch. You have to unplug it every time. This makes no sense. In general, I can't say that it irons that very bad, except for its problems. It's not overpowering, but it has decent performance.