Philips GC8261

Good looking iron and very powerful steam delivery. As with all these things, worked fine until warranty elapsed and then started causing problems with "spitting" and calcium build-up, despite regular cleaning out and de-scaling. Finally the reservoir tank cracked for no reason while ironing and started leaking profusely. Spare tank - £15.00 + P&P. This also cracked within 3 months in the same place - design fault?? We thought we were buying Philips quality..will probably buy a regular steam iron to replace this unit.

We have just bought this Philips GC8261 to replace the previous Which? best buy we owned, a Tefal we've had for four or five years. This was a very good iron but Tefal's service proved less than satisfactory and the cord cover soon deteriorated (a frequent problem it seems yet so expensive to replace - around £50.00).

The Philip's is, quite frankly, a stunning product: much better than the otherwise excellent Tefal - lighter and more powerful. Creases melt away and ironing is done even quicker. It makes ironing a pleasure! You won't believe how these things can transform a dreary job and cut effort and time very substantially.