Steam Fast SF-680 Digital Fabric Steam Press
by Top Innovations
|
List Price: Our Price: $226.54 You Save: $73.45 (24%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Home See more product details |
|---|
Tools and Hardware Reviews of Steam Fast SF-680 Digital Fabric Steam Press
Customer Review: Great steam Iron
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been using this product for many years it does a great job on pressing your clothes and easy to use.Customer Review: Ironing press
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great iron. It also was shipped to me very fast and I am loving using it.Customer Review: I like it. It's going to help out in our Household.
Summary: 4 Stars
This review is from my Husband Terry Martin, who purchased this item for our household.
I was getting very tired of pressing my Wife's lab coats. She is a Doctor and needs to look professional and presentable. Since I have a bit more time than she does, I take care of most of the laundry in our household. After pressing two or three of these Doctors lab coats, I invariably find my mind daydreaming about doing other fun things. Like maybe slamming my hand in a car door, or stepping on broken glass, or my personal favorite, looking, eyes wide open, up the fireplace chimney and tapping on the side of the tube to check for soot. All of which would be more fun for me than ironing.
I spent some time researching these steam press devices, and found very little useful information other than the reviews, such as these, of other people who have purchased one and have used it. You need to read reviews carefully however. You don't know. Maybe the reviewer works for the company that sells the device. Mostly though, you need to read the review carefully because you need to determine if the person writing it knows what the heck they are talking about or not. They may just be frustrated with the device because they haven't spent the time and learned how to use it properly. Or they may just want to see their name and literary talent displayed on the Internet. Think about the people you meet in your every day work day. A very large percentage of people you come in contact with, every day, will always have something to gripe about.
I think that it is best for you to take what people say in these reviews with a grain of salt. Much the same as you should take everything you read on the Internet. Just because you read it, doesn't make it the truth. For example, One reviewer on this site says that they can press a shirt with this device in under 30 seconds. Think about that logically for a moment, and you will realize that such a feat is impossible. I can not even properly place a garment on the device in 30 seconds. Perhaps when they say "press" the person actually means that they are capable of opening up the device, " throwing", but not "placing" the shirt on the flat surface, pressing the top of the device down onto the shirt, holding it there for the 12 or so seconds, and then lifting the now crappy crisscrossed creased shirt off the flat surface. I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps they were thinking about a Barbie Doll shirt, in which case they are correct, that is possible. Exactly why it took them 30 seconds though I haven't got a clue. I've been able to do that feat of magic in 15 seconds flat. Piece of cake.
Another reviewer found fault with the fact that when you lift up the top half of the device after pressing a section of clothing, it goes up with such force that it could tip the entire device over. Well ---- yes, if you just press up on the handle with your fingers. It does have a little force behind it in order to raise it up. However, if you hold on to the handle while you are raising it up, which any normal person would do, it is just fine. It's not like the force from a shotgun, or a rocket launching. I am 61 years old, and I can fully raise it from a closed and locked position using only my thumb and pointing finger. I can press it down into a fully locked position using only the pressure of my little finger.
Finding out how to use this device correctly isn't the easiest thing that I've ever done. Actually I think that the instructions given to me to help me grow up, learn to partially understand women, then search for and finally finding my Wife, all were less complicated than learning to use this device. Although I do admit that those other things did take considerably longer to accomplish. The instructions provided with this device are pretty sketchy, although, if it makes you feel any better, you can read them in three different languages. While reading it, you get the impression they are more concerned that you might attempt to do your Steam Pressing while taking a bubble bath in the tub, than they are in teaching you how to use it to get the wrinkles out of your clothes. You get two full pages of Safety tips that are all common sense for anyone with an IQ higher than that of a zucchini. Then you get three small paragraphs of tips, covering only a part of one page, on how to actually use it. Maybe I'm being too critical here. Come to think of it, I guess the instructions I was given to accomplish the other life tasks I just mentioned were not that readily available when I really needed them either.
As mentioned, in one of the reviews on this webpage, there is a European web site that shows a series of still photos of how to place a shirt on the device, and that is quite helpful. The only thing you find on youtube are the European version of the "Shopping channel" on cable. Watching someone sell three dozen of them doesn't help you one whit to learn how to use it. It would be nice to sit and watch someone use one, but getting a box of popcorn and a Coke, and planting myself down at my local dry cleaners for an hour or so really doesn't seem like a good option. Moreover, it is doubtful that they would be very happy to spend their time to teach me a skill, that once I have learned, will remove the necessity of me ever walking through their front door, and spending money, ever again. Furthermore, Solving this problem by trying to slip quietly into the dry cleaning establishment, wearing dark glasses and pretending to read a newspaper, while secretly watching them use their steam press device, didn't seem to be a good alternative either. Actually when I tried it, they became rather agitated, and seemed rather mistrusting of my motives in their shop. Some people - oh well. The other reviewer didn't leave a web address, and that may be something we are not supposed to do in these reviews, so let me try to help in this way. All you need to do is to type singermachines.co.uk preceded by 3 repetitions of the 4th to the last letter in the alphabet and a period, into your computer. (Note to editor, That is not a web address, it is simply some instructions on how to compose a useful web address, and besides, it will help your customers understand better) This will help you find some still photos and tips. Although a video has been mentioned in one of these reviews, I haven't been able to find it.
Before the unit was delivered, I spent some time just looking at some of the clothing that needs to be ironed after washing. Naturally, each piece needs to be laid more or less flat in order to place in this device. Just a few minutes of looking at and handling your clothing with this fact in mind, make it pretty simple to see what folds can be made. You need to realize that you will now, in some cases, be able to press two sections of an item at the same time. That is because with this device you can fold items and place them in this device, and then press both halves at the same time, and that is a real time saver. You need to take the time to adjust then and properly line everything up, but that doesn't take that long. You just need to think it through before you actually start doing it. If you use common sense, which isn't exactly in abundant supply now a days, especially where our Government is concerned, it doesn't take too long to master this device.
After taking the time to play with this device, learning how it works, and then comparing my experiences with it to those I've had with my trusty little hand held steam iron, I've come up with a few conclusions that I'm going to share with you here. First off, I'm not lazy in any sense of the word, but it is nice to be able to sit down and do this household task. For those of you who do your household chores in your birthday suit, (I know you are out there, and I certainly approve) I would not recommend that practice while using this device, unless you either do not intend to use the steam function on this device, or you have the same skin thickness as an elephant. It actually does not spit out a lot. If you hold the top completely open and hit the Steam button, you might spray a little on yourself. I purposely tried to get it to splatter on me, and wasn't able to do so. Having the clothing you are about to press, slightly damp is a good idea. With my wife's Lab coats, I spray them with starch, so they are damp. I use the same steps listed with the series of photos I previously mentioned, and it works just fine. Start with the bulk of the item on the far side of the device, and as you finish a section, pull the piece of clothing towards you to begin on another section. Think about that for a second and you will see why it makes sense.
Now, do you save time? Oh yeah. Would you always save time? NO!! Just as it is not necessary to own a 20 ton moving van to haul home a gallon of ice cream, you don't need this device to remove one or two wrinkles on a pair of pants. Use the hand held, because it heats up faster and you'll be done in a couple of minutes. When you have an entire washer load to iron, that's probably when you should get out your Steam Press.
On a good day, using my hand iron, I could iron one of my wife's lab coats in about 14 minutes. The first item I pressed with the Steam Press was a lab coat. It took me about 23 minutes. The second one took about 17, the third about 15, and the fourth took me just over 10 minutes. I know that it will get faster with experience. A lab coat is about 1 ¾ times the size of a normal shirt. I did a normal short sleeve shirt as the last of my first 5 items when I first got the device. It took me 4 minutes. I was OK with that.
How long will the unit last? How the heck would I know? I'm a gemstone designer and cutter, not an engineer. It seems to be very well made, but even with the best made and most expensive items, over time, most of them will eventually malfunction or quit on you. If you are like me, you buy things with the hope that it will malfunction later rather than sooner. I haven't had this device long enough to make a determination, but I've only read one review here that has mentioned any problems with it malfunctioning. Time will only tell about that I guess. I like my unit, and I don't want to go back to the days before I got it. I'm not crazy about the steam function. It does wheeze, sputter and spray out some water, and for me at least, I don't get the cloud of steam that I've seen in some photos come out of some of these devices, and I really did want that. Maybe I'll just use the device in a very cold room, then I'll see a steam cloud.
There is a stand that you can buy that is made specifically for this device. I didn't bother. I use my regular ironing board, and I set the height so that my knees just slip under it while sitting down. No need to waste the extra money.
I'm a guy, and household chores are most likely never ever going to be fun for me. Even if that ever did happen, as a guy, I would never admit it. Ever!! Whether or not I did them in my birthday suit.
If the steam function worked better, (it actually does work, I just think it should work without sputtering and spitting so much)I would have given it all 5 stars.
When I finally show up at the Pearly Gates, I will not be there praying that they have a really super duper laundry room. Having said that, this device makes this chore less annoying for me to do, and just between you and me, if I wasn't a guy, I could possibly be persuaded to admit that it's almost kinda/sorta fun. Almost. Maybe.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 28, 2009.
Here is an update of my exeriance with this device. It has been nearly six months and I like the unit more than I did when I first got it. This is because I've learned some things, and I have gotten much faster at using it.
When you first get the item, you see the large surface area of this unit. You become a bit obsessed with using every square inch of that surface, because you feel that you would be wasting time if by chance you pressed some small section of the garment a second time. So what you find yourself doing, is to end up wasting additional time by attempting to very carefully place the garment so that you always press the largest amount of it that you can without repressing some other part of it.
This is truly a waste of your time. You will soon find that you can be much more efficient with this unit if you don't try to do everything that might be possible. For instance, the surface is large enough that you can actually press the entire sleeve of a shirt in one action. However, I have found that it will take you more than twice or three times as long to lay out that entire sleeve properly to do it in one action.
The unit is designed to be pressed down on the clothing for about 8 seconds and then you get an audio signal that it's done. I find the signal a little anoying, and so I just mentally count from 1 to 8 and lift it up. I normally lift the top off the clothes before the signal sounds.
For a shirt sleeve you can press it in two or three sections in much less time than you can if you try to carefully position it to do it in one action. On some shirts it works out that it only takes two actions to press the sleeve. Kinda depends on the size of the shirt, and the style.
The lab coat that I spoke of earlier in this review has become much easier to press as I've learned not to try to press too much of it at a time. I'm down to about 5 minutes from my original 25 minutes when I first received the unit.
No problems with the item at all in the last 6 months. I hardly ever use the steam blast function. It just doesn't seem to be very practical or useful. I do use a spray water bottle to slightly wet the fabric before pressing the top down, and that's all it seems to need. It's dry when I lit the top up. There may be better units than this one, but I don't know what one could do with them that you couldn't do with this one. I'm very happy with the unit. Terry
Customer Review: Needs a decent instructional DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great appliance, but the instructions are hopeless and it is an appliance that requires some skill to use fully effectively. Had they had a decent DVD with it, I would happily have rated it a 5.
So here is what it does really well and fast (REALLY fast) and for which the supplied instructions (or the little video on the Top Innovations website) are adequate: trousers, T-shirts, and household linens (sheets, napkins etc). Basically anything which you could iron well by folding and smoothing and then plopping a great weight on.
But a lot more effort and skill is required when doing highly tailored shirts (eg brands like Anne Fontaine, Alicia Bell, Pink). Hopefully one day I'll be able to do those without keeping the iron and ironing board on hand. But I suspect that will be only after I can persuade my local cleaner to spend time teaching me.
In the meantime, the most useful instructions I have found for using a steam press are in a little video on the UK Domena site [...] There is also a useful series of pictures on how to do shirts on the UK Singer site [...]
You'll see when watching the Domena video that there is a point to using this unit while sitting in front of it as opposed to standing above it. You are less likely to burn yourself on the upper hotplate while rearranging and smoothing garments on the bottom plate if you are reaching in as opposed to down and around, and likewise, the steam blast that comes out when you press the steam button as you hold the top lid about 3 inches above the bottom plate before pressing something is less likely to hit you if you are in front of it as opposed to above it.
I'm sure it is some sort of cultural difference, but I found all sorts of other useful tips on the various UK sewing sites (which is where the steam presses are usually dealt with). Like using melted ice from the freezer so you get mineral-free water which won't clog up the innards. Happy researching!
Customer Review: satisfied.
Summary: 4 Stars
Bought this unit to press a lot of flat fabric for quilting. The unit appears to be fairly well built and worked correctly right out of the box. Here are some of my observations:
- To get a wrinkle free result, I have to spray the fabric with a light water mist before bringing down the head of the unit. The burst of steam feature is good, but not as effective as a light mist on the fabric.
- It does have an annoying feature that other reviewers have noticed. There is a built in timer that cannot be turned off, that limits the time the heat stays on with the pressing head down. To defeat this feature you have to learn to anticipate the time and bring the head up before it times out. Then you can bring the head down again and continue pressing. This should be optional but it is not. I find I need to press most fabrics for two cycles to get a good result.
- The controls are simple and work. The water reservoir is adequate. You must use distilled water. It warms up pretty quick.
- Some people have complained that you can burn yourself on the head if you reach in to position clothes for pressing. They are right, but it is not a problem. You quickly learn not to touch the hot head when you reach in. You can burn yourself with a hand iron if you touch it, so don't touch the hot part.
- There is no problem locking the head down for pressing. The lock and release action is fine.
Overall I am satisfied to very satisfied with the unit and I get great results once I learned how to optimize it for my purposes. By far the biggest reason not to give it a 5 star rating is the silly timer that keeps turning off the heat and beeping a beeper after about 10 seconds. You simply have to lift the head before it times out. This should clearly have been optional, or at least adjustable.
You can't get this result with a hand iron, and it saves lots of time.