The Jiffy Steamer: a fast, effective alternative to ironing
Written: Jun 21 '04 (Updated Jul 05 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Very effective. Heats up quickly and gets wrinkles out much faster than ironing.
Cons: Can be tricky to use at first. Results not as perfect as professional services.
The Bottom Line: This wonderful device can rid the ugly chore of ironing from your life.
|
|
|
| qualia's Full Review: Jiffy Residential Garment Steamer J2000 |
I have a strong distaste for ironing, and as a result, I resigned myself to wearing rumpled clothing during the busier times in my life. Unfortunately, it seems like life is always busy, and I always looked like a mess. A couple of months ago, my fiance and I bought the Jiffy Garment steamer, with the hope that we could have wrinkle-free clothes without the hassle of ironing. We purchased the J2000 steamer from the manufacturer's website http://www.jiffysteamer.com/ where you can see the specs and view a demo-video of the steamer in action. It arrived quickly, within two to three days as I recall. So far, we've been very pleased with its performance.
How it works
The J2000 steamer has a base that holds a removable water container and a 1300 watt heating element. You fill the container with tap water and this amount supports about 1.5 hours of steaming before it needs a refill. Coming out of the base is a hose that leads to a steam head. The base also supports a vertical metal rod, the top of which has a place where the steam head rests when not in use and a place to hook a hanger with the article of clothing you want to steam. Once you flip it on, it takes between 1 and 2 minutes for it to produce steam, which leaves the base and travels up a hose leading to the steam head. To use it, you grab the insulated handle at the neck of the steam head, hold it against the clothing, and pull it along the surface of the fabric.
The steaming movements took some getting used to, and I'll admit that at first I wasn't happy with the steamer because of several accidents where I let my hand wander in into the path of the steam. I never got a burn from it, but it was definitely uncomfortable and and a little scary to use until I became more skilled at using it. With experience, I now find it quite easy to use.
In my experience, the steam head handle is well enough insulated so that it remains comfortable during use. It gets warm, but not uncomfortably so. The hose is not as well insulated, and it does get uncomfortably hot, but not hot enough to burn the skin. It has an auto-shut-off feature for safety.
Faster and easier than ironing
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm no Martha Stewart. Even when I did get around to ironing my clothes, I was not terribly good at it. I'd start ironing one part of a shirt, and after I'd moved on to another part, the first part would have become slightly wrinkled again from all the shifting. I'd find myself spending a lot of time and effort into ironing a load of clothes only to get results that were just okay.
I do get better results from the Jiffy Steamer, and in a fraction of the time. I hated ironing so much that I used to avoid wearing clothes that wrinkled a lot in the wash. But steaming is so much faster and easier that I get more use out of these clothes. The steamer is so quick, in fact, that I've been using it on a near daily basis in the months since we bought it. In the mornings, I flick it on and go about my routine for another minute or two while it heats up. Then, when the steam is ready, I grab a rumpled shirt from my drawers, put it on a hanger, and hang it on the pole of the steamer. I wave the steam head against the front of the shirt, flip the hanger around, wave the steam head against the back of the shirt, and presto, I have a wrinkle-free shirt. The time it takes varies depending on the fabric. My knit shirts and T-shirts are extremely quick to unwrinkle (30 seconds to 2 minutes). Cotton button-downs and linens take a bit longer (about two to five minutes).
If you want to use the Jiffy Steamer on hanging drapes, you'd have to purchase a separate attachment. Unfortunately, the steamer only comes with one hose and steam head and this standard option doesn't give you the high reach you need to steam drapes.
The Jiffy Steamer versus professional laundering
I had an ex-boyfriend who did an internship in a high-powered law office, and he actually was called into the boss' office one day for a stern and embarrassing lecture on the wrinkled state of his button-down shirts. This wasn't because he was a feckless slob. He honestly did try to carefully iron his own shirts, but apparently these attempts did not pass muster in the world of corporate law. From then on, he took his shirts to the cleaners and they always came back crisp and perfect.
I bring up this story because Jiffy advertises that with their steamer you can save lots of money on professional laundering and still get that crisp look of perfection. But in my experience, this claim is a bit of an exaggeration. Yes, the steam does a fantastic job of getting the wrinkles out of clothing, and its far faster and more effective than my own attempts at ironing, but the result isn't as perfect as what the cleaners are capable of. This is especially true with the collars and cuffs on button-down shirts, which usually need more than a steaming to get that stiff, pressed look.
Fortunately, neither my fiance nor I have jobs that require us to look like starched mannequins (thank god!) and so for us, the jiffy steamer works well enough. Our clothes don't look perfect, but they do look very neat.
Storage considerations
The J2000 takes up about as much space as an upright vacuum cleaner and the base rests on wheels so you can roll it around. In order to get a lot of use out of it, it ideally should be out and ready to use. We keep ours plugged and ready to go in a spare bathroom near our bedroom so that in the morning all we have to do is flip it on if we want to steam clothes. If you're very tight on space, this could be a issue.
All in all, we've been very happy with this purchase, and we haven't touched an iron since we bought it.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
qualia
|
|
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 21 members
About Me:
Shutterbug, bibliophile, caffeine addict, crazy cat woman.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.