Sunbeam Classic 3965 Iron with Auto Shut-off

Pros: Has all the bells and whistles at a bargain price.
Cons: The steamer function is hit and miss.

I had been using the same iron since college, what probably was the basic of the basic models. It did not have the ability to spray water on clothes while ironing, making for a real issue if I had to iron something in a hurry. The options were to buy a ...

Pros: Prodigious steam, non-stick soleplate, and drip free.
Cons: Sometimes it would not steam unless shaken vigorously.

I bought this iron at Target for about $20 after a Black and Decker failed. One problem I had with the B&D was pouring water into it. Water went into two oval slots in the nose of the iron. If the water goes in too quickly and both slots get covered, the ...

Pros: Burst-of-steam feature, very comfortable to use
Cons: Leaked like a sieve after three months of use

This worked great for the first three months I had it. I loved that I could actually see the water level in the chamber (my previous iron didn't have this feature), I loved the burst of steam feature, which was especially handy for my kids' corduroy pants. In fact, I was just happy to have a steam feature that worked at all. I was almost enjoying ironing for a while there.

Skip to three months and two weeks. The iron now leaks more than it steams, my ironing board is soaking wet by the time I've done one shirt and the reservoir needs to be refilled after I've ironed two. It's not leaking from the visible reservoir areas or soleplate, either -- it's pouring out of the housing whenever the iron is horizontal. I've contacted Amazon who refuses to deal with it since it's been longer than 30 days, and I can't get a single person at Sunbeam to return my calls or my emails. Thankfully it "only" took $27 to realize I'll be steering clear of all Sunbeam products in the future.