Philips Handheld Steamer 7000 Series STH7060/80

Why didn't I think of getting one before?! – Ironing is not one of my strong skills, I must admit. It's a chore, it takes me ages and frustratingly my shirts never come out right anyway. Enter this fantastic handheld steamer from Philips. It's their top-of-the-line model. It effectively steams out the creases of all my shirts, quickly and with little fuss - heck, I can even do it with the shirts still on their hangers. I only bought the thing yesterday and I've steamed through my backlog of over 30 shirts so far and freshened up a sports coat!

The device is very easy to use: fill up the water reservoir, attach it, turn the steamer on, and 30 seconds later you're in business. Press and hold the trigger to release the steam continuously; it's that simple. The built-in safety feature means no burns, guaranteed. There are two detachable water reservoirs of different sizes; I've only been using the larger one, which easily has enough capacity for me to fully steam two or three shirts. The steamer has two power settings, Eco and Max: Eco is fine for most garments, but I've found Max is great for heavily creased cotton and linen. The steamer comes rolled up in an insulated bag (StyleMat) which also cleverly acts like an ironing board cover to protect the surface behind your garment while you're steaming. There's even a mitt to protect your hand, should you need it.

The steamer is ergonomically designed: comfortable to hold and press the trigger. The head is as broad as an iron and acts like one so you can cover a good portion of the garment in a single pass. Although nicely balanced, the device does have some heft to it (but not too bulky for packing in a suitcase), so if you use it vertically, you might find it gets a little tiring after a while.

Is there room for improvement? Well, yes, there's always room. It would be nice if the power button had an LED that lit up to indicate when the device is on - the only way to tell by looking is if you look at the Eco/Max setting LED on the other side of the handle. The Eco/Max setting button is perfectly positioned where your thumb would normally be when you are holding the device, but this also means you need to be careful not to press it accidentally and change modes while you are steaming. (At least the power button is far enough down the handle that there is no danger of you turning it off while you are using it.) And finally, a bigger water reservoir option would have been nice, although I appreciate that this unit comes with two tanks. But these are all small nitpicks on an otherwise excellent handheld steamer.

Does this steamer replace my iron? Yes, for most garments, unless I am specifically wanting crisp straight creases, in which case I guess nothing beats the iron. As an extra bonus, I can use this device to quickly freshen up my dry clean-only garments and even curtains and sheets.

Convenient – This has been a life-changer. I have a couple of skirts that wrinkle very easily after sitting in the closet for a while. It used to be very annoying to have to check the night before to see if what I wanted to wear is wrinkled or not. Now I just use this steamer to quickly iron it in the morning. It heats up very quickly and works pretty well on most clothes. For thicker fabrics you might have to run it over a couple of times but for most dresses, shirts and skirts it works very well.