Philips PerfectCare Aqua GC8642/20

Very disappointed – Won’t produce steam, tried all troubleshooting & online suggestions to no avail. First time purchasing a Phillips Iron. Unfortunately never again. An expensive piece of rubbish. Very disappointed, will stick to trusted brands I’ve used in the future. Show details

Rubbish – I am now onto my 4th philips steam iron - they have all started malfunctioning just inside the 2 year warranty and were replaced by Bing Lee. However, the 4th time Philips tell me that Bing lee will not replace and I have had to take it to a repair centre and was told it would be 3weeks before I get it back. I will not buy this brand again as… Read more

its very expensive to only last 2 years. Philips get your act together and give us a decent product. A $30 iron lasts years. I will be buying a Tefal from Costco now who replace / refund for ever as long as membership remains in place

Too stressful buying a Philips

Very disappointed – A lot of steam but doesn't iron well, my old philips gave a good finish not this one. A lot of money wasted. And you can get burnt very easily. On my receipt it says model GC8642. It put me off buying another Philips iron. This supposedly wonderful one is definitely a waste of money even with the $ 100.00 discount. Still cannot use it, still a waste.  Show details

love this iron – this iron is awesome. I have never spent this much on an iron but it was well worth it. Irons any fabric with just a 2 minute warm up and hasn't burnt anything yet. The only small negative is that it turns itself off after a short time but it's not major and I love it!  Show details ·  3

Worked for 15 months only - unsatisfactory support from phillips – Purchased iron on 23/4/2016, stopped working on 5/7/17. ( same issue as other reviews and no steam from iron) took iron back to place of purchase as warranty is for 2 years. Harvey Norman says I have to send it back to Phillips to repair/ replace as replacement only available in first 12 months of warranty. I told Harvey Norman I was not happy… Read more

with this as this would leave me with no iron. I contacted Phillips 1300363391 and advised the person I need a replacement as I can not be without an iron. My choices were to drive to service centers at either Seven hills or somewhere on kingGeorge's road both service centres not near me and excessive in travel. My call got cut out and I was not even contacted back by the Phillips employee who had earlier taken my email, name and preferred contact number. Horrible service by Phillips and unacceptable that an iron that has a retail price of $459 can stop working after 15 months. Even more concerning is that I was expected to travel excessively and offered no replacement on a expensive product that lasted just over 12 months. I left the iron at Harvey Norman to send back to Phillips and will now be out of pocket again as I will need to purchase a new iron in meantime a mere 15 months after purchasing the Phillips iron. I would not recommend this product as per other reviews they seem to stop working way before you would expect an iron of this price to do.

( I must add that up until it stopped working it was a great iron and I was happy with the results and almost enjoyed ironing however I should not be out of pocket or inconvenienced for what appears to be a known fault with these irons which Phillips is clearly aware of based on all previous reviews).

Oh dear not another one – Yes here is another iron with the same problem, it was working last night then just "stopped" today. I made the silly mistake of resting the iron back on the craddle and the iron must have heated to a high heat and melted the plastic craddle to the iron plate. It has been a terrific iron my most favourite feature has been the ability to go from… Read more ·  1

delicates to heavy fabrics without having to adjust a temperature dial, the large water tank is slso a great feature not having to continually topping up the tank. I was unable to find the receipts as proof of purchase so I have put May 2014 in as purchase date it may have before that time or even a little after. I will be considering another of these irons because of the easy of use.

Dud - no steam - didn't work - burnt top (made it shiny) – I bought this iron as a lady at my work had raved about how fantastic it was. Another reason I bought the iron, was that you don't have to change the heat setting & can go from jeans to silk & it will allegedly "never burn, scorch or shine" any material. I bought the iron & turned it on 1. the 1st item I tried ironing - a sports tank, it… Read more

left a shiny area on :-(

2. the iron produced no steam at all - I tried turning it off & on, different amounts of water in the tank, leaving it go for longer - no steam.

From reading other product reviews other people have had the problem of no steam from the outset as well.

Its ok but I have concerns – So far its been a good iron (Its not even a week old) bigger water tank, greater steam pressure, greater amount of steam but i do have some concerns about the unit in the very short time i have had it. 1) The purple and white cord between the water unit and the iron, becomes so hot it is untouchable and make the normally stiff cord very soft. … Read more

2) The amount of steam that is generated out of the iron while making the iron good at getting creases out of cloths but the way the hole are in the sole plate shots more steam towards the users hand than into the cloths,

I believe that this is because of the angle/s of the holes in the sole plate.

3) After about 30 minutes of ironing the unit starts to leak water from the sole plate, a few minutes later its making steam as per normal.

4) The location of the power/steam cord on the iron just seems to be in the wrong place or just at the wrong angle.

This is my second Philips Steam Generator Ironing System, replacing my 1st unit which was great for almost 2 years before it failed and was replaced with this unit by the sales team at Harvey Norman.

Great at first, then terrible! – Iron started to falter after a year. Had it repaired and was told to decalc more frequently, despite already using the decalc function every week. Iron then started to splutter and spurt hot water everywhere, staining clothes. Also shorted out repetitively. Stopped working completely after 2 year warranty. We were so fed up with returning it, only… Read more

to be told we weren't decalcifyig it enough! We made a tough decision to have it repaired again, at our expense, because it had cost so much originally. The repair shop informed us that we should have never use water from the tap, as we live near the beach. He said the iron was completely destroyed, and no amount of decalcing would have prevented the damage. Furthermore, he said it was negligent of Phillips to claim everything was okay, when we should have been instructed to use demineralised water.

This whole debacle with Phillips has turned ironing into an even more horrid experience than previously! We only iron once a week, and are very disappointed that this iron did not last, nor was Phillips customer service satisfactory. For over $400, be sure to check the store warranty and finer details, lest you be stuck with a piece of junk and many wrinkled garments.

Disappointed Philips! – This is a replacement for my other Philips iron GC7635 (discontinued model) that failed within warrenty and now this new iron won't even work straight out of the box! It just keeps making pumping and clicking sounds but won't produce any steam! See below a copy from my review of the GC7635 to see what a disappointing experience this has been with… Read more

Philips!

((Great iron when it was working and have always had Philips irons my whole life but the other day it just stopped, wouldn't power on anymore. Rang Philips and recieved a reference number to take the iron back to Myer where I bought it from for a replacement as the iron was within warrenty but would not be repaired, simply replaced. Now I am having to pay an additional $172.00 (would have been more $$$ if the wonderful staff at Myer's didn't bring the new iron down to their cost price) for the only comparable specification Philips iron currently being sold as this model is no longer made! Not good enough, if your not going to fix it, then why when it is still under warrenty should I have to pay more money to get a working iron? To top this experience all off the new Philips iron is faulty too!))

Definitely Worth the Money!! – I was so unsure what type of Iron to purchase so naturally I started to research what’s out there and I came across the Philips perfect care Aqua Pressurised, I’m amazed at how it heats up within two minutes and you’re ready to go (with the old iron I had to wait for ten minutes to heat up), love the size of the tank and the fact you can top up… Read more ·  2

the water at any time! (Couldn’t do that with old Iron) it's straightforward and simple to use and excellent for when you need to iron a shirt ASAP!! Especially in the morning rush, it doesn’t discolor the clothes and it doesn’t burn the board cover I’ve gone through heaps of board covers due to my laziness, and it’s actually quieter not so loud with the old iron I felt I was part of the TV show of “prisoner” LOL!

To me purchasing the Philips Perfect care aqua steam Iron is definitely worth the money. Also, I’m truly happy ☺ Great product!

Should have manual heat as well? – When the cashback runs you can pick up this iron for a very reasonable outlay. Overall it is a very good piece of kit. The hand piece is very lightweight and the glide is smooth, as smooth as Tefal i am not so sure but then sometimes it feels as good. When the iron is at max steam the steam output is very good, but this is variable. After a short… Read more ·  1

rest of the iron, say when laying out a new garment, depressing the steam button reveals the maximum steam power of the iron and it's impressive. However after holding the steaming button for 2-3 secs the output soon drops off, to be about 20-30% less. This may be OK as only short bursts are meant to be needed, with the steam on - steam off (to dry the fabric) technique. During a session there will also be common periodic 'lows' of steam production, you will have to wait while the unit sorts it self out. Although advertised as being ready in 2 minutes, this is not true. The steam is less than a normal irons burst after this time, in fact its paltry and anything but ready . I find if you activate the steam, then wait 10 sec, then repeat a time or two then you are good to go.

The tank is huge, the iron cord ample but the power cord is too short. I am not so sold on the Optimal Temp system. For most items it works very well, but on some cottons it cannot remove the creases, even with loads of steam. You have to wet the fabric down with a water spray and use the iron with no steam to get the creases out. And some cottons just need a really high temp, I think there should be manual controls and an auto setting, this would really add value and flexibility for the user. Use as a garment steamer is also effective, just place the sole plate against the fabric, pull on the end of the item to give some tautness and steam away. The De-Calc system is easy to use and hopefully effective. Overall I am very happy.

Water droplets on clothes during first use – On the first use, water droplets were coming out of the iron. There was no staining but still shouldn't happen. It was sufficiently heated, etc. Also, work shirts need as much ironing as with a usual iron, in my opinion. It does iron other clothes well - when the water doesn't drip out.

Good iron but very noisy – I have never had a steam iron before. I agree that on occasion after ironing a garment i hold it up & find that it is still creased. However my main concern is that the base (which sits on the floor) makes very loud buzzing noises. It is so noisy that we cannot hear the TV. Is this normal?

No steam generate – I just bought the iron last week ang try to use it last night. After finished 1 pant, the steam generator stop working and the power button start blinking. Now, it does not work anymore. I have contacted the vendor and they requested to remove the water, rest for 2 hours, but still not working.

Won't remove creases – I bought this iron 3 days ago from Harvey Norman Liverpool. The steam iron does not remove the creases over the business shirts and as it irons over clothes, the clothes still appear crinkled. Am i using the team iron incorrectly? Or is this how the end product comes out?

Leaking water within 2 weeks of purchase – Water started leaking from the storage area of this new iron within the first two weeks. I exchanged for a direct replacement iron and the performance on 100% cotton is not as good as my regular iron, unfortunately. Not satisfied with that due to the extra outlay in purchase price.

Ten stars!! – This iron is the best iron I have ever owned. Have previously owned a commercial steam station and Europro which I thought were pretty good at the time, but compared to the Philips they were pretty hopeless. This iron cuts ironing time and irons hard to iron fabrics like heavy cotton and linen, and delicate fabrics from synthetics to silk, and is… Read more ·  3

brilliant on wool fabrics - fabulous results even without a temperature control. It's the best appliance I own. I've owned my Philips for 12 months now and live in a hard water area and the iron is as good as new. The descaler is a fabulous feature. The iron is light and doesn't cause aching shoulders after hours of use. I'm also a home sewer and milliner and this iron tackles any fabric and hat felt with brilliant results.

Cant go back to ordinary iron – Our first Aqua Pressured Steam generator (GC 8635) stopped working just before the warranty expiry and the retailer (target) was happy to refund the price I paid. Then we bought a normal steam iron .. After 2 weeks, we have decided to buy this again ...That shows how good it is !!! However decalcing / descaling needs improvement ...  Show reply