Philips PerfectCare Performer GC8712

Excellent – Fantastic on any fabric I have ironed. The steam is perfect. I use it as a garment steamer as well. Works like a charm. This is my third in about 12 yrs. First one was Phillips. Wow best iron station ever! Until I bumped it and it hit the floor and broke. Tried to get it fixed for about 2 months but no one repairs irons. Bought a Tefal on special.… Read more

It leaked everywhere. Took it back got it replaced. Second Tefal leaked everywhere. Looked up reviews and everyone said theirs leaked. Got money back and went back to Phillips. Best thing I ever did. Perfection from day one. Only thing I can say is I wish this new one was like that last two because not only did you have an amazing amount of steam, but also they got nice and hot. denim and cotton need that. This one not as hot. But I still love it. It still is a wonderful iron. I will never buy any other brand.

Love it, – This is a easy, non fussey steam station, ironing is so much quicker, I do lots of sewing, and have found it to be great on all fabrics, heats up quickly, prejudices lots of steam. If you havent had a steam station before and are still using an average iron, make your life easier. I love it  Show details ·  1

Good steam iron – this is exactly what it says it is going to do and that is being a steam iron I can't really fault it it is just a steam iron if you want a cheap iron this is the way to go,Fantastic iron, makes the job so much easier and quicker. Does a much better job than regular irons. Recommended!  Show details ·  1

Mediocre – I purchased this iron in January. This is my third Philips steam generator iron and I have had a good 5 years out of each of the other two. So naturally I though I would trust Philips again with ironing for a family of 7. However with 4 males who wear cotton shirts and chino pants this iron doesn't get hot enough for getting a good result. I… Read more

also do a bit of craft and sewing and I find iron does not get hot enough for fusing iron-on products to fabrics. Wishing I could go back to manual temperature adjustment but they do not seem to be available on many steam generator irons now. Also after 20 minutes or so of ironing i have drops of water on the floor under ironing board, not under the iron unit itself but under the ironing part of the board. I won't be too sad to part with this one.

It’s good, but its not great – Usually when I review something, I either love it or hate it. This is one of those rare moments I’m kind of ‘ehhhh’. After reading so many conflicting and mixed reviews I promised myself that after I’d tried it I would add my opinion and hopefully help with someone’s decision. This iron is a good iron. It’s just not much better than the average… Read more

iron you’ve had all your life. It may generate a little more steam but in comparison to every other steam station, its near the bottom of the list.

Addressing the delayed release of steam after calling for it with the trigger, this iron will not use continuous steam like some (better) other steam stations. Instead you will pull it forward via pump by holding down a trigger. It’s really not a good design because the iron is almost useless without the steam. I recall watching philips own video saying to ‘hold down for steam on the way up, then release the trigger using iron ‘heat’ (ha) only on the way back down’. I can personally guarantee you’ll still have creases in even a light cotton. They won’t be huge but they’re there.

On my daughters plaid school dress I will let it go, it’s good enough. On my husbands white or light business shirts, it’s not acceptable. Before I had this iron I was using a Philips iron but I cannot recall the specific model as it was lost somehow between moving houses. It was a regular iron and it did a mediocre job which I considered perfectly normal, I always assumed that ironing was an awful chore and spending 20 mins on one shirt was typical. Until I happened to pop over to a friends house while she was in the middle of ironing using the highest model of this iron. (I dont recall the exact name, it was black and gold and retails for $700 or something insane!) so impressed was I with her ability to glide through her hubs shirts in 1-2 minutes that I spent the next two weeks of my life reviewing irons in hopes I could find something similar which was a bit more affordable!

I realised this was about as close as I was going to get with the amount of money I was willing to spend. And I suppose the old saying is true. You get what you pay for, although in this case I do feel you could get something as good for a bit less than this model retails for. I got 50% off on sale so I feel better about it, but I’m still lusting over my friends iron jealously.

Now I will spend perhaps 10 minutes at the most on my husbands shirts so I have cut my ironing time in half, sometimes its even better than that so it’s not all bad news. Perhaps my friend just has amazing ironing skills? Yes. That must be it!

Yaaay – This was a god sent. My husband would always burn sensitive garments, I would have clothes with burn marks and wholes. Perfect care is easy to use I can and so safe. Turns off after 8 mins if u forget things like me. Only thing that is annoying is it takes a few mins to get ready to use. But that's easily over looked because of all the other features.  Show details

Works like a charm – Having used the no-steam iron in the past, Philips Perfect Care steam iron is amazing. It has an automatic sensor that enables you to lay the iron flat on the board (as opposed to keeping it upright) The quality of the unit is very good and well made. Haven't had a issue in the past 24 months of the usage  Show details

What a waste of money! – I’m so disappointed with this steam iron. I have just purchased it, and gotten home to try it out and compare it to my old iron - also a Phillips, but the old one cost only $40. Well, the much more expensive new steam iron doesn’t do any better than the old one. Not only that, like the other reviewers on here I find the delay between pushing the… Read more

steam button and the release of steam to be dangerous - I nearly burnt myself!!! I wish I had read these reviews before purchasing it, because they are 100% correct!

Very disappointed - and potentially hazardous – Like the other person who has reviewed this product I also purchased this model after having owned the GC8635 steam generator. I bought this for use at my holiday home expecting that it would perform in the same excellent manner that the GC8635 I still have performs. Unfortunately this model appears noisier and, as reported by the other… Read more

reviewer, there is a significant delay between pressing the steam button and steam being emitted. Again as the other reviewer has noted, this makes ironing difficult as there is a disconnect between when you press the button to steam a particular section of clothing and when the steam actually arrives. The effect is that you will have moved the iron to another section of the item before the steam arrives.

So rather than making ironing easier and fast it actually slows the whole process down because one is not sure what the iron is doing.

More significantly perhaps is that the emission of steam continues for a second or two after the button is released.

This, to my mind, is hazardous as there is the potential to burn oneself with the steam if after releasing the button one lifts the iron off the clothes to return it to is rest.

Given that the previous model (GC8635) worked so well I cannot understand why Philips would produce such a poorly functioning device - especially as it cost more!

I can only suggest that purchasers avoid this model and check reviews on the other Philips models to make sure these characteristics aren't also present on the other current models. It would be a very backward step for Philips if they were all similar to the GC8712.

So disappointed – I foolishly purchased this model to replace a brilliant earlier model (Perfectcare Aqua 8635/02). The very expensive Aqua broke after four years which wasn't a good life span for such an expensive iron but, still, I wanted another Philips steam iron because while the Aqua worked it was brilliant. I researched the models carefully and decided on… Read more

the Performer as the specs indicated more steam and pressure than the Aqua.

Bitterly disappointed as the steam isn't as powerful as the old model Aqua and the steam surge is delayed after pressing the steam button which isn't functional when ironing.

I'm now stuck with a ridiculously expensive rubbish iron. Very disappointed. After being such a Philips fan I will now avoid this brand in future.

Hope no one else gets caught spending so much money to be so disappointed.