An Excellent Iron – The set of skills young people of today should learn, preferably before after leaving home, differ tremendously from those of last century. For example, today it’s important to know how to correctly microwave a pre-cooked dinner or, failing that, the best app for you to order the food in. Back when I left home, around when Ronald Reagan was elected President, I knew how to cook a chop with two veg or, failing that, the correct takeaways to use in order to get a balanced diet over the course of a week. However, some required skills haven’t changed too much in the last half century. These include separating dark clothes from light ones before you wash them; why you should read the washing instructions on expense clothes lest your wife’s silk blouse shrinks to the size of fitting a Barbie doll; and, of course how to iron said clothes once washed.

I learnt to iron from a friend who, after seeing me struggle, decided to show me the correct technique. It happened that his father was an old school dry cleaner who’d taught him and, in turn, he taught me. I recall being surprised to find the shape of the ironing board actually had a practical use -- who’d have thought? Fast forward thirty two years to 2018 and I still enjoy ironing. It’s my one time on the weekend where I can set up an ironing board, turn on the TV and watch some sports whilst trying to achieve a Zen-like state. Of course, in order to achieve clothes pressing enlightenment it helps to have a good iron.

Enter Tefal TurboPro **.

The first time I saw a Tefal iron was in Britain in the early 1990s and, to me, it was like a revolution in design. Until then, I’d used a hand me down from my parents. It’s difficult to describe the irons from this era, although I have seen their offspring in the cheaper irons today. The irons I used back then had a steel soleplate and water chamber, were typically shaped like a brick with a handle, had had fiddly dials and no visual cues to tell when you needed to fill them up. These irons would sometimes leave either a rust patch on shirts from the steam holes or a nice burn mark in the outline of the steel plate with white steam holes. But the Tefal irons I saw in Britain were sleek with a non-stick hot plate and I bought one. It worked so prodigiously well that i remained faithful to Tefals until we returned to Australia -- a decade and a bit later.

But times advance. Today other manufacturers have caught up and the design language of the 1990s Tefals -- its swooping and aerodynamic lines -- has been copied as has its non-stick surfaces. Today, in order for any manufacturer to stand out, an iron needs to be easier to use, simpler to maintain and have a better steam output for electrical input when measured against its competition. I’m glad to say that, in these respects, the Tefal TurboPro still remains ahead of the pack.

Before, in 2011, I complained that the Tefals seemed to be filled from the bottom with the sole top filling model unstable at the base with the cord lifting the iron. However, with the TurboPro, it appears that Tefal has listened to the customer and rectified these defencies. The TurboPro is top filled with a very stable base that keeps it well balanced standing on the ironing board.

I have been using the Tefal TurboPro for several weeks and it ticks the points I consider important in an iron, the first and best being its steam output. This is excellent and I was able to smooth even the most awkward of my linen. The ease by which the iron did this didn’t come too much of a surprise, given how both the box as well as Tefals own website both emphasize the steam output. Indeed, both have a picture of a bull forming from the steam with the words “Unleash the power of the bull”…. Mmm. I’d never linked bovines with steam before, but the imagery works in a strange, odd manner.

The TurboPro generates an impressive 220g/min of steam from its boost, which is more than I could find from some of its closest competitors (from the irons where the soleplate and steam chamber are integrated as opposed to a separate steam unit on the ground). The upside of this amount of generated steam is that one gets a good, smooth press. The downside is, and one that can’t be avoided, the water chamber needs filling up on a regular basis.

This brings me to one quirk. The water chamber’s dark blue housing is visually arresting, but this makes a quick visual assessment of water level difficult. I found myself having to lift the iron up to the sunlight in order to see when to fill it. I wondered if one solution might be a clear plastic strip so that, when the iron’s resting, a quick glance might show the water level. Perhaps on the next iteration.

Also the steam on turbo boost, while being excellent, left small, wet patches from the water vapour condensing the in the holes. This is, in all likelihood, one downside of having an impressive steam boost. Strangely, even this worked well since, unlike the irons of old, there was no rust or debris in the water and so the droplets provided an additional dampness to run the iron over in order to smooth out the fussy wrinkles. One final annoyance I found was the length of the cord which, at 1.8 metres, is too short for me by about 20cm. I found I needed to connect it to a 4-way adapter in order to get free movement of my arms from the height on which I iron.

However, these were more than compensated by the excellent results. The enamel soleplate, stated as “Durilium Airglide Autoclean”, provided an exceptionally smooth ironing movement. I haven’t had the iron long enough to test the “autoclean” claim of the surfacing, but after multiple ironing sessions there were no sticky bits left on the soleplate.

Speaking of which I particularly liked the design of the TurboPro’s soleplate. Across it there are differing sized hole, depending on their function, and a good number to ensure even steam distribution. The outer holes were large for a solid press whereas those in the middle, as well as the pointy end, were smaller for extra finesse. I don’t claim to understand the engineering behind it, but this attention to detail resulted a quicker iron for me than my older unit -- despite the additional refilling because of the extra steam. It also uses different temperatures and steam outputs whether it is used horizontally or vertically which is a feature I’ve never seen before although, I’m an old school horizontal ironing fellow.

Another useful feature is the iron has a single, swivelling control for temperature. One of my bugbears are irons with dials, which I find difficult to see if it’s in the correct position (and don’t get me started on the multi-dial irons, which I find near impossible to use), but the Tefal’s temperature markings were well spaced, where the lower temperature markings are clearly divided and the higher marks closer together. This made selecting the correct temperature straightforward. As with most modern irons, the TurboPro has simple anti-calc cleaning (effectively a dongle in the base of the iron to collect water impurities that you clean every so often), a cord wraps neatly around the base and easy emptying afterwards by simply tipping it over the sink.

The iron is 2400w with a maximum temperature of over 180 degrees Celsius. This level of heat raised alarms for me but there are two auto off safety functions: one at 30 seconds if the iron is left horizontal; and the other at 8 minutes if left standing vertically. I’m uncertain if this would prevent burning (and I didn’t want to test it out on my best cotton shirts), but it’s there and could prevent burn marks of old. One last work is the iron’s build quality is evident, making it somewhat weighty, and it should last for a good number of years.

The Tefal TurboPro is not perfect -- I would have preferred a longer cord -- but it is a superb. All-in-all, it continues Tefal’s tradition of manufacturing excellent, well-engineered irons and is one I can easily recommend.

**This iron was received and tested as part of the Ambassador Programme for ProductReview.com.au