Rowenta Iron for Clothes, High Pressure Steamer Iron with Boiler System, 400 Steam Holes, Vertical Steaming, 37oz Tank, Stainless Steel Soleplate, Auto-Off 1800 watts, Black Green, DG7626

This review is for the Rowenta DG7626 Compact Steam Pro I am a home sewer. I make both garments and the occasional craft project. 15 years ago I bought a Delonghi Steam Generator Iron (a.k.a. Steam System a.k.a. Mini-boiler) and found it to be vastly superior to using an inexpensive iron with a water tank in the handle (which usually drips water on the fabric and doesn't make enough steam.) Also, spritzing the fabric with water while ironing is fine for cottons and may work for quilters but just does not cut it if you are trying to shape seams for a garment or working with fusible interfacing. I stupidly broke my Delonghi and I just can't go back to the old type of iron. Sadly Delonghi doesn't seem to make these anymore. The only brands I found with products in the "low" price range ( $250 to $300) are Rowenta and the Reliable "Maven" model. Over the years on sewing forums I have heard plenty of complaints about Rowenta quality. The Reliable Maven reviews also had a number of complaints and there were a lot fewer reviews. While Reliable's commercial steam systems have a very good reputation, spending over $600 for a professional steam iron doesn't make any sense for a home sewer of only average skill and small output. So after reading a bunch of reviews and shopping all over the internet I decided to try the Rowenta DG7626. The Rowenta iron works differently from the Delonghi. The Delonghi had a big metal water tank with a heavy metal cap that screwed on really tight. It then heated the entire tank of water and once the tank had reached the proper temperature, you had lots of steam and it would only cycle the heat on if the water cooled enough. The Rowenta uses a plastic tank in which the water remains cool, and periodically a pump kicks on to inject some more water into the (much smaller) boiler to generate the steam. The Delonghi (which did not have a pump) produced more steam for a longer period of time, but it took FOREVER to heat up to temperature and produce that first blast of steam. The Rowenta has steam in about 3 minutes. The Rowenta design seems more energy efficient for shorter ironing sessions. The Rowenta is ready much faster but the quantity of steam can drop somewhat as it draws more water to make more steam if you exhaust the smaller boiler. The Rowenta does make a very noticeable humming sound for a few seconds every time the pump kicks on. I think the Rowenta system is fine for my individual needs as I am usually alternating between sewing and pressing steps in my projects, but if you need a LOT of steam in a continuous stream without any variation, this may not be the product for you. The Rowenta did generate enough steam to iron a bed sheet while working continuously. (I did that just as a test, I normally could not care less if my sheets are wrinkled.) The only other downside I can think of for the Rowenta is that this pump is another component that might fail over time. The Rowenta goes into Standby mode (for steam) after 8 minutes of disuse which is not a very long time, and shuts off completely after about 30 minutes. The Delonghi had no auto shut-off -- it would stay on for days if I forgot to shut it off. Some people really don't like auto shut-off but I'm at the age now where I appreciate the safety precaution and I will just work with the 8-minute limit. You need to press a button to get it to come back out of standby and it takes a couple minutes to generate steam again. As with both "steam system" irons, when you first heat up, you want to blast some steam away from your fabric so any condensation sitting in the lines from the previous use can be pushed out. Otherwise you get water dripping on your fabric which may or may not be a problem depending on what fabric you are pressing. The instructions say to use normal tap water for the Rowenta which is good because I am not buying special water for my iron. I have no need for "vertical steaming" so I can't tell you if the Rowenta is sufficient for steaming garments on the hanger. There are other appliances designed specifically for garment steaming that don't have an iron, just a wand that shoots steam -- that might be a better buy. Everything looked good coming out of the box and it is working correctly according to the manual. If the Rowenta starts to have problems I will update this review.

I honestly didn’t expect such a big difference. I’ve used expensive traditional steam irons before, but this steam station is on another level. It made my thick BJJ gi perfectly smooth in seconds with almost no effort. The iron itself is surprisingly light because the water tank is separate, making it much more comfortable to use. I now understand why these professional steam stations cost so much. I purchased an Amazon Warehouse “Used - Acceptable” unit, and aside from a few cosmetic scratches, it works perfectly. I’m extremely happy with this purchase.

I opted for the used option to save money but ended regretting It looked dirty and the steam didn’t work My sister has the same iron and hers is great and therefore I had ordered it in the first place

Please use caution before getting this iron. I could never get it to work correctly. It may be ok for straight ironing, however for sewing it is so terrible, it shuts off and takes forever to heat up. NOT the sellers fault it is the manufacturer and I will never buy another Rowenta iron.

Takes extremely long to warm a get to hear where it’s works .