Laurastar Magic I-S5

...Selfridges someone was demonstrating the LauraStar Magi i-S5 and seeing it perform, I knew it was the machine for me.

The LauraStar i-S5 is a very powerful steam generator iron built in to its own ironing board. Probably the easiest way to explain it is to describe setting it up and ironing with it.

First of all, you open up the machine like a standard ironing board. Because it's got the iron and steam generator built ...
...the water. This uses proprietary Laurastar filter granules which have to be changed about once every six months depending on how much ironing you do. (The crysals change from blue to brown when they need changing) It's a bit fiddly to set up the filter, because if you're not careful the crystals get everywhere, but it's not something you have to do very often. A water test strip is included with the machine to test if you need to use the water filter. ... more

I'm not a huge fan of ironing, especially as my old Tefal iron would sometimes struggle to iron some of my cotton shirts well, even on maximum steam. So when I accidentally dropped it while ironing, I knew it was time to get a much better replacement. I was all set to get a steam generator iron for about £200, but in Selfridges someone was demonstrating the LauraStar Magi i-S5 and seeing it perform, I knew it was the machine for me.

The LauraStar i-S5 is a very powerful steam generator iron built in to its own ironing board. Probably the easiest way to explain it is to describe setting it up and ironing with it.

First of all, you open up the machine like a standard ironing board. Because it's got the iron and steam generator built into it, it's pretty heavy and takes a bit of getting used to, but it does have wheels on the base to make moving it simpler. Although I get it out each time I need it, this machine is probably best left set up all the time if you've the room. The iron is stored in a box at the end of the board, where you'd expect it. When you open the box, the lid forms the rest for the iron. There is a wire support that clips in and you put the iron's cable/steam hose into it so it's held above the board and out of your way when you're ironing.

Then you pull out the cable and plug in. You fill the water tank which has its own water filter to take the limescale out of the water. This uses proprietary Laurastar filter granules which have to be changed about once every six months depending on how much ironing you do. (The crysals change from blue to brown when they need changing) It's a bit fiddly to set up the filter, because if you're not careful the crystals get everywhere, but it's not something you have to do very often. A water test strip is included with the machine to test if you need to use the water filter. Then you switch on and a light on the iron tells you when it's the right temperature (it's got the usual control to set the temperature) and a light on the main body of the machine tells you when the steam is ready. It's all ready to go within about 3 minutes of switching on.

So, you arrange the item you want to iron on the board and pick up the iron to get started. As soon as you pick up the iron, a fan in the ironing board starts, blowing air up through the board. Pressing a button on the iron reverses the fan, and instead the garment is sucked tight to the table. The power of the fan has two settings selected by a button on the main body of the machine. The idea is that when the fan is in suction mode, items are held fast to the ironing board so they don't slip off, and it's easy to set a sharp crease. In blower mode, the cushion of air under the garment helps to stop you accidentally ironing creases in, and is great when ironing the back of a shirt.

Another great feature is the steam control. There are two buttons on the iron's handle (two so that it's easy for left or right-handed use) that you hold down and steam is produced. But better yet, there is an automatic mode too. When in automatic mode, a sensor in the iron detects which direction you're moving the iron and when you go forward, steam is produced, and when you pull the iron backwards, no steam is produced. This automatic steam is one of the best features in my opinion. You get the right amount of steam, without having to hold down a button. Even in automatic mode, pressing one of the steam buttons will still produce steam. You can also use the manual steam button to do vertical steaming.

So how does it perform? To be honest, it's in another league from standard steam irons. Cotton shirts that would take me ten minutes and a whole tank of water with my old Tefal are easily done in about three minutes. A water spray bottle is included, but the steam is so good, I rarely have to use it. What I will say however is it takes a little practice to get used to the machine, especially using the suction and blower feature but I soon got the hang of it. It's a shame no instructional DVD is included. While I'm at in, the instructions aren't as good as they might be.

You also get a silicone mat to put the hot iron on while you arrange garments. There is a rest at the end of the board as you'd expect, but the board is quite long (125cm), so it's good to have the extra mat you can put anywhere on the board so you don't always have to reach over to the end of the board to put the iron down.

The final accessory included is what LauraStar call the Softpressing plate. This is an extra smooth plate which clips over the base of the iron for delicate and dark items such as silk blouses and suit trousers. Because I only iron cotton shirts, I don't really use this much but when I have used it, I've managed to iron dark items without any shine forming. The only drawback of using this plate is you have to turn off automatic steam and instead press the button manually as you iron.

If the machine runs out of water while you're ironing, it beeps at you. Once you add more water, you can carry on again immediately - you don't have to wait for it to heat up again. The tank holds about 300ml of water at a time. What I do is just fill a large jug and have it near me when I do a big ironing session and then top up as needed.

When you finish ironing, you switch off and unplug. Pulling on the cord retracts it back into the machine, in a similar fashion to most cylinder vacuum cleaners. The iron goes back into the storage box at the end of the board without having to wait for it to cool down. This is a great safety feature in my opinion. There's also no need to drain the tank, but if you want to it just pulls off easily. Then the machine folds like an ordinary ironing board and you can wheel it away. When folded, it doesn't stand up on it's own so it needs to be propped against something for storage.

The only maintenance this machine needs is once a month or so you have to rinse out the steam boiler with plain water. It's very easy and there's even a trough provided to catch the water as it runs out.

I love this machine but I accept it is way too expensive for most people and also quite cumbersome if you don't have space to leave it set up all the time. However, for people with lots of ironing to do, it might be just the ticket. My advice is to find somewhere that demonstrates this machine in-store, and take the items that you find hardest to iron, and see if this machine makes it easy enough to justify the cost.
 

...less