Philips GC 7220

As a member of bzzagent.co.uk I get the opportunity to try out new products and then 'bzz' people about the products I have tried and give them honest information about the product I have tried. This review is therefore part of my 'buzz' and will provide accurate product description and purchasing information as well as my own personal experiences with the product.

Do you know that on average we can spend nearly 3 hours a week ironing!!!

Well the Philips GC7220 Pressurised Steam Generator iron claims to reduce this time by half. A bold claim indeed.

How does it do this? Well, as a pressurised steam generator, it claims to do far more than your average iron. Its not just about the steam though, apparently the steam pressure penetrates deeply into those creases and can remove even the most stubborn ones. Bold claims indeed. Apparently it also has 3.5 bars of powerful pressure (I have no idea what that means, but it might excite someone!!)FEATURES

• Releases up to 80g of steam per second
• 3.5g bar pressure
• Extra large water filling funnel and large reservoir tank
• Ready to use in 2 mins
• Light iron as water is stored in separate tank not in the iron
• Extra Long hose and power cord
• Unique steam tip
• Vertical Steam
• Easy to clean and descale

PRICERetail Price £100

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-2367.asp​x

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

I have to say I was very excited about this product. I had purchased the product for the rock bottom price of £20 as part of the above mentioned bzzagent campaign. I awaited my new iron with probably more excitement than a girl should feel about ironing!!!

The box certainly looked inviting if a little on the heavy side. I opened it carefully and my first impression was, "Cool, this looks expensive". I got my old faithful ironing board out and set out to cut through my ironing time by half.

Firstly, I read through the instructions which were pretty much self explanatory. I was disappointed to note that you are advised not to use any perfumed water products with the iron. This greatly disappointed me as I am a fan of the old vaporese. Oh well never mind if it reduces my ironing time!!!

So, I started my two weeks of saved ironing, with an estimated old ironing time of about two hours. Switched the iron on and OH MY GOD this thing is noisy, so noisy that it even made it difficult to watch TV while ironing unless I cranked the volume way up high (the neighbours are going to love me).
The next thing I noticed was that there is A LOT of steam, I mean, who needs a facial when you get one for free when ironing with this super high tech space age thingy.

I preserved and I have to say this iron just cuts through those creases like I have never experienced. The iron is very light, if perhaps a little too light, it just felt a bit weird!?! The cords are extra long as the features detail but the one coming from the steam water tank base to the actual iron is a little cumbersome. As for the base, that had to have a table all of its own as my old faithful ironing board was too small to house it.

As I progressed I found that my clothes became damper and damper because of the steam residue collecting on the ironing board. Apparently this can be combated by purchasing an ironing board that is designed with holes in the base to let the steam through and has a space big enough for the iron base too.

I was impressed, and while ironing I really felt I had found a new life long friend. It really did cut my ironing time in half. This all changed when I had to pack the iron away, I live in a small house and storage space is at a premium and this thing is just too big. To cool down it had to take up a whole bench of its own in the kitchen. When it came to storage, the cord just flaps around getting in the way and looking messy. The weight of this product was also a big problem as I found it really difficult to move about safely and it limited where I could store it safely too.

In the end I stored it in my loft.

I know it sounds barmy, but its true! I used it once, boxed it up and stuck it in the loft until I found someone else who wanted to try it out as part of the bzzagent campaign.

It worked, it was good but it was…

Noisy…
Cumbersome…
Heavy…
Difficult to store…
Soaked my clothes…
Doesn't allow perfumed water.

I really, genuinely think that this product is not worth anywhere near the £100 price tag and the price I paid for it is probably what its worth. I think it's a bit of a gimmick and the only people who should purchase this are people who do ironing for a living or have 22 children.