A spitting, hissing, dragon of an iron (Morphy Richards Turbosteam 40685)

Member Name: dee778

Product:	Morphy Richards Turbosteam 40685
Date:	04/10/09 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gets the creases out

Disadvantages: Not a pleasant ironing experience

I bought the 4085 turbosteam to replace a very expensive digital, all singing all dancing iron that had developed a dangerously frayed power cord. Perhaps I had been spoiled by years of ironing luxury, but I found this replacement iron a real disappointment. I bought it at Homebase for £29.50 - it was not the cheapest by any means, but I was tempted by the turbosteam name, which led me to believe that it was a powerful beast of an iron that could tackle my clothes with ease.

~~general overview~~

The 4085 is an attractive lilac colour. At 1.13kg, it does not weigh as much as other irons I have owned, and I prefer a weightier iron. It has a soft grip handle that is well designed and avoids slips and fumbles.

A circular dial just underneath the handle has 4 heat settings: linen, cotton, wool/polyester, and nylon/silk. I prefer to have the fabric types listed in this way, rather than a 1-4 dot heat system, as I have teenage boys who need to know how hot the iron should be for specific fabrics. I'm not sure if polyester is a very current word to have on the dial though - do they still make polyester clothing?

Two nice large buttons with thumb-shaped indentations give a shot of steam and a spray. These have nice, clear diagrams showing their function - again, useful for the teenage ironer!

The steam function is turned on and off with a sliding button, clearly indicated with a diagram.

The water filler has a large cover that clicks shut once the tank has been filled. This is very flimsy and has already broken off twice. It can be clicked back on again fairly easily, but is nevertheless annoying.

~~Basic facts and figures~~

The iron has a 2000w output - it heats up very fast, and is noticeably hotter and more effective than other irons that I have owned.

It has 35g Steam Output and a 90g steam shot which is a little more than many irons in this price bracket. I assume that this is what gives the Turbosteam its name, but the result is ferocious! At the hottest setting the iron spits out steam viciously, shooting steam and water droplets across the room. It is very noisy too. The jet is really too strong and fierce for general ironing, and I have to turn the heat down and shut down the steam function a little to do any ordinary ironing. I am not very happy with the safety aspects of this, and warn my children to watch out for the steam jets.

The information on the iron says that it is suitable for vertical ironing, and I can see that the strength of the steam jet would be very useful in this respect.

The water tank is large, at 400ml, but advantages of this are largely wasted, as a lot of water is lost through the over-enthusiastic steam emissions.

The power cord is 2m long. This is not unusually short for a domestic iron, but it is substantially shorter than my previous one, and I find that I have to use it with an extension power cable to get good reach across my ironing board.

~~Features~~

Tip Technology
The main selling point of this iron, both on the packaging and on the Morphy Richards website, is tip technology. This claims to produce "the most dedicated powerful shot of steam ever". I was intrigued by this claim and thought I would find a radically different tip design. When I unpacked it, I could not see any difference. The tip looked like any other iron tip, and the steam vents were actually far fewer in number than the vents in my old Breville iron. In use, I could not notice any more steam coming from the tip than anywhere else.

Easy View Water Tank
Yep - pretty much like any other iron, you can see through the sides of the water tank to look at the water levels.

No Drip System
Quote from the 40685 Morphy Richards website "This system ensures that if the iron is used before reaching the required temperature, water will not leak onto the fabric".

This claim is bordering on fraudulent! I have never had an iron that leaks so much! It leaves huge swathes of water on the clothes as I iron, and it will actually drip water all over the floor as I lift the iron up. Looking at consumer websites, I can see that this is a trait of Morphy Richards Irons in general, so I am not alone.

~~overall opinion~~

The overwhelming verdict on this iron, from all 4 members of my family, is "terrible". For two teenage boys to complain about the quality of the iron, it must be bad!

It leaks, it spits, it crackles. The power cable is too short and the much vaunted tip technology does nothing.

It does get the creases out of my clothes with great efficiency, but ironing with the 40685 is not a pleasant experience.

I also miss the luxury of having a warning beeper, which reminds me to switch the iron off when I leave it on for more than 5 minutes.

Reading other Morphy Richards reviews and the similar problems that others have had, I think that I would not buy a Morphy Richards iron again.

Summary: Not recommended

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