Iron buying guide 2024, India

Iron box types in India

There are basically 3 types of Irons available in India.

• Dry Iron
• Steam Irons
• Travel Irons

What are Steam Irons

In our olden days all the Irons were dry. But to Iron heavy cotton clothes or Jeans like the stuff we need to sprinkle some water drops. This pain point can be completely eliminated if you use steam Irons. In steam Irons you will fill some water in the small water tank fitted in the Iron. Because of this arrangement, steam Irons release the steam at regular interval of time while Ironing, doing the ironing of clothes better. The elaborated differences of the Iron and Steam are listed below.

Iron type	Features
Dry Iron	Good for fabrics like silk, delicate stuff Not good for thick clothes like Jeans, cotton, wool Economical: Price starts from Rs. 600
Steam Iron	Release steam while ironing Best for all clothes as you can use it as a dry iron or a steam iron Quicker and effective in releasing wrinkles. Expensive: price starts from Rs. 1,000

Travel Irons can be helpful too

Travel Irons are compact Irons. Most of the cases the Travel Irons are Dry irons and have foldable handle. Travel Irons are of very small size. Because of the small size and compact foldable handles, Travel Irons easily fitted with a bag while traveling. Traveling Irons are a great option if you are planning to do Iron yourself while traveling and save extraorbitant hotel charges for Ironing.

Iron soleplate types in India

What is Iron soleplate?

This is the first question people think while buying the Iron. Soleplate is the face of the Iron, it touches the clothes while Ironing. The functions of Soleplates are as follows

• It distributes the heat and steam evenly while Ironing
• Responsible for smooth Ironing
• Good soleplates avoid wrinkles on the clothes
• Good soleplate glides smoothly over fabrics making Ironing memorable experience.

Soleplate types

There are broadly three types of soleplates.

• Aluminium soleplate
• Non-stick soleplate
• Ceramic soleplate

Please see stainless steel soleplate is also one of very good type of Iron but they are not available in India. We will explain elaborately the different types of sole plates and the difference between them.

Strictly avoid Aluminium soleplate Irons

We do not recommend Aluminium soleplate irons as they glide with little friction, scratches easily and hard to clean. In fact, Aluminium soleplate may become 'sticky' after some time, possibly causing wrinkles on clothes. But due to low price Aluminium irons are quite popular. The short summary of the reasons to why to avoid Aluminium soleplates

• Glides with friction
• It is very difficult to clean the Aluminium soleplate
• The Aluminium soleplate can get scratched easily with buttons or hooks of clothes
• Aluminium soleplate is less durable and can become ‘sticky’ after some time.
• Aluminium soleplate can create wrinkles on clothes

Aluminum soleplate elimination left us with the two choices, nonstick soleplate or Ceramic soleplate. The detailed differences are listed below.

Non-stick soleplate

Non stick soleplate consists of Aluminum or metal plate with nonstick coating. The non stick coating takes care of aspects likes non stickiness of Iron to clothes and smooth gliding. While looking for non stick soleplate look for “Non Stick Coated Plate” keywords in the product description. Please see below image screenshot for better understanding.

Ceramic soleplate

Ceramic soleplate has a ceramic coating on Aluminium or metal plate. Ceramic is by nature very efficient in heat, steam distribution. Out of all materials, Ceramic soleplate provides superior gliding and ironing experience. Morphy Richards Super Glide Steam Iron is such well known Ceramic soleplate iron. The below screenshot will help you in searching for the Ceramic soleplate Iron.

For your understanding we are listing the common differences between these two in a small table.

Soleplate type	Features
Non-stick soleplate	Glides better over fabric Economical
Ceramic soleplate	Glides best over fabric, top most quality Expensive

Here is the list of important features for Iron to look in the product description. We are presenting a short explanation of these features so that you can be well aware of for what stuff you are paying.

General Iron features

Heat settings

Heat settings are configuration buttons or knobs so that you can choose the intensity of heat based on fragment type. Obviously the heat level for cotton should be different from silk clothes.

Cord length

It is the length of cord and measure in meters. More length means more comfort you can even places the table far from power socket.

Swirl cord

It is special type of cord which makes sure the cord do not form swirls.

Auto-shut off

Once the Iron is heated to enough temperature the Iron will automatically switch off. It is most common feature and this is usually managed by thermostat.

Special features for Steam Iron

Water tank size

It is the water tank in which you fill water for steam Ironing. If you are planning to Iron whole bundle of clothes in a week in one shot, then having large water tank size is a good thing.

Steam shot or Steam bust

Usual steam irons release certain level of steam at regular intervals of time. But say for some clothes you need an extra level of steam, then by pressing steam shot you can get additional steam. This is a good add on feature for steam Irons.

Steam output

It is the steam produced in grams per minutes. It can be written as grams/minute. More steam output means, more steam and faster Ironing

Anti drip

Make sure that water do not leak or spill from the water tank

Anti scale

Make sure that white scaling is not formed inside of the water tank.

Best hand picked Dry Irons

• Morphy Richards Daisy 1000W Dry Iron with American Heritage Non-Stick Coated Soleplate
• Philips HI114 1000-Watt Ceralon Coating Dry Iron
• Bajaj DX 7 1000-Watt Dry Iron
• Usha Electric EI-1602 1000-Watt Dry Iron - White
• Morphy Richards Inspira 1000-Watt Dry Iron

Best hand picked Steam Irons

• Philips Easy Speed Steam Iron With Ceramic Soleplate
• Philips GC1010 1200-Watt Comfort Steam Spray Iron
• Bajaj Majesty MX 3 1250-Watt Steam Iron
• Morphy Richards Glide 1250-Watt Steam Iron
• Morphy Richards Super Glide 2000-Watt Steam Iron
• USHA Aqua Glow Smart Steam Iron Ceramic Soleplate

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