Philips PerfectCare Elite Steam Iron Review

In my home as like many, I always seem to have a mountain of Ironing with difficult work and school uniform to contend with each day. Let’s see how the Philips PerfectCare Elite Steam Generator Iron stands up to a real families clothes pile.

I actually love Ironing, I find it very therapeutic (I know slightly weird). The only part I am not too keen on is the length of time it takes me, sometimes I can be ironing for up to 4 hours at a time to get through the main ironing and this can be twice a week!

Up until now I have been using a different steam generator iron and even though the results are much better than using a traditional Iron, it still has so many issues. These range from the weight of the iron to the rather lengthy time I have to wait for the safety valve to open before I can refill the tank with water again.

Philips PerfectCare Elite Steam Generator Iron Review

When I was asked to try the new Philips PerfectCare Elite, I was like a kid at Christmas, so excited to try out what claims to be the ‘Fastest and most powerful steam generator iron’.

No temperature setting required

The PerfectCare Elite is Philips’ best and most efficient steam generator iron. With OptimalTEMP technology and an Advanced Smart Control Processor, which precisely controls the soleplate temperature you can now iron everything from jeans to silk with no temperature setting needed.

At first, I was reluctant to iron a brand new delicate blouse on the same setting as I would use for denim jeans. It was slightly scary not having a temperature dial to change, so I had to take a deep breath and wish for the best, hoping my blouse would sustain the irons temperature. Of course, it did and my delicate blouse was ironed to perfection with no damage at all.

A lightweight Steam Iron

The steam generator Iron is amazingly lightweight and has a unique style handle that is extremely comfortable to use and makes ironing a breeze. It also features a 5-star-rated soleplate with integrated Titanium-Oxide layer which has Philips best gliding performance and is the most scratch resistant.

If  powerful steam is something you are looking for from a Steam Generator Iron then the Philips Care Elite is the daddy of all the Steam generators! With up to 6.7 bar pressure and Consistent powerful steam which penetrates deep inside the garments making ironing both faster and better and of course, the steam can be regulated to suit your needs.

1.8 Litre Water Tank

The perfect Care elite has been designed with busy people in mind. It has the fastest heat up time of any Iron I have ever used and is ready to start ironing in only 2 minutes, which is extremely impressive!

If you worry about the safety aspect leaving the iron on when you get distracted by the kids or answering the telephone, then Philips have got this covered too.

The safety auto-off function automatically switches the appliance off after 10 minutes to save energy and for safety. It also has a clever lock to keep the iron in place on top of the steam generator safely.

Philips PerfectCare OptimalTEMP Settings

The innovative Philips OptimalTEMP technology guarantees no burns on all ironable fabrics. Amazingly, during ironing, there is no need to put your iron back on the base station; yes you can actually just leave the hot iron soleplate directly on a cotton ironing board cover. It will not damage any of your clothes, or the board. This makes your ironing easier, with less wrist effort.

I love how Philips have thought of every little thing to make the whole Ironing experience more pleasurable and easy. You do not even need a jug to fill the water tank, you simply remove the 1.8-litre tank and fill straight from the tap. Whilst ironing, when the water tank runs out, you can easily refill it without having to wait or turn off your appliance.

Easy De-Calc Plus Function

One of my bugbears when it comes to ironing is keeping it in clean so it doesn’t leave horrible yellow marks on my clothes from build up of calc in the tank.

This is the only iron where they have actually kept it simple to clean with Philips’ exclusive and ideally positioned Easy De-Calc Plus function which provides the ideal way to get rid of limescale and extend the lifetime of your steam generator iron.

Your iron will remind you with light and sound when to perform cleaning. When your appliance is cold, you simply open the Easy De-Calc knob and collect the dirty water and scale in a cup, as simple as that!

Eco-Friendly Mode

To save energy without compromising on the ironing results, you can switch to ECO mode which gives a reduced amount of steam. For faster ironing, you can also switch to Turbo mode, which generates more steam. I switch between these modes depending on the clothing material that I am ironing.

Great for even the Novice ironer

To see just how simple the Philips Perfect Care Elite is to use I tested it out on 3 not so very eager guinea pigs, My husband the novice ironer, and my two teenage sons aged 19 and 13 who had never even held an Iron before!

I gave them very little instructions and off they went ironing one item of clothing each and with success I might add, they were also very impressed that you could just place the iron on the Ironing board.

My husband who had only ever ironed a handful of clothes before in an emergency actually and I can not believe I am saying this Ironed 4 piles of clothes yesterday as a surprise. I was shocked yet confident in this Steam Generator Iron that even he can not mess this up!

I can not tell you how excited I am with the Philips Perfect Care Elite, In my opinion, every home needs one. The time it saves me gives me more quality time with my family and this is worth every penny.

• The Philips PerfectCare Elite has an RRP of £320
• Disclosure: We were sent the above product for the purpose of this post, however, all opinions are my own.