LELIT Gianni PS21 ironing system with separate boiler

I'm doing a beginners tailoring course at my local Adult Education department, and they have this iron there. I liked it so much I bought one myself for home use. It looks like something from a sumptuously shot, technicolor 1950's Italian film, set in an espresso bar - and it's always good to have something fabulous to look at when you have a pile of ironing to do! But the key thing is how well it works. The steam pressure is excellent, the iron is hot and heavy, but not so heavy it's cumbersome to use. I've only had mine a short time, but the one in my class is used day in day out by lots of different people (and has been dropped on the floor more than once!) and has outlasted all the see-through plastic steam generators from the major European iron makers. Clearly it is built like a very shiny tank. I strongly recommend getting the teflon shoe for it (about £30). It does take 10 minutes to warm up so as other reviewers have said if you're doing only one shirt, then you're probably better off with a conventional gravity fed steam iron. However, once warmed up you can safely leave it plugged in for hours, which is very useful when you're making a garment and you need to iron a seam every 30 mins or so. A heads up - mine also came with a standard European non-rewireable "Schuko" plug on it. I considered chopping it off and putting on a UK 13A plug but decided that would probably invalidate the warranty, so I bought an adapter. There is little wiring information in the instruction book, but I figured it probably should be earthed, so make sure you get an adapter that earths using the earthing clips on the side of the plug, not one that looks like a shaver adapter. I bought this one: AMOS Schuko Shuko Style Socket EU Euro European 2-Pin to UK 3-Pin AC Mains Power Travel Visitor Adaptor Adapter Converter Power Plug (White)

Love the iron the on floor is it came with a European plug. I had to buy an English adapter toUse it.

I almost look forward to ironing with this. I am not a strong person, and have found most steam irons tiring and cumbersome to use. This one I find very ergonomic. The old-fashioned shape of the iron itself suits me well. If this lasts longer than m previous types, I will be delighted.

I've had other steam generators before but this is by far the best. The pressure of steam is second to none. It does take some getting use to but once you've used it a few times its easy. The pros are that it makes short work of the ironing and you can get away with only doing one side and its easy to steam items that don't need a full iron. Cons are not easy to see how much water is in the tank and if you only need to iron a couple of items you may find easier to have a normal iron at hand due to the warm up time. The unit takes a while to cool down to. Having said all that with its 4 yr guarantee and aluminium body its worth every penny once your use to it.