Digital Steam Iron Reviews, Wrinkle free in a Snap

Quick Comparison of Digital Steam Irons 

Digital Steam Iron Reviews - [Updated]

1. Rowenta DW9280 Digital Display Steam Iron, Stainless Steel Soleplate

A lot of digital quality of life options in a great package.

As a base package, this Rowenta is already great. 1800 watts, a 11.8 ounce tank, 400 microholes in its stainless steel soleplate, and a self Cleaning system to remove calcium increasing the life of your iron.

In addition it has digital setting readouts, and does all types of fabric (silk, nylon, cotton, wool, and linen) and has standard auto shutoff (30 seconds on the face or side, 8 minutes if it’s set upright).

Additionally, it has a unique feature: if left still (in any position) for more than a few seconds, steam shuts off (though the steam iron itself won’t cut all the way off until the criteria for auto shutoff are met). This makes it easy to conserve steam and quickly tend to something else if need be.

For its asking price it’s pushing the edge of what I’d suggest paying for a steam iron, but it more than delivers enough quality to justify it.

2. BEAUTURAL 1800-Watt Steam Iron with Digital LCD Screen

Compares well with the Rowenta model with a much lower price point.

The steam iron comes with all the bells and whistles for an iron, It’s meant primarily for home use, and is pretty well priced for this spot in the market.

The one knock I had with this model was when steaming the burst wasn't quite as strong as with the Rowenta and the CHI model.  If the steam feature is your primary goal you may want to go with one of those over this model.

It has multiple fabric settings,  1800 watts of power and the preset settings are super useful.

The 11 ounce tank heats up in three minutes and provides anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half of continuous steam. It however doesn't come with a precision tip  that the Rowenta models have.   This would be a nice upgrade to the model but at less than have the Rowenta price we'll give it a pass here.

This steam iron has soleplate that feels like its more consistent in the heating from edge to edge.   We attribute this to the dual soleplate which distributes the heat from the inner plate where the heading element is. 

For those on a budget this is a great option for a digital steam iron that is capable of much more than just ironing.

3. PurSteam Ultra Steam Iron

This is the digital version of the Professional grade model.

With a ceramic sole plate the this iron heats quickly and has PurSteam's unique axial located steam holes for great steam coverage.

The digital readout is very easy to read and comes with 9 pre-set temperatures making setting to your specific needs quick and easy.  We particularly liked how the settings were labeled for each fabric taking the guesswork out of it.

The PurSteam Ultra also has the standard 3-way auto shutoff, anti drip technology, steam blast settings.

This iron can use regular tap water and provides vertical steaming.  The vertical steam option removes the need for a separate garment steamer.

4. CHI (13102) Steam Iron with Retractable Cord

Not quite as good as their hair products, but still good.

The material of the soleplate is the first unique feature that stands out: titanium infused ceramic. This is the same stuff they use in their flat irons and heats up fast while being able to take a ton of abuse, and delivers quality steam from the 400 microholes on its surface.

The digital readout swaps between any kind of fabric, and swivels to the side for easy access to the spout on the water tank, making refills easy.

Standard auto shutoff, anti drip technology, steam blast settings (that can be toggled from low to full with a small lever) and an 8 foot retractable cord round out this package.

5. BLACK+DECKER Digital Advantage Professional

Almost everything we look for, in a cheap package.

This Black and Decker is pretty simple, but covers all the basics. A stainless steel soleplate with 64 steam holes, digital readout (three settings, which is why it’s just lower than the Maytag), an improved steam flow over other Maytag steam irons, and the three way auto shutoff I’ve come to expect.

This Black and Decker is far better than anything else I could find in the same price range. An excellent steam iron for the cost.

How to Choose The Right One

There are three main things we’re looking at for digital steam irons: the basic function of the steam iron, the extras, and the price.  We also have a page on professional steam irons that may or may not have the digital component if you not particular about having a digital display.

Basics

We’re looking for a stainless steel or better soleplate (“no stick” soleplates are an automatic out; they’re fragile and, ironically, become sticky after a while due to scratches), settings to handle every type of fabric, and in this case: a digital display.

Everything else on top of that is just gravy.

Extras

These can be anything, but common ones include: auto shutoff, anti drip technology, and self cleaning capability.

Those ones are so common I almost put them in as “basics”, but there are some good steam irons that lack some or all of those, so I moved them here.

Everything else can vary from brand to brand or steam iron to steam iron, with too many variations to list. In general: anything that makes your job easier is a plus, as is anything that makes a steam iron SAFER.

Price

There’s one that edges above that on this list because it’s a huge, professional grade steam iron, but other than that, it is more or less in either direction is most common.

Summary of Digital Steam Irons Reviewed