Black & Decker F210 iron initial review

I just pulled out my new little Black & Decker F210 iron after my previous B&D iron (that I bought back when I was at Fort Gordon!) started acting goofy.  I had a few reservations after reading the reviews of this on Amazon, but was also confused as it didn't sound like most were reviewing the product described!  OK, so here is MY review of this.

Black & Decker F210 variable steam iron

(Yeah, yeah ... I need to wash my ironing board cover ...)  When I first pulled it out of its box, I did something strange and read the instructions that came with it (*gasp! shock!!  Teh HORRORZ!!11!*) to see if there was anything special for set-up.  Just the usual notes about not putting too many appliances on one circuit, standard polarized plug routine, and the note to use regular tap water without any in-home processing (water softeners?).  A couple good things about after you are done using: unplug and empty the water tank after it cools.


It has two dials - one for "fabric selection" a.k.a. temperature setting, and another for steam selection from dry up to full steam.  I likey!  There is also a little light that lets you know the iron is in the process of heating, and that kept popping on and off as I ironed a piece of linen.  When I set it on its heel to move the linen on the ironing board, I could hear it hiss a bit as some water was responding to gravity, but did not see any on the sole plate.

After ironing my linen fabric ... I went to the other extreme and started ironing pattern tissue!  The iron had the opportunity to cool completely which I went hunting for the right pattern envelopes, so it was starting back up from zero.  I set it to no steam and below the first "fabric" setting ... yes, you can do that with this one!  One of the big complaints over in the Amazon reviews was that this model leaks no matter what setting it's on ... mine doesn't.  The pattern tissue would have certainly showed even the tiniest leak.  None ... mine does not leak.

I do have one little quibble with this iron - it's extremely lightweight.  No more letting the weight of the iron do the fusible interfacing work for me, because there is barely any weight there.  Other than that, my first time using this baby has been positive.  If my opinion changes with more use, I'll be sure to post up about it.