RIP my Trusty iron

It's been a good run, but something is wrong with my trusty old Black & Decker Quick & Easy 300 iron that I bought in the spring of 1998 at the Fort Gordon, Georgia PX for only about $20.  It's not steaming right, and the water tank won't fill right ... it runs out the steam holes in the plate immediately.  I'd say I got my money's worth out of it!

Trusty B&D iron, 1998-2011

While at Lowes last night, I spotted another Black & Decker iron, and popped it into the cart.  This was after our excursion to Hobby Lobby and then Home Depot, where we walked most of the store trying to find stuff for nonsewing projects and left empty-handed.  So I was kind of tired by the time we got to the small home appliance aisle in Lowes ... and didn't notice this until this morning:

Eek!  Auto-shutoff on this iron!!

I DESPISE auto-shutoff on irons!!  And with only a 30-second window on the using angle ... oh **** no!  This is going back in a few minutes, unopened.  I'm just glad I noticed before opening the box, as I can see myself cussing and throwing a hairy cat fit every time it decides to shut itself off as I am interfacing a low-temp fabric like rayon or silk.

Since this one was the only Black & Decker model on the shelf last night, I went surfing online.  I guess we sewists are a tiny minority of iron buyers ... most of the B&D models have that extremely annoying feature.  However, I found the perfect model ... and am puzzled that it is also one of the lowest-priced ones.  Here is the Amazon link for it:
With that, I do need to mention I found a lower price from Black & Decker's website, especially after checking retailmenot's page.  So, I ordered two of these cute little very useful sounding irons.  I'm including all links here for anyone who may have Amazon gift certificates or special codes for that site.

This leaves me without the steam portion of my iron until FedEx brings me my two little irons.  I'm really excited about the temp light feature which will let me know when it has heated to the right setting.  And a dial-a-steam knob?  Sounds like exactly what I need!  If it works as I am hoping, I will be able to do high dry heat without needing to empty the tank first ... which may have contributed to the demise of "Trusty".

So ... am I the only one who thinks it beyond strange that the iron that has all the features I want - and definitely does NOT have the feature I hate - is also the lowest priced model on the manufacturer's site?  Maybe I am just weird (okay, we all know I am, but still!).  I am definitely not complaining about getting two of what I want for the price of the one I am returning (not counting shipping) ... but it does seem a bit odd to me.

Since I can't do wool, cotton, or linen without the steam settings, I guess this means I have no excuse for not playing with my rayon challis for about a week!