Customer Reviews

Black & Decker D6000 All-Temp Steam Iron with Stainless-Steel Soleplate

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I've recently gotten this Black & Decker D6000 iron and also currently own the Black & Decker D2030 Auto-Off Digital Advantage Iron (I have posted my review of that iron previously on the D2030 product page). Regarding the D2030, overall I am very happy with the D2030 iron with one or two quibbles, the most problematic of which is that I constantly, but inadvertently, turn off the steam while ironing because of the placement of the steam dial. It's positioning coincides with where my thumb naturally wants to rest while ironing. As a result I am always accidentally turning off the steam. The D6000 resolves that problem since the steam control is no longer a dial, but a button that is placed on the top front area of the handle. So in that regard, this iron improves upon the D2030. However in almost all other areas, this iron is actually not as good an iron as the D2030 as I'll explain.

As others have noted, this iron is quite heavy. I found using this iron for any length of time to be more fatiguing than the D2030. The D2030 is not a light weight iron and actually the "heft" of the iron feels solid and just about right. My wife complained immediately about how heavy the D6000 iron felt to her. I weighed the D6000, without water, and it tipped the scale at 3 lb, 11oz. Compared to the D2030 that weighs, without water, 2lb, 15oz. So this iron is nearly a pound heavier than the D2030... that's significant difference. It can be debated whether a heavier iron makes a more efficient iron or not, but the reality is that it is a heavy iron to use and some people may find it too heavy to use for extended periods of time.

Another issue is the water fill cover. Unlike the D2030 that can be filled when the iron is standing vertically on it's heel plate, the D6000 can only be filled when it is in the horizontal position, or the active ironing position. This is extremely poor design because it means that you have to fill the iron, probably while it is still really hot, with the hot soleplate just sitting on your ironing board cover. Furthermore, the water fill cover lifts open in such a way that it is more difficult then necessary to pour water into the reservoir with a standard measuring cup. You are unable to get the lip of the cup close enough to the water fill hole since the lid is sticking straight up into the air effectively blocking your attempt to get close to the hold with your cup. Black and Decker does not include any sort of cup with a pointy spout to facilitate this either. The end result is that you end up spilling water as you attempt to fill the reservoir. I also noticed some water spilling out of the closed filling spout when I tipped the iron back up on its soleplate. It seems that this might even be dangerous since the heat control buttons and backlight display are in the path of the dripping water.

The reservoir holds approximately 14 oz of water which sounds like a lot, but I was amazed at how quickly it depletes. The iron produces great steam but the water empties quickly as a result. If it were easier to fill, that wouldn't be a real problem, but it becomes a problem since it isn't that easy to fill.

I also noticed that the cord of the D6000 is almost 2 feet shorter than the cord length of the D2030. It's not a short cord by any means, but it is significantly shorter than the D2030 cord.

If you are a "cord wrapper", this iron falls short because you will discover that the design of this iron prevents you from wrapping the cord around the iron for storage. The front of the iron is sloped plastic with no way for the cord to nestle into anything that will enable you to wrap the cord around it.

The iron does have conveniently placed controls. The temperature is controlled by two buttons, one on either side of the front part of the handle. The left button turns the iron up through the various settings while the right button turns the iron down. The top of the handle also has two buttons that control the spray and shot-of-steam functions. A button for "auto clean" is located on the top of the water reservoir cover, underneath the handle.

A nicely backlit display indicates the various iron functions which makes it easy to see what functions you have enabled.

The iron was quick to achieve desired temperature and also features an auto-shutoff if you leave the iron unattended.

But the biggest problem with the iron that I had is that it lets water, not just steam, sputter out of the soleplate when ironing. When the iron is brand new, this isn't an issue. But as the iron begins to accumulate mineral deposits, this will be a big problem. If you've ever ironed a white shirt and had mineral deposits spit out of your iron, you know how it can stain the fabric. For this reason alone, I would avoid this iron.

Overall I was disappointed with the D6000 iron. In spite of the couple of control improvements over the D2030, the other things wrong with the iron make the D2030 a better choice (and at a significantly lower cost).

Pros:
-Quick to reach temperature
-Control buttons are well-placed
-Iron produces a lot of steam

Cons:
-Difficult to fill with water and can't be filled in the vertical position.
-Water sputters out of soleplate when ironing with the potential to stain your clothing.
-Iron is quite heavy which makes it tiring to use

I'd suggest looking at the Black and Decker D2030 which avoids most of the problems that this iron has.Black & Decker D2030 Auto-Off Digital Advantage Iron

Black & Decker D6000 All Temp Digital Steam Iron, Blue
September 2008 Initial Review:

I bought this D6000 iron direct from Black & Decker, and I have to say, I'm most amazed. For the past 10 years I was using a Black & Decker model...but the steam didn't really come out anymore, and I was using a lot of "Magic Sizing" on my shirts to get them to iron well.

Originally, I bought a Shark as a replacement, but didn't even get it out of the box before reading the horrific reviews. It went back, and I got this.

WOW! No Magic Sizing needed and my ironing time is a third of what it used to be. Yup, you really can have steam at all settings. A lot of steam comes out with the steaming option on, and you get a heck of a lot more with the "steam burst" feature. The fact that you can clean all the mineral build up in the steam vents is great. The digital functions make it foolproof to iron. Read the tag, set the temp setting.

I also do large format photography, and I make albumen prints. I thought the vertical steam function would be perfect for steaming my paper, a necessary step in the process. I wasn't too sold on that (it worked, but be careful of the hot steam), but found that just using the regular steam function without touching the paper was fine.

The auto off feature proved useful when my wife irons. =) Oh, and the fact that she now irons her clothes is a real testament to how great this iron is!!!!

Couple cons: Filling the water tank isn't all that easy - would have been nice if it came with some sort of cup or funnel. Also, the tank empties quickly. But I'd prefer that over an iron where less steam comes out any day.

Do not go for the cheaper, crappy irons. This is the real deal. You won't be disappointed!

August 2011 UPDATE:
The iron is still going strong. One problem though seems to be the handle. The rubberized hand grip started getting brown and gross, so I scrubbed it. For some reason, the rubber has morphed from a solid (rubber) material to a mushy puddy. A dull fingernail will stick in it, and mush it aground like clay. It's super sticky (and hence collects dirt easily). This appears to be a materials flaw, as the iron has always been stored indoors at typical room temperatures. I plan to call B&D and see what they can do.

I despise ironing with a passion. I've owned several irons, some of them fairly expensive, and this is the first one that can properly iron a shirt pane or collar in one pass, which considerably reduces the amount of time and effort it takes to do the job.

The D6000 weighs 4 lbs, which is quite heavy but probably explains why it does such a good job; it glides effortlessly over most materials.
Unlike most other irons where you set the temperature using a mechanical dial, the D6000 features a fancy blue backlit LCD control panel displaying all the settings (steam, temperature, fabric type...) in an easy to read, large font. The steam is abundant and constant regardless of the temperature setting as advertised, a very useful feature. Of course, the flipside is that you get to fill up the water tank more often, which fortunately is a snap thanks to the large fill port: hold the iron horizontally, open the fill port and put under the water faucet.

A "vertical steam" mode lets you steam hanging clothes and drapes (I have not had a chance to use this feature)
The manufacturer states that the iron does not need to be emptied after each use. The self cleaning feature should be used once a month to insure proper descaling.

The D6000 is easy to use and almost reconciled me with the ironing chore. By cutting my ironing time in half, it has more than earned its five stars.

Black & Decker D2030 has been the best selling iron on Amazon. I own both D6000 and D2030. This review focuses on the comparison between these two models. I will not repeat the features of D6000, which can be found in product spec or other reviews.

1. Steam: D6000 automatically controls the amount of steam based on which fabric type you select. It is not adjustable. I found that the amount steam comes out O.K. I usually set it too high on D2030, and I have to refill it more often. So I like this feature. But one thing annoys me is that the steam is set to off when the iron is on. I have to remember to turn the steam on every time.

2. Weight: It is heavier than D2030. That probably explains why it does a slightly better job than D2030. If you constantly use the iron for an extended period of time, it may become a con.

3. Water-filling: You have to hold the iron flat to fill the water. This is a very weird design. All the irons I have used in my life fills the water with it held upright. They might design it in this new way to fill directly under faucet. But for me, I still cannot fill the water right under at the sink. It has two problems: it is difficult to see if the water has reached maximum line. I often I overfill it. Once it is overfilled, the water will drip out of the water-fill cover when it is put upright. It is because the opening of water-fill cover now faces down not up. I found this very bad. They should not change a well-accepted and proven design. Also it does not come with a handy water bottle like D2030 does.

4. Cord length: It is two feet shorter than D2030. I really don't know the reason for it. I have to move my iron board closer. They really should not shorten the cord length.

5. Backlit LCD display: Both D2030 and D6000 are backlit. But I have to hold D6000 at an angle to see the display clearly. I found this a very bad design change. I can see the one on D2030 clearly at any angle.

All the problems with D6000 are all minor. I may keep using it just because it does a slightly better job than D2030. But if you are in the market for a new iron, I will suggest you get D2030. It is $20 cheaper, and it is a better iron overall.

The only real reason I use an iron is for steaming out wrinkles with plain water. Prior to trying this out, I have been using the Rowenta DX8900 Professional Iron with No Auto Shut-Off. As other reviewers have mentioned, this iron is fairly heavy. That is one quality that I liked a lot. I always have a problem with cheap irons because it feels like I am wasting energy pressing down on the iron to try to flatten out my clothes. With the D6000, I can just let the weight of the iron do the pressing, and glide it across the clothes to get rid of wrinkles. The second think I liked about it is the surface of actual iron press (the bottom). Cheaper irons usually don't have as smooth a surface as this model, and the iron doesn't glide across clothes as smoothly and "sticks," which actually forms more wrinkles that weren't there before. This is a quality my Rowenta iron has as well and one of the reasons I like it so much.

Unfortunately, those two are about the only really great qualities about the D6000. This iron is trumpeted as "digital" and comes with a bright LCD display. Why? I don't know when we are going to get out of the age of manufacturers throwing LCD displays on every product they make (my toothbrush even has one), but it's not always necessary, and it adds to the cost of the product. I really think they could have gotten rid of the LCD and just added the indicators to the actual iron. The next problem I had with the iron is that it has to be filled horizontally. This wouldn't really be that big of a deal, except the weight of the iron hurts it in this regard, since you have to hold the iron horizontally in the air while you fill it (unless you want to burn up your ironing board). It takes me about 30 seconds to fill this iron (if I am careful not to spill), and as incredibly ripped and muscular as I am, that can become fatiguing to hold the iron for so long. Not to mention that this iron doesn't even come with a funnel, so trying to fill it up is going to almost certainly result in spilling.

The auto shutoff feature of the iron seems to kick on after about 5 minutes. While this can be a plus, it's almost an annoyance to me because I will sometimes take a break while ironing a lot, and then like to come back to a hot iron without having to move it around and wait for it to warm up again. It does warm up fairly quickly though, so overall, that is probably a plus.

Another main feature marketed on the iron is the vertical steam option. I've never really had success with this feature on any iron and the D6000 is no exception. Maybe it works better on certain types of clothes, but on my 100% cotton shirts and pants, it isn't very effective in removing wrinkles, and only results in wasting a ton of water. I prefer to just iron them out the regular way.

The Black & Decker D6000 isn't a bad iron, but I think the actual iron rates a little more on the cheaper side of things, and they likely added the digital read out to jack up the price. For what it is currently selling for, I would suggest consumers look toward something like the Black & Decker D2030 Auto-Off Digital Advantage Iron.

quality product at a reasonable price. i bought this iron to replace a costco rowenta product and was surprised. this iron has the weight and the feel of a rowenta unit at half the price. i like the led screen and the only knock is that it takes a minute to heat up.

I just love this iron. The steam settings are perfect. The weight is great, even though some have complained about it being on the heavy side - stop being so lazy - pump them flabby biceps! This iron has cut down on my last minute rush to iron in the morning before work time at least by 2/3rds! And, it heats up fast! I do not have to keep ironing over the same area to get the wrinkles out! I will probably buy another one just to put it away. Once you find something really good, always buy 2! Or, at least share one with a friend. I had a Black & Decker before, it was good, but not as good as this one. I've tried out all different kinds of irons, mostly at hotels, to try to figure out which kind to buy. The heavier models tend to work better. This one is the best. I use the fill cup from my previous B&D iron to fill this one. And, I do use distilled water, as we are on a well system. No leaks, no fuss, no muss. Just an honest to goodness workhorse of an iron!

I've had it for a few weeks now, and I think that this iron is absolutely great. It has a couple of really small annoyances, which I will explain below.

First of all, let me talk about the steam. The first time I used it, I was ironing some dress shirts. I started to see smoke underneath the ironing board and i thought that the iron was burning my board! I realized that there was just so much steam pressure that the steam it was making its way through the shirt fabric and through the liner on the ironing board!

The steam is great. I had left a few of my garments out of the dryer for a couple of days and some of the clothes had some nasty wrinkles. I just steamed those parts and the wrinkles disappeared. The amount of steam is also really great for ironing collars and keeping them crisp.

I also am a big fan of the digital display. You know exactly what fabric setting you are on and the buttons on the side are easy to push to turn the temperature up and down.

I didn't find filling the iron difficult at all opposed to some of the other reviews here. Actually, it seemed pretty normal. I guess weight is a trade-off. I loved the fact that the iron was a little heavier (think of the weight as a 1/2 full carafe of coffee). To me it didn't feel cheap and I think it did a better job of ironing because of it. I don't really get why this is such a bad thing in other reviews because the iron really glides easily on most fabrics; I couldn't even really feel the weight at all!

There also a couple of subtle things that I really like about the iron. First of all, I like that that the iron is angled down towards the front. I feel like this makes it a little easier to iron. I also like how the cord can move around at the back. The grip is nice, and I personally like the color scheme. It has all the features that we consider standard these days like auto-off and the clear chamber for water so you can see the level.

Vertical Steam is pretty cool, but the cord is kinda shorter than my other irons, so you might need an extension cord.

I did see that the iron leaks. It wasn't a big deal though, for me it was a couple of drops immediately after I filled it (I've seen this in all of my irons) that go away right after you iron over that area. For me, it wasn't as dramatic as some of the others describe.

The only other quirk that I thought was a little bit annoying was that the power button is on the side of the digital display. You can't really just use one finger to shut it off because you need more pressure to press the button down than is require to push the iron over when its standing or sideways when its in "ironing position".

I feel that those little things don't compare to how well the iron actually does its job...TO IRON CLOTHES and leave them WRINKLE FREE!!! At [...] bucks, how can you even consider buying a Rowenta?

I love my new Black & Decker digital iron! It's a nice-looking, sleek iron with excellent performance. The steam blast is great and very effective. The swivel cord is very convenient and makes the iron easier to handle. The base is stainless steel. It's easy to clean, however, the steel makes this iron a bit heavy. The most attractive feature for me is the digital temperature setting. I have also tried ironing without steam and it does a great job in both cases. The price, while not cheap is still good compared to some other digital irons of this quality.

The Black & Decker D6000 Digital Iron is by far one of the best irons I have ever owned. Besides the modern design and LCD capabilities, the iron's heavy weight makes it easier for the iron to move over the fabrics. It smoothly glides in an effortless motion. I was a little concerned about the rounded tip since I am use to iron having the pointed end, but I have to admit it did not really make a difference. I was able to iron collars easily, hitting every inch of material including the corners.

The steam option is unbelievable. It shoots a forceful abundance of steam that can tackle and "flatten" any wrinkle. Filling the water reservoir is a little awkward but I figured the design might be based on the LCD display and you are less likely to short the circuit board on the iron (this is just a guess). The handle has a good grip and is comfortable to hold. The control buttons are easy to push and conveniently placed. The 360 degree swivel cord is great because you will be less likely to get the cord tangled on yourself because you have to keep moving from side-to-side. However, I wish the cord was a bit longer.

Overall I really recommend this iron. It will allow you to iron faster with less effort.