I was looking for a compact hair curler to take on short trips and camping when I was just carrying everything in a tote bag. I wasn't necessarily looking for a cordless one, but when I came across this one, I thought I'd give it a try. It's super!
I have straight, hard to curl hair and this curling iron warmed up as quickly and did just as good a job as my electric one does and just as quickly. I've only used it a couple of times and it doesn't seem to use the butane cartridge up too quickly, but I have short hair and only curl about 8 sections on the crown of my head, so I don't have it on too long. If you had longer hair and spent a long time with the iron on, you might use up the cartridges quickly. Refill cartridges are about $3 each.
This would be a great solution for an overseas trip where you didn't want to fool around with converters. You are permitted to take the unit with one cartridge only on an airplane. I would think the one cartridge should last you at least a week or two, but you might want to make sure before you took this route. You'll want to practice being judicious with the time you use it to make sure you're not wasting butane.
As an added plus, the iron and cartridge in the cute compact carrying case only weighs about 8 oz. It could easily fit inside an average sized purse.
It will make a little whooshing sound while you're using it as the butane is burned.
This is a neat little invention. I highly recommend it.