Customer Reviews

SteamFast SP-660 Table Top Steam Press

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I learned how to iron in the Army, putting creases on my uniforms each Sunday night before I go to work. And I was pretty good at it. But I always thought there had to be a better way. This is a great product and I imagine as an appliance, one is probably comparable to the other, the difference being price and features.
The trick, and perhaps the reason for some negative reviews is that folks seem to expect it to be similar to hand ironing. It is not. You need to develop a new process, tackle your clothes differently. I suggest three things:
1. Think in big chunks. Remember the hand iron is small and most of us who can iron think in small areas. This appliance will tackle much bigger areas. And it will iron both sides at once - don't stress yourself about flipping things over - spend time instead on smoothing out the wrinkles and then simply drop the handle, hit a bolt or two of steam. Be patient, the skills will come.
2. Let it warm up - I plug it in, turn it on and putter a bit, gathering laundry and prepping my clothes. I set it up on my old ironing board and then simply lower it down so I can sit at the couch and iron while watching the evening news.
3. Practice, practice, practice. If you have a garment that absolutely must be ironed perfectly for a meeting in an hour - and you have never used this press before - then you will be disappointed. I suggest practice placing items on it while it is unplugged and cold - you will quickly get the hang of it. When first trying it out, iron a few old shirts, pants or dresses to get the hang of it. Then jump in. In a few short attempts at ironing you will quickly master the new skill and find that indeed ironing is no longer a task that lasts hours and hours.

I can get a week's work of ironing in just a little over an hour and now I can put a nice starched shirt on and grab a pair of creased pants for my corporate executive job - and I don't pay the dry cleaner to do it anymore.

Despite some of the negative reviews I had read about steam pressing, I forged forward and purchased this item. One common concern among other reviewers was the inability to press dress shirts, without creating crease in the wrong places. I did not encounter this problem. I would suggest you practice placing articles of clothing on the iron prior to starting up. I did this and it worked like a charm. It also cut down my ironing time by 50% or more. The optional steam capability works great. Note, when you use this option it will reduce the temperature of the iron. On the whole it operated wonderfully and created very nice creases(in the right places), on slacks as well as shirts. I will be ordering the optional table, this way I will be able to sit while I press.

Alright, I'm in the military and spend too many hours a day ironing my uniform. In what seemed like a grand attempt to cut this back, I thought that the SteamFast SP-660 would help. But, there were a couple of issues with the machine.

First, a side note. For some reason Amazon will not ship this item to an APO address (military stationed overseas). So, I had to ship it to a third-person who graciously forwarded it to me. Nothing to do with the product, but a sore subject with me.

The largest problem is that the board is far too small to actually iron anything quickly. I could only iron portions of the shirt and pants at a time. However, once you iron one portion, it gets re-wrinkled on the machine's hinge when you iron more. So, the depth and length of the board were unrealistic.

It heated up quickly, cooled down quickly, had great steam, but was absolutely ineffective at saving time.

In short, if you're using this to iron your children's clothing or an umpa-lumpa costume, it should be fine. If you're ironing "real-people clothing," I would stick with a traditional iron and ironing board, or reinvest in your local drycleaner.

I have read the only two ratings before buying this steam press and they where not so good,But with the good pricing and return policy given buy Amazon i needed one and it could not hurt and i,m most happy with this press much steam,great heating and my clothes look fantastic like right out the cleaners. AAAA++++ good show Amazon thanks!

Now I've had this for 2 months and I feel like I got it down, it's about time to share my experience. I wanted a steam press iron for the longest time, but never came close to actually buying it. Reading reviews game me a second thought also, I waited too long to find out this great invention.

As many says, it is small, but once you get used to it, this size is not too bad. It would be nice to own something like what dry cleaners have, but who knows how much that would cost and I don't want to give up that much space in my house either. So, for the price, I take this size and think this is a wonderful addition to my life.

After trying a few different things along with some mistakes, I found the following things that might help others.

1. Keep your regular iron and don't throw it away. Although I barley use it now, some clothes are much easier to work with a regular iron.
2. To activate steam, press the red button on either side of the handle (took me for a while to realize it wasn't automatic)
3. Use a sprayer (included) as soon as it gets to the temperature instead of waiting for steam to be ready. You can save some energy!
4. Place a cloth over on any "printed" part. I was too lazy to do this and print got on the ironing surface and now it won't come off....
5. Use a bigger pillow than what comes with and read manual to learn how to use it. This is a very good trick that I would never thought of if I didn't read the manual (found it while searching for activating the steam). With a pillow, you can iron almost anything without pulling out your regular iron from closet. Find a bigger pillow, it saves your time that you don't have to move around so often.
6. Place clothes all the way back and pull forward as you are working. By doing this, it gets less wrinkles.
7. Don't need to buy a Steam Press Stand unless you really want it. I've read reviews and decided to use a table with fold-able legs and it works fine with me.
8. Finally, don't put it on a ironing board, instead, place it on a table and sit down on a chair. Steam Press Stand only comes in one height (have to sit down) and many people wondered why it wasn't adjustable. So, I tried both ways and found out that you have a less chance to burn your hands if you are sitting. It just gives you a better angle for your hands to access to clothes.

The SteamFast SP-660 Table Top Steam Press performs exactly as we thought it would - very well, cutting the ironing time by as much as 50%. No kidding! After considering the Steam Fast SF-680 Digital Fabric Steam Press (which has received rave reviews), along with a few others, we opted for this one at nearly $100 less (especially when you type in the promotional code to get the additional $25 discount. Enter code CLEAROUT at checkout). Honestly, not having tried the other, we can't really compare. We can only report that the SP-660 does require a little re-learning, but it's not difficult and it is well worth the few minutes invested!

If you have difficulty ironing at all, this product will NOT help you. It does not perform miracles. However, if you iron regularly with success, once you learn how to use the SP-660, you will find this to be a timesaver.

When this product first arrived, we didn't have any distilled water in the house, but we started using it without filling the water reservoir. We find that using spray-on wrinkle releaser, light starch, or plain water (using the included spray bottle filled with water), yields crisp presses. We haven't felt the need to use the steam press feature yet.

We did not purchase the stand (it seems rather pricey), and instead have put the press on top of a standard ironing board. This works, although it is probably not the perfect solution.

One last thought; we debated over whether we should get a press with a larger ironing surface (SF-680). We've decided that this slightly smaller surface is sufficient and is probably an easier transition from a regular iron. However, we are ironing mostly women's clothes, which tend to have smaller flat areas.

Hope this helps with your decision.

First of all the item is too small. it is about 1/3 the lenght of a pair pants and 1/3 as wide. So as you can see it is pretty small. So it is a lot of moving around and adjusting which causes previously ironed parts to become wrinkled again.

It does not make life easier. good in principle but does not work.

The Steamfast press is faster than a conventional iron, but may not be as fast as you think. With a little practice you can get it down. I would suggest that if you iron a lot of shirts and don't want to pay the cleaners, go ahead and get it. It will save you money in the long run.

The steamer is a piece of crap. The main problem is there was no steam. Give me a break. You may be one of the lucky ones where the steam actually works. But be leery, it looks like Amazon sent me someones elses previous defective order. I can tell by the way the items were packaged in the box. So I'm sending it back. Maybe Amazon will send it straight to you? If you like gambling, go ahead and order. But I'm sending this one back and requesting a full refund.

My husband is in the Army and he bought this to iron his BDU's. It was a complete waste of money and time. After he iron his BDU's with the steam press , he had to re iron them with the iron. We purchased this from another store and paid $170.00. It is not worth the money. I wish we had read reviews before we bought this. We promptly took this back to the store for a full refund!