SapporoSA-SP527 Gravity Feed Iron

Having a busy sewing business, I rely heavily on my iron. I have had three of the Sapporo at this time. I luv the iron and it performs well, when it works. BUT the lack of customer service and befuddling parts included that have no explanation leaves me unhappy with the provider. I have spent literally hours trying to find info about parts (the parts list included is vague) and how to fix this iron. The fuse goes out. Should be a simple replacement. After getting it in, the iron still doesn’t work as before. No one has videos, etc. for this particular iron. So. After this one goes, I will either retire or find a different iron. Great iron but good luck!

2021: This WAS the best iron I ever used. It was heavy enough, got hot and no auto-shutoff.I've had it exactly 2 months. It was fine yesterday but today it wouldn't turn on. No light, no anything. I am beyond peeved!!!Update 2023: Discovered the fuse had blown. It was easy to get a new fuse and pretty easy to replace it in the iron. I got my wonderful iron back! I've been using it almost daily since then. Now when I go somewhere and have to use a regular domestic iron I hate it because they don't have heft and don't get hot enough for the flat seams I'm now accustomed to. I got a second gravity feed iron to take with me.

I LOVED this iron that I bought in September of 2020. It heated up pretty quickly, it was very steamy and it got very hot. I used it for ironing sewing projects for about 2 hours a day, maybe 4 days a week on average. I don’t think that’s an excessive amount of use especially when I know others who use their irons 5-6 hours per day, 5 days a week. Well, I turned it on today (January 29, 2021) and started to iron and NOTHING but spitting cold water onto my wool ironing mat. No heat and definitely no steam...just an ironing pad soaked with water. I think I’ll get a regular iron and forget about gravity feed. They don’t last very long.

My goodness this is a nice Iron, the seller (albertsewing) was even better - including accessories like the treatment for the water tank and an no-sheen slip on cover (I don't know what it's really called, it's a metal foot that slips over the bottom of the iron so it doesn't leave streaks).Beware, this iron's heat settings go from normal all the way up to hell hot; The manual says not to put the iron on it's butt (where the controls are), with that in mind the only way to set the iron is face down on the provided silicon pad (as shown in the description picture). This wouldn't be a problem, except the manual says to heat up/steam the iron on #3 or 4 on the temp. dial, I did this and within a few minutes that I expected it to take to heat up it was hot enough to start bubbling and melting the pad. That's not a bad thing, this iron is fantastic, just be very conservative with the heat settings, this isn't like an off the shelf everyday iron.

It was great while it worked. Unfortunately, this wasn’t very long. Three months, maybe four. I hate being back on an iron that turns itself off for safety reasons every few minutes, very annoying and time wasting. That’s one of the reasons those gravity fed irons are so great.The other reasons are that it’s almost impossible to burn fabric - it works with steam, not heat. That steam is hundred times more effective than even the highest heat, therefore it’s way faster.I’ve never had one that lived longer than a few months, I think this was number seven. Why is this? Built in or unintended sloppily made? Can the manufacturer really not do better?I’m not expecting an answer. But until I really can’t stand it anymore, I’m not going to buy another one, not this time. It just feels wrong to go back there, knowing at best, it will last just long enough to be not returnable.

My wife has now purchased two of these for her alteration business. The first stopped working after 6 months and taking one of these apart to trouble shoot is not for the faint of heart. Bought the second and it lasted 2 days longer than the return window before it died. They work very well. They just break down and there is no time for that in a business. We went instead with a Reliable Steam generator iron system and that is working well but too soon to know what about the longevity. It is 6 times the cost so hopefully we will get what we paid for. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case with these two irons from Sapporo.

I have had this before. It doesn't last forever, but it is a great value.

I love ironing shirts. It’s zen-like for me. Traditional irons are a bit bulky and I’m refilling the tank with water after one or two shirts. This iron is weighted properly for me, is smaller than a normal iron, and can get about 15 shirts on one tank of water.The only drawback is the shorter power cable and the lack of a place for me to properly hang the tank for intoning. You might have to hang it from your closet hanger pole and find power nearby.Overall I love ironing with this!