Polti La Vaporella XM80R, Steam Generator Iron with Boiler & PAEU0094 Kalstop Anti-Scale Phials, White

It's a bit heavier than my 10 year old Rowenta that went bang after 11 years. I think it's the steam cable, not the handset. Nice and smooth. Heats up quickly. Turns off automatically after 10 minutes. I like that you can take out the resting plate from the main unit to have at the end of the board. It is a bit high to keep having to lift to rest it. You can't stand it on its end because the cable comes out at the back. There are loads of good reviews. I think I must have been unlucky though. The one I had churned out white calc on the first use, it sends steam out when it likes and the last straw was when I put it down to rest it dumped a good egg cup of water into the resting plate. It's going back.

This is my first Polti product after researching many of the more well known competitors (in the UK at least). I opted for the Polti as it just seemed slightly better value and to be honest I really liked how they approached their product video!!! Always used regular steam irons till now, but sick of struggling, hence upgrade.Build quality is good and the iron is super lightweight with a good amount of steam and pressure to breeze through the toughest creased shirt. Water tank is huge so you don’t have to worry about filling up every 5 minutes and the turbo setting works well. It’s a bit big, but not complaining, it’s what it is, and sits comfortably in utility cupboard. Would I spend this amount again on an iron.... in a heartbeat :-)

Bought to replace a broken tefal iron seems to be more than capable for our busy household and the 10 year guarantee and the anti calc boiler design seems superior.

Works very well , but like so many much cheaper irons it spits and marks the ironing.

Bought this after reading other recommendations. This is a great iron, easy to set up. It's a very stylish product, the Italians can even make an iron look good! Highly recommended, I love it.

The media could not be loaded.  See TrustPilot - they do not honour the 10yr warranty promise.UPDATEI sent the iron back because I wasn’t happy with the performance and saw that the higher spec model XT100C was on sale £280 so thought I would try it. What a difference an extra 0.5 bar pressure makes! 7.5 bar pressure with 500gm steam pulse. Soooo much better. I’m happy now. See my review for the XT100C.OLD REVIEW7 bar pressure 450gm steam pulse.It’s the same as any other iron really. Note that 10 of the 16 reviews are Vine Reviews, not genuine buyers.I returned a Tefal that had stopped working after just 10 weeks and bought this instead because of the 10 year pump guarantee and you can use tap water so I thought there would be no ongoing costs. But there’s a catch - your warranty is only valid if you use their own brand anti-scale / water softener in the water reservoir called Kalstop, which is £10 for x20 5ml vials. One 5 ml vial per 5 litres = a massive ongoing cost... if you use your iron just a moderate amount per week = 50p per week = £26/ year = £260 over 10 years.I can’t find what Kalstop ingredients are, but I suspect washing soda (sodium carbonate - which you can buy in liquid form) or maybe even tartaric acid (it has aluminium components so you can’t use citric acid or vinegar). The 10 year warranty only valid if you use Kalstop. Not sure how they can prove if you have used Kalstop or an alternative water softener?Thank you to reviewer ‘Wilde’s Cabbage’ for eye dropper tip. You can buy 1ml dispensing droppers - just search for ‘1ml pipette dropper bottle’.As described in their manual the front steam holes have a ‘hydrofoil affect’ so it does glide easily, but the iron head itself is small so it takes longer to cover the ironing area.As others have said it automatically switches off from turbo setting, which is easy to miss - iron just becomes less effective & then you notice the setting light has switched over to universal, but the iron light still stays blue - there’s no audible cue, you just have to keep looking to the settings dial to check it hasn’t changed. When it does this you have to wait another minute or two for it to heat up again which is annoying. See my video.So I think it’s really only average value with an average performance. Certainly not the ‘Rolls Royce’ / joyful experience I was hoping for.Which ‘Best Buy’ is Phillips Perfect Care Elite, and is approx same price, so I might swap it for one of those instead but I suspect that the perfect iron doesn’t exist.I bought it on sale £240.The iron itself is lightweight - but like any other steam generator iron the base is naturally heavy.In the videos I am ironing 600TC 100% cotton sheet that is still slightly damp.

I had a Polti steam iron, but one of the cheaper models. The powerful steam jets make ironing a breeze. We have very hard water in London and I guess eventually the calcium stopped the iron working. Because I like and trust Polti I decided to splash out and buy a much more expensive model. The features I really like are: the universal setting is perfect for everything so I don't have to think about the fabric and temperature needed, the water tank is separate and very easy to fill (my older model had a small hole which was awkward to fill with water). I can also see how much water is in the tank and refill any time I need, without having to wait for it to cool down. The iron locks onto the base unit which makes it safer to carry around. The only slight negative I have is that the base of the iron is rounded so you can't stand it up when you are moving the clothes around on the ironing board. But apart from that, I think this is an amazing iron and it actually makes ironing enjoyable!Highly recommend!

Fantastic iron, expensive but with it. Had previously paid a little less for a Bosch one which leaked water everywhere on each use, put up with it for far too long. This one is fantastic comparison. Put the clothes away immediately after ironing.Controls are easy and clear to use, I just use the universal heat all the time and it does a great job.Invested in the polti ironing board too which was a good move and also use the phials of calc protection for whatever good they actually are, but may as well look after the purchase you have made.100% recommend!