LaurastarLift Plus Blue Sky, 3-in-1 Portable Steam Station, Irons, Steams and Purifies Clothing, Hygienic Steam, Removable Water Tank, Vertical Steaming, Cable Rewind, 3D Active Soleplate

Head and shoulders above any other iron I’ve owned. This is my second one after 6 years and I expect the first would have last longer with some basic TLC.It’s all about the steam! Our cleaner swears by it.

This iron does iron well, with crisp steam using a hot metal plate you do get an excellent finish. However, because it’s a metal plate there is a delicate fabric plate you can put on like a shoe for the iron. This is a good idea, but I prefer my ceramic plated no burn iron that lets me have a go at anything without extra accessories or changing a temperature dial. It’s 3.5 bar steam is effective, but again, my ceramic iron (at half the price tag) is 5 bar. It’s storage footprint is very small, due to its vertical nature, but you do definitely have to let everything cool because you’re very close to the plate and have to wind things around it to put it away. The reservoir is ok, but I like a bigger no filter required reservoir. The iron itself is little, light, with an effective flex holder. I like that a lot. Overall, I don’t feel you get enough for your money to warrant the faff.If I’ve helped you make a decision, please leave a helpful vote :)

This is a steamer/iron in a lovely blue retro design. The machine is compact but quite heavy. It is reasonably easy to set up (I found the instruction manual made it seem more complicated than it is so I figured it out myself). You can use it as an iron or as a vertical steamer.PROS- It does do a very good job. I ironed some cotton blouses and it got all the creases out without too much effort on my part. The vertical steamer only made a small difference to the cotton blouses (as expected) but it did do a great job on more suitable fabrics.- Whilst it does produce a fair bit of steam during vertical steaming the garment is not left drenched. You could certainly put the garment on after it has cooled.- The water reservoir is easy to refill especially as you don't need to remove it from the machine.- The machine comes with a water filter which is very important to me as I live in an area with very hard water. The refills do seem quite pricey but I don't yet know how long this filter will last to know what the running costs will be.- It comes with an ironing plate that you can use on garments that are prone to getting shiny. This is easy to clip on and remove.CONS- It is quite noisy especially when it is heating up. I live in a flat so will not be using this late at night.- The electric cable is quite short so I had to use an extension cord.- The steam hose does get pretty hot which can be uncomfortable when you are ironing as it inevitably swings against your arm.- The water reservoir does need to be frequently refilled especially when you are using the vertical steam function. This is not difficult and it does reheat quickly but a bigger reservoir would make this a more practical machine.- It can be a bit difficult to move around as the two cables can get caught up in the wheels. I think it would be best for someone who has the room for a dedicated ironing spot as this machine is easiest to use if you have an area where you can set it up so everything is in the right position.I do think this is a very effective machine and certainly useful if you need to iron a lot. It is certainly quick to heat up and easy to use. I do have some problems with the design so if I were to replace this steamer I would probably look for an alternative especially given the price.

Laurastar are a swiss brand that make high-end iron systems for professional use. Full on ironing boards with large water tanks and irons all fitted and integrated in to ironing boards. These smaller Laurastar models have the high-end features or their larger full-blown ironing systems but these smaller versions are targeted for in the home.. or should I say for high use in the home.Lots of Pros - The water tank is a great size and holds a huge 1.1litres of water, it lasts for ages and is very easily removable to fill up or empty. The iron has a built-in anti-scale filter cartridge which cost around £40 to replace. I really like and need this as we live in a very hard water area and scale completely destroys our irons.What I really like about this iron is the length of power cable and the length of the chord from base unit to the iron. The mains cable is a lengthy 2.3mtres long and has a very neat auto rewind feature to pull the cable back in to the main unit. The ironing chord length is a huge 1.95metres long which means the large base unit can sit on the floor while you iron. The long chord length also means I can place the base unit on the floor and steam things like bedspreads while they are on the bed and curtains when they are hangingInside the base unit where you store the actual iron is a removable heat proof rubber mat. You can pull this out and use to sit your iron on when your resting the iron between clothes. The iron has a safety 10min auto switch off if not used.The iron has very powerful steam and I’ve found I only need to iron one side of clothes which saves half the time. I do have a decent ironing board which I’m sure also helps. Included is an additional protective soleplate that’s recommended to use on really delicate fabrics, so far I’ve not needed or tried this this.One of Laurastar claims is that it will purify your clothes when they are ironed, killing all the bacteria and mites that live on clothes. Can’t say that I’ve ever even thought about purifying my clothes when ironing and not something I’ve ever looked for when purchasing a new iron. Sounds good but is this really needed.Overall, I am impressed. The build quality looks and feels very good and the steam I get from the iron feels extremely powerful. It is very expensive but if you are doing a lot of ironing this would be a really good investment.