Rowenta Professional Steam Iron ($49.98 on eBay) | Rowenta DW7180 Everlast 1750-Watt Anti-Calc Steam Iron ($119.99)

I’ve used a lot of irons in my day. As well as a freelance writer, I also work as a tailor and pattern maker for film and television. This means I ask a lot of irons, like leaving them on for ten hours or more a day. Building garments involves a good amount of pressing and an iron that steams well is crucial.

While my shop iron of choice is a gravity feed iron, my favorite “home” portable iron is an old Rowenta Professional Steam model. When on a show, I keep one in the workroom as a backup iron and one on the wardrobe truck for use when doing on-set alterations. Of course, like many things I love, this particular model is old enough that it’s no longer manufactured by Rowenta – though they are occasionally available on eBay.

While I don’t know exactly when this model was made, I know I’ve had mine for at least 15 years (and it still works great), which, for about $50.00 is a pretty sound investment.

The best features are the robust "shot of steam" and the fact that Rowentas will emit steam even when positioned vertically – which is perfect for steaming while it’s on a dress form (never steam a garment when it is on a human body). Both of these things are standard in all of the brand’s irons. The continuous steam feature distributes steam through 400 micro steam points in the stainless steel plate. There’s an adjustment knob with settings for "no steam," "medium steam," and "lots of steam". (I may have made up those names). 

It has a seven-foot-long cord with a 360-degree swivel so it never does that annoying twisty thing. The handle is super comfortable and the iron itself has some weight to it, which I like. Anything weighing too little means you have to press harder when ironing. 

Like most every professional tailor, I hate the auto-shutoff feature but that’s pretty much a given sacrifice when it comes to home iron models. The good thing is that, with 1750 watts of power, the iron heats up quite quickly. Irons with a lower wattage rating will take a longer time to heat back up.

The Rowenta Everlast is a new model that has all of the above features, plus an anti-calcium system and a slightly longer (8-foot) cord.

The Everlast has a 12-ounce water tank that will provide thirty minutes of continuous steam (never enough if you’re actually sewing all day but as much as you can really ask for in a portable model) and airglide technology on the faceplate for smooth, non-snag, pressing.

While Rowenta irons are designed to work with tap water, much of that water in the U.S. is hard water or water with minerals that over time build-up on appliances and fixtures – these minerals aren’t harmful to humans health-wise but they can eventually cause an iron to spit up a white residue. And the steam holes can become clogged with buildup.

The self-cleaning Everlast’s limescale collector, captures a lot of these minerals, collecting them in a small reservoir in the base that unscrews for emptying. This will definitely make your iron last longer. And since my old model is still going strong at 15 plus years with the anti-calc feature, I’d conjecture that that will be a very long time indeed.