****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I've had this for a while and finally figured out how to set it up to use easily. I have a catch-all in the bathroom, so I set up a hook nearby. I put it away in the catch-all, and when needed, I put some water in it, plug it in (it starts when you plug it in)... then hang a piece of clothing on the hook. In a few minutes it's steaming. You can tell without risking your fingers by just pointing it at a mirror or something. By the way, don't point it at your wall, it will steam your wallpaper off.So holding it upright, I steamed two items of clothing, getting some wet spots, not too big. No more wrinkles. They were both cotton clothes, but it took the nasty wrinkles out of the hems of T shirts for instance. Watch your fingers, you'll have to hold the clothing up with a finger so you can "open" wrinkles, don't get too close to your hands. Having it in the bathroom means I can tap the opening against the towels once in a while, and reduce the dripping.The downsides I noticed are that you can't really do a whole load of laundry this way unless you have an empty rack to hang them on to finish drying. The clothes do become a bit damp. An iron is still better for mass ironing since you can put all the clothes in the closet right away. The other downside is, you steam up your bathroom, so run the fan and limit your time, unless you want to see fungus growing. Actually if you see fungus, you can kill it with the steam too.One of the biggest upsides of steam over iron, is that the steam kills any lingering germs in the armpit region of clothes. Like polyester stuff that won't wash clean, it destroys those germs.So it's not a replacement for an iron, it's just a different option.I'm giving this steamer 3 stars but figured out a way to get it to work like a 5 star product. I needed a travel size steamer for our destination wedding. Because I wanted something compact I knew the tank size would be small and that I might need to refill throughout the steaming "session." The product is about the size of a medium hair dryer. I tried it out at home and was initially very disappointed with how much water sprayed out along with the steam, leaving water drips and spots all over my dress. This is ok for some fabrics but ruinous for others. The table where I had the steamer sitting was also covered in water (be sure to use a towel under it). As other reviews have mentioned, there is no on/off switch so once you plug it in, it starts heating up. Similarly there are no controls to turn it off to keep it from running dry. I figured I would be sending it back and started to look for other steamers. I also placed a call to a bridal shop to get recommendations for where to get my dress pressed. The very kind seamstress at the shop suggested I use a piece of cheesecloth over the steamer to stop the spitting water from getting on the dress. I put the cheesecloth (folded over like it comes in the package) over the steamer with a rubber band and this did the trick! The steamer worked like a charm. It was more effective than when I tried it without the cheesecloth and there were no water spots, the cheesecloth caught them all. I changed the cheesecloth a few times to keep it from being too soaked. I hate making adaptations to products to make them work, but for the price and what I need this for, this steamer with some cheesecloth is now a good enough product to keep.Hello - I am in no way related to the SteamFast company. I have owned two other travel/compact steamers:Jiffy, makes a very good steamer as well, however, it is more than twice the money and, although I had their compact steamer for at least six years, I didn't use it that much (as I had their industrial steamer) and recently the heater unit on it broke. So I'm not sure that their quality is so good unless I got a lemon. Additionally, the Jiffy model is slightly larger than the SteamFast model. (Note: This SteamFast is not dual voltage, just 120v only. Jiffy has a dual voltage steamer that works well too.)The other model I used was a Franzus and the only thing better about this one was it's size. As a steamer it doesn't perform well at all.The SteamFast Compact Fabric Steamer SF-435W does a very good job (just as good as Jiffy) at steaming out wrinkles - it has more steaming holes than Jiffy - (though if you want a super crisp look nothing replaces an iron), it's price is great for the quality, and it's a bit smaller than the Jiffy though it is larger that it 'feels' in the photo. I'd like to see them make this unit at least a couple of inches smaller but it's still a great unit. In my opinion, this unit can be used at home (especially since home units are much more expensive and take up a lot of room) or for traveling. A very good product. I highly recommend it. (I also recommend using distilled or purified water in clothes steamers whenever possible as it will extend the life of the unit.) Tip: Use an oven mitt when steaming garments - this allows one to put a hand under the garment while steaming for a better result. Other tip: Stretch fabric tightly while steaming for the best results. You can also steam things like hats and purses that have gotten bent (may help further to give straw hats a light water spray beforehand) or suede and leather that has creased though take special care to use the steamer only in short bursts or you may damage the leather/suede. Don't overfill as the unit (like all steamers) will spit water drops.I'm giving this steamer 4 stars instead of 5 only because I've yet to find a better travel steamer, however, there is some room for improvement on performance though it works quite well for traveling and saves on pressing bills at hotels, and, of course, the convenience.Very compact, easy to pack and take along when traveling. I bought it to steam my wedding dress and was very pleased with how well it worked. Anyone who has had to steam the wrinkles out knows how hard it is with wedding dress material. Would definitely recommend this product.This product was useless. I followed the instructions to the letter and the steam was pitiful. As I tried to steam my dress, the wrinkles were not at all affected by this tiny wisp of steam coming out of this fabric steamer. Nothing really happened. What a waste of money.Use nearly daily. Absolutely love this easy to use steamer. Makes all my clothes look flawless and polished. Heats up fast. Love it so much that my mother bought the same one. Excellent.Bought this after a Youtuber recommended. Not useful for me. I wear a lot of natural fabrics. May be better on polyesters, rayons, etc.Perfect for what I need it for, much easier than those bulky machines
