Will a cordless iron make life easier?

Tired of tangled cords and having to set up your ironing board close to a power socket? You might be thinking a cordless iron will give you the freedom to take on the ironing task anywhere.

Cordless irons have two parts – the iron and the corded base. The iron heats up when it’s on the base and must be returned to the base to reheat when it gets too cool.

Unfortunately, our testing has found cordless irons are unlikely to make the job easier. We’ve tested two cordless irons – a $139 Russell Hobbs model and a $49 Anko one from Kmart – and they have the lowest scores in our test results.

Belinda Castles is our expert on irons at Consumer NZ and warns cordless irons don’t usually do a good job on thick cotton and linen.

“You need high heat for those fabrics and cordless irons start cooling down the moment they’re taken off their base,” Belinda says. “They’re a bit of a pain because you need to keep waiting for the iron to reheat on the base station before you can keep going with the ironing.”

The Russell Hobbs Freedom Cordless Iron RHC580 got the lowest performance score in our test – 68 out of 100. The Anko Cordless Steam Iron Grey SL-2055B-D-24 43063833 was a better option – it got 80 out of 100 for performance.

“If you really do want a cordless iron, the Kmart one would be the way to go. It was excellent on the lighter fabrics such as organza and silk but just be aware it’ll take longer on some fabrics. To finish a cotton shirt, we had to return it to the base to reheat many times.”

Belinda says you’d be better off thinking about cord length when you’re next buying an iron.

“Our iron test results note each model’s cord length and some of them have cords around 3 metres, while some of the shorter cords are only 1.8 metres. That extra metre or so might give you a bit more freedom.”

Four irons under $100 we recommend