This Shark needs to be Harpooned!

My last iron was a $100 Rowenta Pro. Loved it while it worked but for a hundred bucks, I wanted something to last more than a year.

Several months ago we saw the Shark Euro-Pro at BJ's Wholesale Club. It was on a featured display with a video...there's even a cool video right on the box! My kids loved that feature.

The price was great...about $35 so we figured if it only lasted as long as our Rowenta we'd still be $65 ahead of the game.

The first thing I noticed was although it was A LOT easier to fill than the Rowenta, the iron still needed to be held at an awkward angle to do so. It did however come with it's own little fill cup which did help direct the water into the iron rather than trying to pour from a jug or measuring cup.

I live in an old home, electrical outlets are at a minimum so I've always found it frustrating that most newer appliances have very short cords. The Shark however has a 12 foot cord. While it's nice to know that I can wander the house, iron in hand...no chaining me to the ironing board!, it's disturbing to think that a roving band of laundry thieves could tie me up with my own iron cord and make off with my husbands shirts! Kidding aside, I wonder if there's some kind of code violation there, it's easy to get tangled up in it.

The control button is conveniently located on the handle...right...about...where your thumb would rest. I think this is why the iron seems to "mysteriously" exercise it's ability to turn itself off. I noticed reviewers of other models stating that theirs turned off seemingly for no reason but if the design on theirs is the same, the mystery may be solved! Now I'm not entirely sure that's what happens. I haven't actually caught myself pushing the control button by mistake, but based on it's location, it's a good bet that in the throes of wild pleating, I may have done...

Now, my biggest complaints about my Rowenta were that after a few months, the fabulous steam feature seemed to lose it's, well, steam...followed by spitting and dribbling that worsened over time. I had that iron for about 10 years although it hadn't worked properly after the first. It's amazing how long one will work around a faulty appliance! The Shark Euro-Pro didn't keep me waiting! It began to leak after only about 6 or 8 weeks.

Mind you, I am not the Ironing Queen (a title still held by my mother). After my 3rd child, I was burnt out and when number 4 came along, if it needs ironing, it ends up in the "Ironing Pile" until such time as it's outgrown and is handed down. Until recently, my husband took his work shirts to the cleaner so this iron had had a pretty easy life used only for wrinkle emergencies.

When my husband decided to start doing his own shirts I began to awaken regularly to the sounds of muttering and more than once cursing as the iron spewed all over the front of the shirt he was working on.

Still, in the tradition of the Olde Rowenta... we put a spray bottle on the ironing board, stopped using the steam feature and pressed on...

Until Sunday. After ironing the first panel of my curtains, I went to hang it in the next room. When I returned not 3 minutes later, I noticed an acrid smell and saw steam that didn't look like steam rising from the nose of the iron. As the room filled with smoke I yanked the plug, unwound the cord from the legs of the ironing board and put it outside. It didn't flame up, but was definitely burning inside.

Stay away!