The Bottom Line: The Tobi Steamer removes most wrinkles, and works very well on silk, but we do not think this is the ultimate replacement of the iron. Clothes are left damp and musty smelling, and cotton items are still left slightly wrinkled after use. It is also not easy to store. It is a fine product if all you need it for is silk clothing.
Reviewed by: Leydi FloresReviewed on: 8/28/2009 5:39:22 PM
What It Claims To Do:The Tobi Steamer claims to be the first and only Portable Wrinkle Removing Machine. It claims to be 5x faster than ironing, remove unpleasant odors, and get your clothing and drapes looking beautiful and wrinkle free. What We Found: First impression: for someone who is as tall as I am (5'11), the Tobi Steamer is a little uncomfortable to use. I had to bend down a little to steam the clothes. As claimed, it only took about 30 seconds for the Tobi to start steaming. One difficulty in using the Tobi is that you have to hold your clothes down while you steam them, otherwise the clothing moves too much and does not get wrinkle-free. The Tobi removed the larger wrinkles from a cotton button-down shirt, but did not remove the smaller wrinkles. Plus, if your fingers get too close to the steamer, the heat can burn. We burned ourselves a few times in trying to remove the wrinkles. We also noticed that using the Tobi leaves clothes slightly damp, so they are not ready to wear right after being steamed. We did not think the Tobi removed foul odors. In fact, we thought that clothing steamed with the Tobi came out smelling musty from the steam. The Tobi was also not faster than an iron - we had to steam the same piece several times to get out the wrinkles, taking us about a minute and a half for just one side of the shirt. And even after that, we did not think it was wearable. The steamer worked very well on silk. It removed all the wrinkles from a pair of denim jeans, but did not leave them looking crisp and shiny the same way an iron would. A pair of cotton pants, like the cotton shirt, did not work well with the Tobi Steamer - small wrinkles were not removed. We found that it also did not remove the smaller wrinkles on hanging drapes. Bottom Line: The Tobi seems to have a good idea, but does not live up to all its claims. Though it works well on silk and denim, it does not give clothing the crisp, shiny look of ironing, and it leaves clothes damp and smelling slightly musty. If you want the Tobi to steam your silk clothing that you are afraid to iron, go ahead. Otherwise, we suggest keeping your iron for now.