Although our first thought was to put this Steamer through some sort of terrible series of tests in an attempt to bring it to a quick and terrible demise, we fought the urge and proceeded to test it in a few "normal" situations... 

• Shirts
• Pants
• Dresses
• Curtains

The main goal here was to answer the following question: Is this a reasonable replacement for your loyal and trustworthy iron?  In order to answer this question, we simply used this steamer instead of an iron for one month.  Our conclusion comes in 3 parts: quality, convenience, and versatility.

For this test, our "quality" score is the quality (a.k.a. wrinkle-free-ness) of the garments after being steamed.  Sadly, the steamer falls just short of the old standby iron.  Steaming clothes and ironing clothes simply produce differing levels of flatness.  If flatness is important to you (obsessive, anyone?), then you will certainly notice the difference.  To be absolutely clear, the steamer does remove the wrinkles - it does not, however, produce the crispness that you may achieve with an iron.

before... wrinkles, many

after... wrinkles, less, still not perfect

Where it may falter in quality, this steamer makes up in convenience.  If you're constantly annoyed by the ritual that is inherent in ironing clothes, particularly finding a good place to set up your ironing operation, then this steamer may be your answer.  In the convenience category, this steamer gets high marks for it's ability to do it's job quickly and with very little space.  The issue of space is especially relevant if you happen to live in a small house or apartment and don't have a designated "ironing station" where you can leave your ironing board out and ready.  A steamer needs virtually zero extra space - you can simply leave the garment on the hanger and get right to steaming, which is convenient if you're one of those who think about this sort of thing 10 minutes before you leave for work in the morning (you know who you are).

Versatility is our way of saying that this steamer can actually do some things that an iron could never do.  Most notably, it can steam curtains... while they are still on the curtain rod.  Have you ever tried this with an iron?  Don't.  Curtains, dresses, and other delicate and/or hard-to-reach wrinkles are now within reach.  If you've ever taken an article of clothing to the dry cleaners simply because it was wrinkled and you didn't know what to do, this steamer may actually save you some money.

steam these in place

 We're not going to make any claims about the cleaning power of steam, but we're aware that people are making such claims.  If you choose to believe them, then consider that to be another benefit of owning a steamer.  Don't stop washing your clothes though - society is depending on you.

If the above ratings were our only results, the Emerson Fabric Steamer would succeed in winning our recommendation, but we've got more to throw at this week's widget.  We want to know how it handles some abuse, neglect, and maybe even some disaster situations.  Check back soon for more on this widget.

Emerson Fabric Steamer