Tobi Steamer

So our Tobi Steamer was actually a wedding gift; not something I bought. We put it on our registry because a steamer seemed like one of those things that well useful, we’d never buy ourselves.

And so far, while I have found uses for it, I’m not sure if I would have bought it myself.

It’s certainly an easy-to-set-up and use item. It heats up faster than my iron though I’m skeptical of its claim that it’s “up to five times faster than ironing”. Personally, I don’t find that it works any faster than my iron.

Because of its design (see the picture), I find that’s its great for steaming wrinkles out of our bedding. And I imagine that it’ll easy to use on my furniture (I say “imagine” because I’ve yet to actually use it on my sofa but I swear, I will).

However, I do find it a bit awkward to use on clothing. You're supposed to hang clothes off its built-in hook and then run the steamer head over your clothing. The thing is, because your shirt (or whatever) is just hanging there, you can’t really press against it like you would when using an iron and so I find that I have to go over deep wrinkles multiple times instead of just focusing on them for a few seconds.

You can of course use your other hand to pull on the clothing to create tension that makes steaming easier but still, it’s a bit awkward.

But, on the plus side, there’s no fussing with settings or fighting with an ironing board and despite the awkwardness, it does work.

The real reason why I likely would not have bought this item is that both Shawn and I are jeans-and-t-shirts people and most of our clothing doesn’t need steaming/we’re lazy. While I’ll certainly use it now that I have it, this isn’t an item we needed to have.

But some people, those who dress nicely for example, would probably find the Tobi steamer to be a great little device. And at just over $100, it’s certainly cheaper than dry cleaning.

If you do want to buy this item, I would recommend buying it from over here, and not from, oh, let’s say The Bay, because buying the Tobi direct from its distributor means you get a travel version that does look quite useful.

Would I buy this again: Probably not
Should you buy it: If you iron or dry clean on a regular basis then yes