Hamilton Beach Durathon Iron and a Giveaway

Seemingly out of nowhere one day I was asked if I'd be interested in receiving a new iron and writing a review about it. I have a history of buying cheap irons (and I'm not just talking price), and unfortunately I always got what I paid for--leakage, water stains, no steam or enough to open a sauna, things like that. So I jumped on this very timely offer to review the Durathon Iron by Hamilton Beach.

You are about to see me get all gush-crazy over an appliance, my dears. To start, it's an iron. It gets wrinkles out. Nothing new there. However, when you compare this iron to my others it is decidedly a very different piece of equipment.

• Retractable cord--I've always shied away from this feature, for some reason. But I love it. At the press of a button it's all wrapped up, nice and tidy. And you only have to pull out as much of the cord as you need.
• Non-stick plate--zips along, nice and smooth. Dreamy. I've had metal sole plates before, and I hate them. 
• Amazing steam--I used to turn my steam setting way up and still have troubles. This thing steams like Old Faithful. As a matter of fact, I have to turn the steam setting down, it gets so hot. Awesome sauce. And no intermittent, I'm-not-really-feeling-like-it today sort of steaming. Nice and consistent.
• The light system--each type of fabric has its own light color as you start it up. I press until I get to orange or red (for cotton or linen), so it's nice and hot for my sewing work. Another nifty feature--there's no guessing when the iron might be ready. As it heats up, the light flashes. When it's done flashing, you're ready to go.
• Auto shut-off--on my other irons that had this feature, it would shut off after a set period, whether you were using it or not, and then I had to unplug and replug to get it to come back on. This one won't shut off if you're using it, and if it does time out you just press the 'on' button. And when it does shut off it beeps a few times to let you know.
• Beeps and boops--this iron has a nifty safety aspect. I'm a good one for leaving the iron down too long. In that iron-mark-on-a-blouse sort of way... This one beeps if you do that. Kind of like "Ahem, have a care, dear." So when I'm yakkety-yakking to someone and forget what I'm doing (or not doing) the iron reminds me.

There are two teeny things that don't thrill me. First, is the safety shut-off--I feel that six beeps is a little excessive. I want to turn around and yell "Allll riiiiighhhttt! I heard you!!!!!" The other thing is the little thingee that pops open so you can pour water into the iron. There is not much room there. I wish it opened a bit wider to make pouring easier. But those are minor things that are easily gotten over.

Truly, I love this iron. I would tell you otherwise, for sure. Which is why I'm super happy that I'm able to give one away to one of you. Simply leave me a comment (and a way to contact you) and I'll select a winner. I'll leave the comments open until Friday, February 28th at 11:59 pm EST, and pick a winner the next day-ish or so. This giveaway is open to US residents only.

I was not financially compensated for this post. I received the iron at no charge in exchange for an honest review. The opinions are completely my own based on my own experience. For my complete disclosure policy, click here.