Philips All-in-One 8000 Series Garment Steamer Review: Way Too Convenient!
Before we get into the review, let's put things in perspective. Every fortnight, I iron my clothes, which means I usually have a bunch of things to iron: t-shirts, dress shirts, pants, shorts and such. A usual ironing session can take me anywhere from two hours to three hours. It's long, it's tedious, it's hot. I'm all for something that can make things easier for me.
That's where the Philips All-in-One 8000 Series garment steamer comes in. When I first got the chance to try it out, I thought to myself, "oh boy, this should cut my ironing time down for sure.". Well, it certainly did.
Let's talk about the steamer first. It's an upright steamer with a water tank at the bottom and even an integrated ironing board that can be used in a variety of angles. Set up was pretty easy, I just had to follow along with the visual guide on the box itself. My only quibble is that the pictures on the box flap are a bit small, so it might be hard to see for some people.
Once it's fully assembled though, it actually doesn't take up that much space since it's tall rather than long. There's a holder by the side where the steamer head can be stored, and it even swivels around, which is nice.
There's also a hook at the top to put a hanger so that clothes can be steamed and then directly hung up in a cupboard. I actually found myself steaming my shirts that way since it was more convenient.
The steamer also heats up really fast, Philips claims 90 seconds is all it takes, and I found that to be relatively accurate. The 2L water tank is also pretty large, I only needed to refill it once during my long ironing session, which is better than my regular steam iron. There's also no need to descale the water tank if you're using tap water here in Singapore since it was designed to be used with our local tap water, so that's nice. Do remember not to use perfumed water or the likes.
When I spoke to others about this garment steamer though, they were actually a bit curious if it would work for me since I typically wear a lot of cotton and flannel shirts, and steamers usually don't do as well with those types of fabrics. After I used the garment steamer for a while, I understood why the comment came up repeatedly.
If you're looking for the sharp look that regular irons provide, then this garment steamer is definitely not for you. But if you wear softer fabrics, like flannel in my case, it's actually quite decent. The steamer effectively removes creases and wrinkles, even if pulling the steamer head across a flannel shirt wasn't quite as smooth.
Left to right: Before, After
Here are two photos, before and after, of a flannel shirt. I purposefully made sure to ball up the shirt after washing to get plenty of creases and wrinkles in, and as you can tell, the Philips All-in-One 8000 Series garment steamer was able to remove most of it.
Left to right: Before, After
Moving on to a cotton t-shirt, here's a before and after. It was definitely easier to iron the t-shirt because it's softer and thinner than the flannel shirt.
Left to right: Before, After
When it comes to trousers, you'll most likely be wanting that sharp crease, but unfortunately, you won't get it with this steamer. Personally, it doesn't quite matter to me because most of the big creases and wrinkles were steamed out, and with thicker fabrics like chinos, I found that the steam plate could be pressed directly onto the fabric, mimicking an iron. It was particularly helpful when I was dealing with my chinos.
Something that I particularly liked with the garment steamer was that my clothes were never left damp. Sometimes with a regular steam iron, you get patches of damp fabric but that was never an issue here, which is nice.
Philips also claims that the steamer will never burn or scorch any ironable fabrics, although I couldn't really test it out since I didn't want to risk damaging any of my clothes.
But let's talk about the ironing time. Because it was so easy to just steam my clothes, I actually managed to finish my usual load (seven shirts, five t-shirts, two pairs of shorts and two pairs of trousers) in just slightly over an hour, including the time taken to set up the garment steamer, heating up and wheeling it back after.
Being able to cut my ironing time in half is a godsend, and while, yes, it comes with a tradeoff of not being able to really get that same crisp look as with a normal iron, it'll do in a pinch.
Retailing at S$519 at Harvey Norman and other retailers, it's not something that you'll buy on a whim, that's for sure. But considering that it's basically an ironing board and garment steamer all in one, it's actually pretty decent. Personally, I'd definitely be looking to get this in the future, simply because of how much time it saves me.