Searching for the best iron box in India? Look no further! Our team has done the legwork for you, testing out five top-selling options to help you make the best choice. We put these irons through various tests, trying them on different materials to ensure they meet your ironing needs with ease and efficiency.
In the Indian market, you’ll find two main types of iron boxes: dry irons and steam irons, each with its unique benefits. Dry irons are budget-friendly and straightforward in operation. As the name implies, they solely use dry heat to remove wrinkles and creases. These irons are suitable for ironing light fabrics like cotton and easy-to-care-for clothes. They work well on delicate materials such as silk, where steam could potentially cause damage. If you mainly deal with lighter fabrics and fabrics with synthetic mix, a dry iron could be an ideal and cost-effective choice.
Steam irons, on the other hand, are designed for more demanding ironing tasks. They come equipped with a water tank, allowing them to produce steam that penetrates thicker fabrics made of pure cotton and denims effectively. The steam softens the clothes and helps to remove stubborn creases and wrinkles, making ironing faster and more efficient for heavier materials. If you often deal with thicker fabrics, a steam iron would be a suitable investment to achieve wrinkle-free results with lesser effort.
So now, before we go ahead into the detailed review, here are our top recommendations.
Our Top Recommendations
If you are looking for a dry iron, our top recommendation is the Havells Dazzle dry iron which comes with a 1100 watt heating element. It is comparatively better than the top-seller Bajaj DX6 at removing wrinkles and stubborn creases. But a drawback is that it has a slightly smaller power cord measuring 152cm, while Bajaj DX6 has 175cm long cord.
In the steam iron segment too, our recommendation is an option from Havells, their Aspire model, which comes with a 1400 watt power consumption, using a 16A power plug. While its performance is just a tad better than Philips GC1905, it offers much superior features. It has a self-clean function, larger soleplate and anti-drip function, which Philips GC 1905 lacks. Moreover, Havells Aspire is less expensive too, making it an overall better pick, provided you have an easy access to a 16A power plug.
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Table of Contents
How We Tested?
To find the best iron boxes in India, we bought 5 of the top-selling options in both dry and steam iron segments and put them to various tests. First, we took care of the physical parameters like length of cord, temperature range of the iron box, cut-off time, weight etc. Then, we used them on different materials. We first created wrinkles on different clothes by bunching and bundling them together. Then, we used each iron box on different types of cottons, silk, wool and synthetic clothes. We then analyzed aspects like ease of use and effectiveness at removing wrinkles to determine the best in both dry iron and steam iron categories.
Best Iron Box In India
Havells Dazzle 1100 Watts Dry Iron
With 1100 watt heating element and a 6 A power plug, Havells Dazzle is one of the best dry irons we tried. It has a comparatively shorter power cord measuring 152 cm. This is just about enough on a medium ironing board and provided you have a close access to power plug when ironing.
Weighing around 675gm, it was the heaviest among the dry irons we tried. The iron box settings include nylon, silk, wool, cotton and linen. It takes around 55 seconds to heat up the iron box to its maximum and the temperature ranges from around 100 C for nylon to 240 C at the maximum. Its soleplate is also fairly large among the options we tried.
Performance-wise, it was the best among the dry irons we tried. It works fairly well on soft cottons. But, at times, stubborn wrinkles just faints off, without getting completely removed. On thicker cotton, the performance is sub-optimal as a lot of wrinkles and creases remain even after repeatedly passing the iron box over the same spot.
The iron box removes wrinkles from silk and wool fairly well. But, then again, you may have to pass the iron repeatedly over the same area.
Overall, with a budget-friendly price tag and fairly good performance on soft cottons, synthetic mix, silk and wool, it is one of the best dry irons to opt for.
Bajaj DX6 1000 Watt Dry Iron
Bajaj DX6 is the most budget-friendly and the best-selling iron box in major e-commerce portals like Amazon and Flipkart. It comes with a 1000 watt heating element and 6 A power plug. Measuring 175cm, it had the longest power cord among the options we tried.
Unlike other options, the iron box heats up quickly. Its temperature ranges from around 85 C in nylon setting up to 230 C at the maximum. It weighs around 625 gm, which is slightly lesser than the former option from Havells.
Coming to the performance, it too does a fairly good job on soft cottons, synthetic mix and hosiery removing wrinkles and creases. But, when it comes to thick cottons, it too fails to impress. The iron can remove wrinkles on silk and wool fairly well. But for best results, it would be a good idea to slightly spray water on silk clothes before ironing ( after a patch test).
While it definitely is cheaper than Havells Dazzle, in terms of performance, we felt that Havells is slightly easier to use and better at removing wrinkles from soft cotton.
Crompton Instaglide 1000 Watt Dry Iron
Crompton Instaglide is one of the most stylish dry irons you could opt for. It comes with a 1000 watt heating element and 6 A power plug. The power cord, just like Havells Dazzle is shorter measuring 155cm.
The iron box takes around 50 seconds to reach the maximum temperature and cut-off. Weighing just 581 gm, it was the lightest among the dry irons we tried.
Its performance is just about average on thick cottons and fairly adequate on soft cottons. Similarly, it does a fairly good job on silk and wool.
One of the hyped-up features of Crompton Instaglide is its large soleplate. However, compared to other dry irons, we found it almost at par. When you compare with steam irons though, Crompton Instaglide is actually smaller.
Overall, with aesthetic appearance and fairly good performance, Crompton Instaglide is an option worth considering.
Havells Aspire 1400 Watt Steam Iron With Spray
Havells Aspire comes with a 1400 watt heating element and has a 16 A power plug. Comparatively, it is slightly larger and heavier than Philips GC 1905, about which we talk in the next part of the article.
The iron box has a 178cm long power cord and it takes 50 seconds to heat up to cut-off at the maximum setting.
The iron box weighs around 1050 gm. Even so, it doesn’t tire your arms when used for an extended duration. There is a convenient opening to fill water and the tank has 180 ml capacity, which is slightly larger than Philips GC 1905. You can release the steam in 3 settings.
Coming to the performance, it is a tad better than Philips GC1905 at removing stubborn wrinkles from thicker cottons. But, when it comes to other materials like wool, silk and thinner cottons, they are almost at par. Both removes wrinkles with comparative ease.
Distinct advantages of this iron box over Philips GC1905 is the larger soleplate, anti-drip system and self-clean button. With a lower price tag, it is definitely a better option to consider.
Philips GC 1905 1440-Watt Steam Iron With Spray
With 1440 watt power consumption and a 6A power plug, Philips GC 1905 is one of the best-selling steam iron boxes in India. It has a 186cm long power cord, which is fairly sufficient to reach shirts and pants from one end to the other without any hassle. The iron box comes with a water tank of 120 ml capacity. Weighing around 936 gm, it is a tad lighter than Havells Aspire.
The iron box has 5 settings, nylon, silk, wool, cotton and linen( max.). It takes around 50 seconds to heat up the iron box to its maximum setting. The iron box temperature ranges from 60-65 °C for nylon to around 215 °C at the max. setting.
There is a convenient opening to fill in water and you can adjust the quantity of steam you want to release in two levels. In addition, there is a spray too which you can use when you need to tackle particularly stubborn creases.
Coming to the performance, Philips GC 1905 makes it a breeze to remove crease and wrinkles from light cotton formal shirts and T-shirts. But, it does struggle a bit when ironing thick cottons and denims. It does remove wrinkles, but some stubborn creases remain. Moreover, you have to pass the iron box repeatedly over the same area when dealing with thicker cottons. Considering that it is one of the budget-friendlier steam irons, you cannot really complain much.
On the silk setting, the temperature seems to be lesser compared to other dry irons we tried. As a result, wrinkles and creases aren’t completely removed. You can however overcome this by slightly increasing the temperature and testing on a concealed spot first.
Coming to the drawbacks, as the iron doesn’t have any anti-drip system, water does drip when switching it on on steam-mode. Also, unlike many other steam irons at this price range, it doesn’t have a self-clean mode. Compared to a much budget-friendly option like Havells Aspire, the soleplate area is slightly smaller too.
Despite the drawbacks, it is one of the better options at this price range for ironing comparatively easy-to-care fabrics.