When it comes to keeping a tidy living space, there isn't much I won't do. Taking out the garbage? Washing the dishes? Vacuuming? All fine by me. But ironing? Now there's a wrinkle in my psyche that just can't ever get pressed out. The tedium, the constant steaming, the ever-challenging cordplay as you navigate your rumpled garments. You pull out an iron, and I run.
That is, until I laid my wrinkle-wary hands on Panasonic's NI-WL600, a cordless model that not only provides better, faster ironing than my years-old $20 Target purchase, but also the freedom of 360-degree motion that has me reconsidering my longtime aversion to the sight of a standup ironing board.
The NI-WL600 relies on a docking station that leaves a minimal footprint, even if you prefer to leave it sitting on the far end of your board. Three heat levels and three steam preferences are easily accessible atop the iron and provide for quick preference-changing for moving between cottons (high), wools (medium) and acrylics (low). And carrying the operation from your closet to the board is easy, thanks to the handled, snap-top lid that hooks to the underside of the docking station.
Aside from the accessibility that it allows, the NI-WL600 is excellent for all your basic, ironing needs. Straightening my cotton shirts was never easier. Denim jeans were a dream. The way the football-shaped head of the iron moves around and into the tiniest corners made removing wrinkles from a load of shirts – dare I say? – fun. That I could plow through my batch faster and without needing the kind of slight-of-hand skills that'd make Ricky Jay blush was a joy.
Still, these results don't come that easy. I had to liberally and constantly press the steam button in order to get the kind of vaporization that smooths out the most stubborn of wrinkles.