Tobi Steamer

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Tobi Steamer

by Chris H.
(Westfield, NJ, USA)

A few months ago, I purchased a Tobi Steamer from a wholesale retailer, believing that it would be easy to use, and in the words of the website, "even fun!" It wasn't. I got the device home and spent the next four hours trying to figure out how to remove the darned thing from its box and assemble it. The directions were unclear and in some cases even wrong. The bar to hold the clothes wasn't sturdy and took me nearly an hour to set up.

Once I had finally figured out how it was put together, I was left with a large pile of trash packaging, including plastic bags and twist ties of all shapes and sizes. There was so much trash packaging that I felt bad for the environment just looking at it all.

I took the water container and filled it, figuring I would test out the steamer with a wrinkled shirt of mine. Of course, the directions didn't help out and so I ended up spilling some water on my carpet when I tried to connect it all together. Once I had finished connecting it to the unit, I powered it up and waited for it to preheat. It took about ten minutes until steam started coming out of the unit, and even then, it wasn't very powerful. I was disappointed, but tried it on a shirt.

The steam didn't seem to have much of an effect (aside from burning me whenever I got too close). I spent about 20 minutes trying to properly steam the shirt, but to no avail. After burning myself particularly badly, I gave up and got out my old iron.

In short, the device is flimsy and doesn't even function well. I spent too long setting the darn thing up to have it fail so badly, and it was taken back to the store the next day. I didn't even repackage it - the manager at the store understood when I showed him my burned hands and just took it back, no questions asked.

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Tobi Steamer

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Nov 17, 2009
Rating

NIGHTMARE
by: KD

I am burned.
It is broken.
Run-around from the company.
It's a long, drawn-out story that I am too beaten to repeat after spending another hour on the phone with Tobi's "Customer Service." The bottom line is, they will replace my lemon of a unit; however, since it has now been over a year (I have been trying to get my money back from month 1 to no avail and then as a new tactic, at least, to get the dang thing replaced) they will only do it if I PAY THEM ANOTHER $24 to purchase a 1 year limited warranty! Of course, I do not recommend giving them another penny much less $24! So, I did some investigating and discovered they are a "Proud Platinum Member of the Electronic Retailers Association (ERA)." The VP of the ERA's Membership Division is Robin Greenspan and her phone number is (703) 908-1036 and her e-mail is rgreenspan@retailing.org. So armed with that knowledge, I suggest anyone who is having difficulty with the product/company should get in touch with Robin, I did.

Oct 19, 2009
Rating

no steam
by: Anonymous

I have had this steamer for about a year now and I get no more steam from it. I tried running vinigar through it but that worked for about 2 weeks now I am back to no steam again. Now I have to spend the money on buying a new one. Any suggestions? I will pay for a good one.

Sep 10, 2009
Rating

Wrinkle free clothing in minutes.
by: Anonymous

Pros
- easy to use
- fast results

Cons
- price
- short cord

You'll never need to use your iron again if you purchase this steamer. It's so convenient to use. You just leave your clothing on the hanger. You no longer need to get out the ironing board to have wrinkle free clothes. The steam removes wrinkles much more quickly than ironing and you don't have to keep going over the wrinkled area.

The Tobi steamer is much more economical than taking your entire wardrobe to the dry cleaners. And it saves time because it only takes a couple of minutes of your time to steam a garment. You can store your steamer almost anywhere. And easily bring it out as needed. You'll have professional results in minutes.

You can also use this steamer to steam your curtains to remove wrinkles or to freshen them. You can just leave them hanging on the curtain rod and steam them. It doesn't get much easier than that. It's also nice to remove wrinkles on bedding. Ironing is no longer a hassle since I have my Tobi steamer.

I no longer lose my patience trying to iron my clothes. I just use my steamer and finish the job in no time. And I'm saving lots of money in the process. Removing wrinkles from my clothing no longer consists of running to and from the cleaners or spending hours ironing my clothes myself. I can now have wrinkle free clothing in minutes.

And it's no longer a hassle; it's now actually an enjoyable process.

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Sep 10, 2009
Rating

Submitted by: Anonymous

Title

Comment
<b>Pros</b> - easy to use - fast results <b>Cons</b> - price - short cord You'll never need to use your iron again if you purchase this steamer. It's so convenient to use. You just leave your clothing on the hanger. You no longer need to get out the ironing board to have wrinkle free clothes. The steam removes wrinkles much more quickly than ironing and you don't have to keep going over the wrinkled area. The Tobi steamer is much more economical than taking your entire wardrobe to the dry cleaners. And it saves time because it only takes a couple of minutes of your time to steam a garment. You can store your steamer almost anywhere. And easily bring it out as needed. You'll have professional results in minutes. You can also use this steamer to steam your curtains to remove wrinkles or to freshen them. You can just leave them hanging on the curtain rod and steam them. It doesn't get much easier than that. It's also nice to remove wrinkles on bedding. Ironing is no longer a hassle since I have my Tobi steamer. I no longer lose my patience trying to iron my clothes. I just use my steamer and finish the job in no time. And I'm saving lots of money in the process. Removing wrinkles from my clothing no longer consists of running to and from the cleaners or spending hours ironing my clothes myself. I can now have wrinkle free clothing in minutes. And it's no longer a hassle; it's now actually an enjoyable process.

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Aug 12, 2009
Rating

Waste of money
by: Anonymous

I wanted the freedom of not using an ironing board to steam clothes. I bought this product on sale ($85). I read instructions on how to set up. The instructions were a waste of time reading them. I ended up figuring it out for myself (20 min to set-up). Garment pole was flimsy, I couldn't get it to be as tight as I wanted it. I hung a suit jacket and skirt to test out the steamer. Took some time for steamer to be ready. Then trying to steam jacket was unsuccessful - once I got the wrinkles out of one area and move onto the next area, the would be wrinkles in the area I just finished (I'm getting more and more frustrated as I continued to use this product). I didn't even try to steam the skirt. I would have taken it back to the store had I not waited beyond the 30 days to test product. Spend a few extra dollars and get a quality steamer like Jiffy or Rowenta. I'm back to using the Rowenta that uses an iron board. Not the best combination when trying to steam suitjackets but it works 100 times better than the Tobi.

Jun 10, 2009
Rating

Buy a Jiffy Steamer Made in USA
by: Anonymous

Made in China :( After a week of use I threw the Tobi away and purchased a JIFFY STEAMER Made in USA :)

Mar 05, 2009
Rating

Wrinkles fall out with ease
by: Andrew B.

I've been in the market for a clothes steamer for a while now. I detest ironing my garments the traditional way. When I came across the Tobi Professional Portable Wrinkle Removing Machine one night on a late night infomercial, I was intrigued, but I had to take a pass as the unit was well over $100. About a month later I ran across the same unit for sale online at a substantially lower cost, $84.95, at sterlingtime.com. I'd never heard of the retailer, but a couple of solid reviews on the retailer comforted me enough to pull the trigger.

The unit arrived in about four working days, not bad considering it was a large package and I paid for standard shipping. I had an interview the next day and my suit was a bit wrinkly so I was relieved to receive the Tobi in time. I opened the unit and it seemed to be secured in the package sufficiently, so I wasn’t too worried about the unit being damaged. Included in the package were the main body of the unit the hose, and a pole to hang garments on.

It was basically preassembled so I was ready to fire the sucker up. I filled the Tobi up with distilled water (not required, but I wanted to make sure the minerals in my well water didn’t destroy my cotton suit) and plugged it in. The Tobi started producing steam within a couple of minutes, which was quicker than I imagined, so I ran to get my suit out of the dirty clothes hamper. Once I had my suit jacket hung up, I held the bottom taught and started with a side to side motion from the bottom up, but unfortunately I forgot to move my hand once the steamer got close to it and I burned a couple of my knuckles.

After I returned from my shop with a protective welding glove, I continued on the jacket. The results were amazing; the wrinkles fell out of the coat rapidly with ease. I continued with the pants, but I wasn’t successful at maintaining the crease that was present initially, a small price to pay for saving $15 dollars to get a suit dry cleaned. The suit was my grandfathers, so he would be proud that I restored it to it’s original condition.

The suit was wrinkle free and ready to don within 5 minutes. I had a little time to spare, so I thought I would surprise my grandmother and steam her curtains, once again the steam accomplished what it advertised and released the wrinkles swiftly while also releasing a musty odor that had been present for years. She was so excited when she arrived to find her curtains looking and smelling new again, and she even mistakenly thought I was Grandpa when she walked in the door, maybe because I was wearing his suit and smoking his pipe in his favorite chair?

I would highly recommend this unit for expensive dry cleaning garments such as suits and irregular shirts, but not so much for men’s dress shirts, those are around a dollar to dry clean, so you won’t lose much here…Happy steam ironing.

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Mar 05, 2009
Rating

Submitted by: Andrew B.

Title

Comment
I've been in the market for a clothes steamer for a while now. I detest ironing my garments the traditional way. When I came across the Tobi Professional Portable Wrinkle Removing Machine one night on a late night infomercial, I was intrigued, but I had to take a pass as the unit was well over $100. About a month later I ran across the same unit for sale online at a substantially lower cost, $84.95, at sterlingtime.com. I'd never heard of the retailer, but a couple of solid reviews on the retailer comforted me enough to pull the trigger. The unit arrived in about four working days, not bad considering it was a large package and I paid for standard shipping. I had an interview the next day and my suit was a bit wrinkly so I was relieved to receive the Tobi in time. I opened the unit and it seemed to be secured in the package sufficiently, so I wasn’t too worried about the unit being damaged. Included in the package were the main body of the unit the hose, and a pole to hang garments on. It was basically preassembled so I was ready to fire the sucker up. I filled the Tobi up with distilled water (not required, but I wanted to make sure the minerals in my well water didn’t destroy my cotton suit) and plugged it in. The Tobi started producing steam within a couple of minutes, which was quicker than I imagined, so I ran to get my suit out of the dirty clothes hamper. Once I had my suit jacket hung up, I held the bottom taught and started with a side to side motion from the bottom up, but unfortunately I forgot to move my hand once the steamer got close to it and I burned a couple of my knuckles. After I returned from my shop with a protective welding glove, I continued on the jacket. The results were amazing; the wrinkles fell out of the coat rapidly with ease. I continued with the pants, but I wasn’t successful at maintaining the crease that was present initially, a small price to pay for saving $15 dollars to get a suit dry cleaned. The suit was my grandfathers, so he would be proud that I restored it to it’s original condition. The suit was wrinkle free and ready to don within 5 minutes. I had a little time to spare, so I thought I would surprise my grandmother and steam her curtains, once again the steam accomplished what it advertised and released the wrinkles swiftly while also releasing a musty odor that had been present for years. She was so excited when she arrived to find her curtains looking and smelling new again, and she even mistakenly thought I was Grandpa when she walked in the door, maybe because I was wearing his suit and smoking his pipe in his favorite chair? I would highly recommend this unit for expensive dry cleaning garments such as suits and irregular shirts, but not so much for men’s dress shirts, those are around a dollar to dry clean, so you won’t lose much here…Happy steam ironing.

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Feb 23, 2009
Rating

Saves much time
by: Anonymous

Tobi Steamers make use of the similar technology as any other dry cleaning industries to fast and efficiently get rid of creases. They tend to be a bit high priced but one can get one at 60% off. The Tobi steamer is a professionally solid feel built, compact and easy to use and adapt to.

I love ironing and the Tobi steamer has really played a major role in saving a lot of my ironing time. It is efficient in:

* Removing creases from all your clothes
* Gliding over the buttons, pockets, prints and sequins.
* Eliminating unlikable odors making the clothes to have a laundry fresh smell
* Preventing the clothes from burning or scorching.
* Beautifully working on all fabrics - with no ripping or tearing.

The Tobi Steamer is portable as it can be carried from one room to another; it is durable and runs on standard AC current so it does not require batteries. The Tobi steamer has been expected to perform so much that people want it to replace the ironing all at once.

Customers' initial problems with the Tobi are the same that they would have with any other steamer. One has to get a chance to use it so as to get adapted to it as moving from the iron to the steamer can be cumbersome to most people.

I have tried steaming a t-shirt, polo neck shirt, and I felt impressed. These types of garments have given me the most dreaded ironing moments as they are more trouble than they are worth but with the Tobi steamer I enjoyed working all the way which I see was worth it. It was fast and effective and also with the be

st results. It only took me 10 minutes to be done with the steaming! The thing is that the steam is not going to get in place of the iron as for a crispy finish; iron is the way to go while for the shirts and pants Tobi is the way to go. Blissful Steaming!

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Feb 23, 2009
Rating

Submitted by: Anonymous

Title

Comment
Tobi Steamers make use of the similar technology as any other dry cleaning industries to fast and efficiently get rid of creases. They tend to be a bit high priced but one can get one at 60% off. The Tobi steamer is a professionally solid feel built, compact and easy to use and adapt to. I love ironing and the Tobi steamer has really played a major role in saving a lot of my ironing time. It is efficient in: * Removing creases from all your clothes * Gliding over the buttons, pockets, prints and sequins. * Eliminating unlikable odors making the clothes to have a laundry fresh smell * Preventing the clothes from burning or scorching. * Beautifully working on all fabrics - with no ripping or tearing. The Tobi Steamer is portable as it can be carried from one room to another; it is durable and runs on standard AC current so it does not require batteries. The Tobi steamer has been expected to perform so much that people want it to replace the ironing all at once. Customers' initial problems with the Tobi are the same that they would have with any other steamer. One has to get a chance to use it so as to get adapted to it as moving from the iron to the steamer can be cumbersome to most people. I have tried steaming a t-shirt, polo neck shirt, and I felt impressed. These types of garments have given me the most dreaded ironing moments as they are more trouble than they are worth but with the Tobi steamer I enjoyed working all the way which I see was worth it. It was fast and effective and also with the be st results. It only took me 10 minutes to be done with the steaming! The thing is that the steam is not going to get in place of the iron as for a crispy finish; iron is the way to go while for the shirts and pants Tobi is the way to go. Blissful Steaming!

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