The 1500-watt Maytag M400 is a powerful iron: it will heat up quickly (it competes with many $100+ irons in this regard), produce a lot of steam, and easily get you through a big heap of laundry. A significant advantage is that its price is very competitive - under $50.
You don't have to wait long before starting to iron: the M400 is ready to use in under 55 seconds with a full tank of water. Most steam irons take about 2-3 minutes.
You can use this iron as a clothes steamer to get rid of wrinkles very quickly. This is handy if you're in a hurry and suddenly realize that you forgot to iron your shirt, for example.
The sole plate is made out of stainless steel that glides easily on the clothes. The iron itself weighs 3.3 pounds, which is heavy enough to smooth out the wrinkles but not to make you tired.
The temperature controller is right under the handle, so it's hard to see what setting it is currently on. You also have to use both hands to change it while ironing.
At three pounds, this iron is heavy enough to smooth out the wrinkles without requiring too much effort on your part. It also helps that the soleplate has a stainless steel surface that easily glides on all fabrics.
If you're in a hurry, or only need to iron a shirt, for example, and don't want to take out the ironing table, you can just hang the wrinkled garment and quickly blast it with steam from your iron.
You don't have to worry about leaving this iron unattended: To prevent accidents, it has a safety switch that will shut it off after 30 seconds if it's laid on the soleplate or tipped over, and after 15 seconds if you put it on the heel.
There's no LED indicator that would show that the iron has reached the required temperature. It takes about two minutes to heat up, so you'll have to keep an eye on the watch.
Sometimes you can notice drops of water collecting at the steam holes of the iron which creates a risk that it will start leaking water on your clothes.
The base plate has a pointed tip at the end that can easily reach in areas that are often hard to access, for example, between buttons and around zippers.
There's a safety shut-off that turns the iron off if you leave it on the soleplate or lying on the side longer than 30 seconds or put it on the heel for more than 8 minutes.
It's very easy to pour too much water in the tank because it's made out of non-transparent grey plastic that makes it hard to see how much water is left.
Contrary to what most people would expect, on this iron a blue light indicates that it's heating up. A red one shows that it has reached the right temperature.
This specific model has ceramic sole plate instead of stainless steel, that is used for 80% of all domestic irons. Because of the ceramic coating of the sole plate the glide is smoother for ironing. This coating is more suitable for synthetic fiber garments as there is no static electricity accumulating during the ironing process and no clinging on the fabric. This feature is important in household with kids. Makes the environment safer. Unfortunately from time to time ceramic coating can pick up the color of the fabric over time. To avoid this customer need to use only dry setting, especially on bright color garments. That means no steam function if you want to save your garmet color and keep it bright colored for longer. Another advantage of the ceramic sole plate is cleaning. It`s super simple and quick. It can be done with a clean cloth and there is no need to use any kind od melting sticks that can ruin the sole plate or the ironing board.
Due to ergonomically designed handle the iron is suitable for longer period use as the using hand will not get tired or it will not cause cramps or any kind of inflexibility for the hand. This is a big advantage for people who use their iron for several hours a day. Another asset to good design is the location of the temperature regulation button. It is located at the top of the iron, so it doesn't disturb chuckles of your hand while ironing and it`s also easy to change the settings without reaching under the handle of using other hands help. Ergonomic design allows the water tank to hold more water than usual irons in this price group. It can hold enough water to work more than 15 min non-stop using full steam capacity. This feature is suitable for people who use iron for commercial needs, for example quilting or any other home based design studio.
Iron doesn't come with a water container for filling up the reservoir. It means you`ll have to find a tiny container yourself or use the old one from the previous iron. Also there is no max level water indicator line on the iron, so no guidelines about how much water can be too much and how much water in general can be filled in the iron. This means it can be easily over-poured or too little for steam function to work.