Tower T22008
TOWER
Why This Iron Keeps Showing Up on "Best Budget Iron" Shortlists
Ironing is one of those chores nobody wants to think about until the pile on the airer starts sliding onto the floor. The Tower T22008 2-in-1 Steam Iron tackles that pile with a trick most irons in its price bracket don't offer: the freedom to unplug mid-session and finish off collars, cuffs, and awkward seams without dragging a cable behind you. It's a small mechanical idea, but it changes how ironing actually feels in your hands — and it's a big part of why this model has become a recurring pick in independent appliance testing, including recognition from the Good Housekeeping Institute as one of the standout steam irons in its category. Before you add it to your basket, here's what that cord-cordless system is really like to live with, where the compromises sit, and whether it earns a place in your utility cupboard.
Design, Build Quality, and How It Feels in the Hand
At 1.2kg, the T22008 sits firmly on the lighter end of the steam iron spectrum — noticeably easier on the wrist than the heavier press-style irons some brands sell on the promise of "gravity-assisted" crease removal. For anyone who irons standing at a board for twenty minutes or more, that weight saving isn't a minor spec; it's the difference between finishing the pile comfortably and needing a break halfway through a school uniform.
The body is finished with a soft-grip handle, which matters more than it sounds. Ironing generates heat and a small amount of steam backwash around the handle area, and a grippy, insulated surface keeps the tool feeling secure even when your hands are slightly damp from handling wet-ironed fabric. The CeraGlide soleplate — a multi-layered ceramic coating over the base — is the other tactile highlight. Ceramic soleplates are prized in this category because they combine a slicker glide than basic stainless steel with better scratch resistance than non-stick coatings, so the plate keeps performing smoothly across delicate blouse fabric one minute and heavy denim seams the next, without dragging or snagging.
The power cord measures 1.89 metres. That's a reasonable, though not generous, reach — fine for a board positioned near a wall socket, less forgiving if your ironing spot is in the middle of a room. This is precisely where the cordless function earns its keep: when the cord runs out of reach, you're not stuck relocating the whole board, you simply lift the iron off its base and keep working.
The 2-in-1 System: How Corded and Cordless Actually Work Together
This is the feature that defines the product, so it deserves an honest, detailed look rather than a marketing gloss.
Corded Mode
The iron sits on a small heated base station. In corded mode, you iron exactly as you would with any traditional iron — plugged in, continuously powered, no interruptions. This is the mode to use for long sessions: bedding, curtains, or a full basket of shirts, where you don't want to think about timing at all.
Cordless Mode
In cordless mode, you lift the iron off its base and iron completely free of the cable. Independent testing of this model has found that the iron holds enough heat for roughly 30-35 seconds of continuous ironing before it needs to go back on the base to reheat, with that reheat cycle taking around 15-20 seconds. In practice, this creates a rhythm: iron a small section, tap it back on the base while you reposition the garment, lift and continue. For quick jobs — smoothing a shirt collar, touching up cuffs, freshening something before you walk out the door — this rhythm barely registers, especially paired with the 30-second initial heat-up time that gets you started fast in the first place.
Where it matters more is on longer sessions. If you're working through a large pile using cordless mode exclusively, you will be returning to the base every half-minute or so, which some users understandably find breaks their flow compared with a fully corded run. The sensible approach — and the one the design clearly intends — is to treat cordless as a tool for reach and manoeuvrability around obstacles (ironing boards pushed against furniture, awkward sleeve angles, standing away from a wall socket) rather than as a replacement for corded mode on big batches.
One practical note worth flagging clearly: this iron does not have an auto shut-off function. It relies on you removing it from heat or switching it off at the wall. If you're the type of person who needs an iron that forgives a forgotten session, that's a real consideration — though the base's design does mean the iron isn't sitting directly heating a fabric surface the way a soleplate left face-down on a board would.
Steam Performance: What the Numbers Mean for Your Laundry
Steam irons are sold on two figures, and it's worth translating both into what you'll actually notice on fabric.
Continuous steam output of 40 grams per minute is the steady stream you'll use for the bulk of everyday ironing — cotton shirts, school trousers, bedding. This is a solid mid-to-strong output for a budget-tier iron; it's enough steam to relax fibres on medium-weight fabric without needing to go over the same spot repeatedly.
Steam shot of 180 grams per minute is the burst function you reach for on stubborn creases — the kind that form in denim seams, thick hems, or fabric that's been folded in a suitcase for a week. A steam shot works by punching a concentrated wave of moisture into the fibres in one go, which is far more effective on deep-set creases than continuous steam alone. The gap between the everyday output and the burst output here is wide enough that you genuinely feel the difference when you switch between them, rather than the shot feeling like a token extra.
The variable steam function lets you dial the humidity, direction, and power of the steam flow up or down depending on what's on the board — lighter for synthetics and delicates, fuller for heavier natural fibres. This kind of adjustability is what separates an iron that copes with your whole wardrobe from one that's really only tuned for cotton.
Vertical Steaming and the Anti-Drip System
The vertical steam function lets you hold the iron upright and blast steam horizontally into hanging fabric — a genuinely useful feature for freshening a jacket pulled from a wardrobe, smoothing curtains without taking them down from the rail, or de-wrinkling a dress right before you need to wear it. It's not a replacement for full ironing on a board, but for quick refreshes it saves real time.
The anti-drip system, paired with a button groove design, is there to solve a specific and annoying problem: irons that spit water droplets onto fabric when the soleplate hasn't quite reached steaming temperature. Nothing ruins a crisp white shirt faster than a water spot at low heat. This system is designed to hold back water flow until the plate is genuinely hot enough to convert it to steam rather than let it dribble through unconverted.
Water Tank, Refills, and Maintenance
The 360ml water tank sits toward the generous end for irons in this weight class, which translates into fewer trips back to the tap during a big ironing session. A measuring jug is included, which is a small but genuinely helpful inclusion — it takes the guesswork out of filling the tank to the right level without spilling into the housing.
Longevity is addressed through anti-calc and self-clean functions. Anti-calc systems are designed to reduce limescale build-up inside the water reservoir and steam vents — a real issue in hard-water areas, where scale is one of the most common reasons steam irons lose performance or start sputtering after a year or two. The self-clean feature lets you flush built-up mineral deposits out through the soleplate periodically, which is worth doing every few weeks if you're in a hard-water region, since neglecting it is the single most common cause of steam irons underperforming their rated output over time.
Who This Iron Is Genuinely Built For
- People who iron regularly but not in industrial quantities — a few shirts, a school uniform, the odd bedsheet. The 360ml tank and 40g/min steam comfortably cover this without needing a refill mid-session.
- Anyone whose ironing setup involves awkward angles or limited cord reach — cordless mode exists specifically to solve the "the socket is on the wrong side of the room" problem.
- People who want quick touch-ups before heading out — the 30-second heat-up and cordless freedom make this genuinely fast for last-minute jobs, not just long sessions.
- Buyers prioritising light weight — at 1.2kg, wrist fatigue on long sessions is much less of an issue than with heavier press irons.
- Anyone ironing a wide mix of fabrics, since the variable steam control and ceramic soleplate are built to handle both delicate and heavy materials without swapping settings constantly.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
- Households doing genuinely heavy ironing volumes — several loads of washing a week, commercial-adjacent quantities — will find the 30-35 second cordless runtime a limiting rhythm if used as the primary mode; corded use is fine here, but then the cordless feature itself goes underused.
- Anyone who wants "set it and forget it" safety — the lack of an auto shut-off means this isn't the iron for someone prone to walking away mid-session.
- Buyers who rely on a clear water-level window — several real-world owners of the darker colourways have noted the tank's water level can be hard to judge at a glance, which matters if you dislike guessing when a refill is due.
- Anyone chasing steam-generator-level output — this is a steam iron, not a steam station with a separate pressurised boiler. If you're ironing curtains, bedding, and heavy linens as a daily job, a steam generator's larger sustained output will outperform any handheld iron, this one included.
How It Stacks Up Against Other Iron Types
| Iron Type | Cord Freedom | Typical Steam Output | Session Length | Weight | Best Suited For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional corded iron | None — always tethered | Varies, often lower on budget models | Unlimited, no interruptions | Often heavier | Long, uninterrupted sessions with a well-placed socket |
| Tower T22008 (2-in-1 hybrid) | Switchable — corded or cordless on demand | 40g/min continuous, 180g/min shot | Unlimited in corded mode; ~30-35 sec bursts in cordless mode | 1.2kg | Mixed sessions needing both reach and manoeuvrability |
| Fully cordless steam iron | Complete freedom throughout | Often lower, since steam relies on stored heat/battery | Short bursts throughout, frequent reheating | Varies | Small touch-up jobs, travel, tight spaces |
| Steam generator / steam station | Corded, but with a separate steam hose | Significantly higher, continuous | Unlimited, high-volume | Heavier unit, though the iron head itself is light | Heavy, frequent, high-volume ironing |
The T22008's real competitive edge is that it doesn't force you to choose a lane. You get the unlimited runtime of a corded iron when you need it, and the manoeuvrability of a cordless model when the cable gets in the way — a genuinely useful middle ground for a household that irons a normal, not extreme, amount of laundry each week.
Strengths and Weaknesses, Honestly
The clearest strength here is versatility for its price point. Very few irons at this end of the market offer a true cord-cordless switch, a ceramic soleplate, dual steam output tiers, and vertical steaming all in one lightweight body. The 30-second heat-up genuinely delivers on the promise of quick touch-ups, and the anti-drip and anti-calc systems address two of the most common long-term irritations with budget steam irons — water spotting and performance decline from scale build-up.
The honest weak points cluster around the cordless mode's limitations. The 30-35 second runtime before needing to return to the base is a real constraint if you try to use cordless as your default mode for an entire ironing session rather than as a situational tool. The absence of auto shut-off is a deliberate design trade-off, not an oversight, but it does mean this isn't the safety-net iron for absent-minded ironing. And the water tank's visibility, according to owners of the darker colourways, isn't always easy to judge at a glance — a minor niggle, but one worth knowing about before you're mid-session guessing at refill timing.
None of these are dealbreakers so much as the natural trade-offs of building a genuinely dual-mode iron at a genuinely budget price. The question is whether those trade-offs match how you actually iron.
The Verdict: Should You Buy It
For anyone doing regular, moderate-volume household ironing who wants the flexibility to work untethered around awkward angles, corners, and short cord reach, the Tower T22008 is a strong, sensible pick — it's light, heats fast, steams effectively across a wide range of fabrics, and solves a genuine everyday annoyance without asking you to pay steam-generator money. If your ironing load is genuinely heavy and constant, or you specifically want an iron that runs cordless indefinitely, this isn't the model built for that job — but for the household that irons a few times a week and wants one tool that adapts to wherever the board ends up, this is a confident, easy recommendation.
What People Say
159 commentsNice iron but I found impractical for cordless
Bought on a whim as my current iron is getting old, saw this was able to be used cordless and it was on offer at a great price. It is a nice iron to use, quite light and easy to handle. The cordless function however I'm of mixed opinion off. I struggle to get my ironing board right next to any sockets and am too lazy to fetch an extension lead, consequently when I have to the use very tip of the ironing board, eg for the top back of a shirt, I struggle with lead length to get a good ironing angle. This does enable me to detach from the base and easily iron the top back of a shirt now however: the heat is not retained log in the iron so that is about all it will do as by the time I have done the top back and then positioned a sleeve, it is not hot enough so I immediately go back to having it corded. The style of my ironing board iron pad/holder also is not ideal for this iron. My pad is a hole with shaped side so the when used cordless the base will not sit on the ironing board so I then have to put the base on something near by and near the socket, bedside cabinet for example. The lead is quite strong and has a mind of its own so the base alone does not always stay where put, which is a nuisance. Also when in corded mode, the iron is slightly longer than my existing one, so this does not site so securely in the iron holder on the board. (Actually fell off, scorched the carpet and ended up with fibres stuck to the sole plate initially). I had given this 4 stars but having written all this have just given it 3. Ok it's not the irons fault it doesn't sit security in my board or that my board wont accommodate the base only for cordless mode, but this could be the case for many so whilst the idea of cordless is nice, in my case, the practicalities seem to outweigh the benefits.
Perfect for home use
I recently purchased the Tower T22008 2-in-1 Steam Iron, and here is my experience so far:
Pros:
Versatile Design: The 2-in-1 feature is excellent. It works both as a standard steam iron and a cordless option, which makes ironing much more flexible and convenient.
Quick Heat-Up: It heats up quite quickly, saving time when you're in a rush.
Lightweight & Easy to Handle: The iron feels comfortable in hand, and its lightweight design helps prevent arm fatigue during longer ironing sessions.
Steam Performance: The steam output is consistent and helps to tackle stubborn wrinkles effectively.
Good Value for Money: For its price point, the quality and features offered are very reasonable.
Excellent iron
Let me start by telling you I am a millennial. I do not iron. As soon as crease releaser was invented I was all over that. Sadly the time has come for my eldest to start high school and will be wearing shirts so I had to purchase an iron. Let me tell you this is worth every penny and I don’t even think it’s that expensive. The cordless feature is top notch. I hated the wire getting in the way when ironing previously and now that’s a thing of the past! It’s not heavy either so easy to handle and it heats up quick enough on the dock inbetween turning the garments round on the ironing board. I am ironing everything now because it is just so quick and easy. Very happy with my purchase.
Works well, but takes some getting used to
I bought this 2/3 weeks ago after reading the Good Housekeeping review and the first outing had me thinking, "have I done the right thing?" Concentrating on the instructions, the dial is the opposite way round to my previous iron, I figured that, to maintain the heat, it must be inserted into the charging pad as you turn the article you are ironing. The second outing was much better. The cable could be longer as my previous iron's was. I would imagine that it will get easier as I get used to it. The price is great and it is pretty light. 4 stars because a) it takes some getting used to and b) the cable could be half a metre longer for my situation
Does what it says on the box!!
Have used several times and a great iron! Heats up very quickly and is useful for when a cord gets in the way, such as using the iron for a quick item press on the bed, rather than taking out the ironing board!!
Haven’t found anything negative, and for a person that detests ironing, this is doing the job quickly and efficiently without any fuss or bother.
I use both features of corded and non corded depending on how big the ironing pile is.
Definitely worth the money so I say a great choice!!
Great so far …
My old iron suddenly caught fire part way through a pile of ironing. Really scary! I needed one at short notice when it was an unexpected expense and so I didn’t want to pay too much. It was in stock locally for immediate collection, which was fantastic It’s much lighter than my old one and being cordless is so much better. My old one was about 25 years old and never seemed to do a good job. I didn’t realise how much they’d improved and I should have replaced it sooner!
Cordless ironing - not!
I got this about 6 months ago because my old iron stopped working. It was meant to be like for like but this iron isn’t have as good. It works well when locked onto the base but when you unlock it you need to hold the base down every time you lift it off to iron cordless.
Apart from that it does the job and seems to be pretty accurate heat settings.
If you bought this for the purpose of a cordless iron (which I did) then you will be disappointed.
Good iron for everyday use
I bought the Tower 2-in-1 Steam Iron from Argos and it works really well. I like that it can be used with or without the cord – very useful when moving around.
It heats up quickly and the steam is strong enough to handle most clothes. The ceramic base glides smoothly, and it doesn’t leak water. It’s also easy to refill and clean.
For the price, it’s a great iron. Perfect for everyday ironing, and the cordless feature makes it even better!
Lite weight but does the job
I wasn’t sure about this iron as it’s a lot cheaper than I would normally spend but it had been highly recommended on a very well known consumer review site so I gave it whirl and in fairness it does what it says on the tin! It does feel very lite weight and overall smaller and more basic than my last iron which took some getting used to but actually it’s pretty good performance wise. My only criticism is that the cord could be longer.
Love it
Bought this about a month ago now as a replacement for my old corded one that I’d had for years that had finally broken. I loved the idea of cordless so thought I’d give this one a go, and I love it. Nice and light used either way, when cordless doesn’t stay hot for long but what do you expect, I don’t find this an issue as I naturally place it back down every min or so anyway. I would recommend and a bargain price in my opinion too.
Storage - Habitat Monica 2 Door Shoe Storage Cabin
So far so good. Lightweight to use. Base detaches with a lock -unlock button so that it can be used cordless, both ways are fine. Good steam. Base is very lightweight so sometimes flicks off the ironing board when placing back and picking up again, I put a finger to stop it from doing it now that I know this- other than that its fine and good value for the money, better than some I've had that were much more expensive.
Lightweight
Bought this as my iron had packed up. It's lightweight and the soleplate is a good shape for ironing into awkward corners. Was a bit disappointed when, upon 2nd use as an iron without using steam function, the soleplate suddenly stuck on a white shirt leaving a mark and a large brown mark on the soleplate. Have since adjusted temperature down a notch. Haven't actually used the steam function yet!
Easy to handle
I bought this product a few weeks ago and am very happy with it. The iron heats up really quickly for use without the cord and it is lightweight and nice to use, even if you leave it on the base. The only fault I can find with it is that I cannot easily see the water level when filling the tank, although I think this may have something to do with my colour blindness (red/green!).
Good but!!
I got this a couple of weeks back and for the money it is good. I purchased because it had a cordless option however, this is quite fiddly to both take off and replace on the base unit as that is so light. I can understand that as it forms part of the iron when used in cordless form but if you only want to iron in cordless it may be better to look around for more robust base units.
Not a good iron
Did not think this product was very good at all. Even at top temperature it didn't bring out creases very well at all. Also found it fiddly to fit back onto charging plate. Tried returning it to Kingswood, Bristol Sainsburys but they would not take it back even though I didn't think it was fit for purpose. Disappointed in the Argos service which has always been very good.
Tower 22008 . 2 in 1
Wow , what a difference this makes , so much smoother , gliding over clothing , this beautiful sleek looking iron is so versatile with its cordless options , this iron alters it’s heat temperatures very quick making the change to steaming exceptionally quickl , guess you can’t go wrong with this iron , a great choice coupled to great service from Argos this one’s a winner
Out of 3 irons only 1 worked
I bought this iron because I wanted a cordless and it was a great price.
Unfortunately it didn’t work, so I exchanged it for another one. This one also didn’t work! I exchanged for another one and finally got one that worked. It is a good iron so far, but I am not confident that it is good quality and doubtful it will last. That’s why we have warranty I guess
Not the best
Bought this to replace a morphy Richards that was leaking water and tripping out circuit breakers.
Only problem is the base charging dock on the iron is too big to rest in in the holding bay on my ironing board so have stand iron on the board itself and locate charging base elsewhere. Grrrr!!!
As far as quality of iron is concerned in use, no worries.
Light and irons well
I love this light little iron. Using it cordless works well and produces enough heat/steam each time it is returned to be recharged. I tend to do 6 large items at a time in the colder months and for this it is ideal. I was unsure whether to buy or not as it is cheaper than my last iron, but there was no need to worry as it irons very well.
does the job, poor battery life when using
I've previously owned exclusively corded irons so have never had to pause mid ironing to allow the plate to heat back up. I've found that i have to frequently 'recharge' the iron multiple times when ironing one piece of clothing. I'm unsure if this is due to the clothes having deep creases as my clothes only seem to have deep creases.