The thing you didn't know you were missing in your life
5/5
Officially this appliance is called a 'Styler' but during my purchase I have seen it being called various things from 'tumble dryer' or even 'heat pump tumble dryer'. So I was rather curious as to what function this will come to offer in clothing care overall.
As I had heard from friends that Styler is most frequently used to freshen/sanitise clothing worn outside before it goes into the wardrobe etc., I figured the most suitable place would be near the doorway. The box packaging was quite sturdy and the Styler itself was quite tall which made unpacking quite a challenge but once I managed to unpack, I was pleased to see that it fitted quite snuggly in a corner that I had decided. Height aside, this is quite a deep machine despite its overall slim appearance, which is to be expected I suppose, since the depth would need to comfortably cover the width of a regular hanger.
Once I got all the bits and pieces popped on and the Wi-Fi connected, I was excited to give it a go. Then realised I had forgotten to fill the tank with water. This was to be common occurrence as I later found out. I would either forget to fill the tank or empty the waste water tank. Or remember to do both but forget to put the waste water tank back. The whole routine does take a little getting used to. When in use, I would say that the noise level if around half of what a washing machine would make. It’s not that much disturbance, however, when I found I was loading it later in the evening, I opted to use the delay start option provided rather than to risk annoying my neighbours.
The Styler presents you with plenty of options/courses to run on the appliance itself, however, the real jackpot is in the ThinQ app. It has special courses for dolls, shoes, down etc. that can be downloaded, which was very useful, particularly for a very old comfort doll that needed some very gentle sanitising. One thing I did not like about the downloadable courses was that they would not be saved on your phone and instead, you would need to download the course you want to use right away – it will never get added onto the list of courses available and you will need to download it again the next time you want to use it.
Over the course of 3 weeks I used the Styler on many occasions including treating padded jackets before they went away in the attic. They do come out of the Styler as though they have come back from the drycleaners. I have also used it to sanitise new clothes to get rid of dusts etc. that could have been picked up from shops/warehouses. As the Styler physically shakes the clothings placed inside it, you can actually see the dust that have fallen when you wipe the bottom of the styler.
What I found the most useful was the freshening function for clothing that I have worn for a very short period of time during warm weather. When you haven’t worn something for long enough to warrant a proper laundry but it is none the less not clean enough to be stored, Styler offers a very convenient alternative. I also found that Styler would present some light ironing effect to make the crumpled top that I’ve thrown to a random corner the day before presentable again so that it could be worn. Although I’m working from home these days, I would imagine this would be very useful for when I go back to wearing cotton/silk shirts.
The sanitise function also gave me some peace of mind in this era of COVID-19. Although it’s not something you can see with your eyes, I feel more assured now that I know that I can have my clothes steamed so easily at home.
I still have more functions to explore – planning on trying the bedding function this weekend – and can honestly say that Styler has filled a cap in my clothing care routine that I did not even know existed. I would have just worn crumpled clothing for less time then washed. But now, I can use various courses that is appropriate for the situation at hand and keep the clothing fresher, cleaner and presentable for longer.
