If you need a small garment steamer either for keeping in your bathroom or closet for use as a handheld steamer or for using a travel steamer, you might be considering the popular Sunbeam Power Stream Fabric Steamer.
I purchased this very steamer about a year ago and wanted to deliver my thoughts.
Why A Garment Steamer?
A garment steamer is a popular alternative to an iron, especially for city dwellers who don’t own an full-sized ironing board. Steamers are also preferable for fabrics that cannot be irons, for example light silk fabrics (mousseline, charmeuse, etc.).
A smaller steamer like this Sunbeam is a handleheld steamer, but can also be used as a travel steamer. A steamer is preferable to an iron for travel because it’s lighter and self-contained, as you certainly won’t be traveling with an ironing board.
Sunbeam Steamer Performance
This is a light duty steamer that is affordable and well-reviewed, but I’ve found it to be a middle-of-the-road product. It’s best for wrinkle-removal on the day-of or night-before wearing clothes, but it won’t handle heavy wrinkling or heavy fabrics. For either serious wrinkles or wrinkles in heavier materials, you’ll need a full iron anyway, or a full-sized steamer.
One downside of this steamer is that, for me, it’s too big for travel, meaning that it’s only a handheld steamer. And then, as handheld steamer, it isn’t that light either, so if you are doing vertical steaming, say with the garment hanging from a shower curtain rod, the unit can get quite heavy after a few minutes.
Past the size of the unit, the performance for general steaming of most closes is fine overall, but nothing exceptional. For the $50 it cost me and with such positive reviews online, I would have expected more performance, particularly with heavy fabrics and/or a more innovative design, maybe like those employed by Rowenta or Conair.
The steam power is acceptable for not extraordinary. It’s good for general use in a unit that isn’t particularly expensive.
The unit has a safety trigger, but does not have an auto-off feature, which seems like a significant oversight and a possible safety risk.
Price and Availability
The Sunbeam Power Steamer is sold on Amazon as well as other online retailers, and sells for about $50.
Steamer Parts
The available accessories are the steam handle [8], fabric brush [9], lint brush [10], creaser [11], an over-the-door press for vertical ironing along the back of a door [12].
These accessories are not included with the standard “100” model of the steamer. You can get this steamer with the door press pad for an extra $25 or so.
FAQs
Why did my Sunbeam steamer arrive with water in it? Was it used?
No, you very likely did not receive a used steamer. Sunbeam tests all their irons and steamers at the factory, which means putting water in them and doing a real steaming test. The units are drained and dried after this, but a small amount of water may remain when the item is boxed and shipped. This is harmless the product.