The J-2 Jiffy garment steamer is an interesting item, with its quirky name and high price point. Its description comes without any great fanfare, unlike its competitors.
Its maker just flatly lists figures, and lets the product do all the talking. Refreshing in this day and age!
Let’s take a closer look at the J-2.
Jiffy J-2 Garment Steamer Review
Initial Impressions
Jiffy is a respected American manufacturer known for selling quality products and numerous Main Street retailers use Jiffy garment steamers for their clothing lines.
Gratifyingly (for the premium price), this garment steamer comes with a 3-year warranty. Quite a lot of its competitors don’t come with any, or have much shorter warranties.
Overall Design
At first glance, the J-2 Jiffy garment steamer looks a little odd. It makes no attempt to look sleek or stylish, and instead with its wheeled stand and clunky, bulbous water jug, it starts to resemble something from a mad scientist’s laboratory.
The water jug is detachable, while the stand is made of telescoping tubes that you can adjust to your height. I don’t consider that useful, I consider it essential – and it’s astonishing how many steamers don’t have that feature.
The hose is 5 feet 6 inches long, plus the steam head which is another 6 inches long. This gives you 6 feet of hose and steam head length combined—long enough for all but the tallest NBA players.
You get a choice between a plastic steam head or, for a few more dollars, a metal head. The metal head will also heat up and can act as a kind of iron, too. It’s also a lot more durable if it falls or you drop things on it. The trade off is that it’s noticeably heavier than the plastic head. (Curiously, you can also get a plastic steam head in pink for even more than the metal head costs. Pink garment steamer heads are clearly the new black.)
Functionality
It’s a pleasure to note that the telescoping stand is actually made of heavy metal (not the flimsy light aluminum kind you get with some cheap unbranded garment steamers).
It’s rock-solid and you won’t have to worry about the stand suddenly collapsing or tipping over unexpectedly.
Pros
- The J-2 Jiffy garment steamer (as well as other Jiffy garment steamers in general) has a long lifespan. Customers who purchased their Jiffy garment steamers in the early 1990s report that they’re still going strong (the garment steamers, not the customers. Although they could be, too, if they’re as durable as a Jiffy product).
- It has an on/ off switch.
- As noted above, it’s made of quality materials and is therefore quite sturdy.
- It really works! Yes, really. At 1300 watts of steaming power, it just blasts those wrinkles away from fabrics of varying types.
- Easy refilling. Just detach the plastic water jug, fill it, and put it back in.
- Fast heat up—about 2 minutes, as promised. No hyperbole from this company.
- The 1-gallon water tank (I’d call it a water jug) gives you a lot of steam time (approximately 2 hours).
- Steady (and powerful) steam output—no sputtering.
- No spewing of hot water. It does drip a bit of water occasionally as a result of condensation in the head, which is unavoidable.
Cons
- The J-2 Jiffy garment steamer is set at a premium price.
- The hose can get pretty hot, and the material won’t protect you from the heat. It will burn you if you touch it while it’s heated up. A couple of fixes for this is to either wear heat-resistant gloves (like, say, oven mitts) or to wrap the hose in insulation.
- The wheeled base tends to roll around while you’re trying to steam. You can fix this by wedging objects against the wheels to stop the rolling.
Final Verdict
The J-2 Jiffy garment steamer is the bunny that just goes and goes. It does the job with no frills—it’s all business, non-stop powerful steaming.
No little annoyances like sputtering steam or spewing boiling water. It also lives long enough for you and your children to name it.
You might have to put in some extra work wrapping the hose in insulation if you don’t want to get burned when it heats up, but this seems like a small price to pay in view of the benefits.
Personally I’m the type of person who touches something hot once and treats it with care thereafter. My partner on the other hand…
The Jiffy garment steamer may come at a premium price, but it delivers a high-quality product that works well and is built to last. Recommended.