Review on Portable Pink Mini Heat Press Machine: DIY Clothes, T-Shirts, Shoes, Bags, Hats - Charging Base Included! by Karla Richter

I'm a crafty mom with a silhouette and a traditional heat press. I mainly make HTV t-shirts for kids sporting events (etc.). I wanted to make my son a backpack for his traveling sports team. I tried using my conventional iron to get the job done but ended up melting one of the flaps because it was too big and bulky to maneuver around the flaps and straps. Type search for something smaller. ADVANTAGES: - SIZE - This tiny little iron can easily get into really hard-to-reach places and around hooks, clips and plastic parts that would melt under a traditional heat press. - COST - I wasn't really willing to shell out $50-$100 for a small heat press. This thing did the job for under $10. - EFFECTIVE - Conclusion - it worked. While the grip isn't solid, I preferred to press down on the front and back of the iron with my thumb and forefinger to ensure my HTV was really tight. CONS: - HANDLE - The little plastic handle is SUPER flimsy to call this iron a "hot press". If you press on it a little (and HTV needs to be glued to the surface) it breaks off. Eventually it will collapse completely. I quickly discovered that a workaround is to use your thumb and forefinger and apply pressure to the front and back of the iron to mimic a traditional heat press. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. - DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES - This little thing definitely gets pretty hot in a hurry. However, I found that the temperature changed during the 20-30 minutes I spent attaching my HTV to my backpack. This worked fine, but the trick was making sure I opened up the entire design for each corner of the iron. CORD - The cord is tiny. The plug to plug stretch is only 36 inches long so an extension cord was a MUST. OVERALL OPINION: Honestly - I would buy it again. For me the pros outweigh the cons and it got the job done for less than $10. It's cute and easy to use and perfect for small projects. It heats up quickly and easily and stores neatly in a drawer, taking up almost no space. I usually do one or two things at a time. If I were making backpacks for the whole team, I'd have to invest in an actual heat press instead of a 4-inch baby iron. But if you only have one or two things to do - this thing will work just fine!