Review on Toko T14 Digital Wax Iron by Tom Motko

If you love cross country skiing, a cheap iron from Swix, Toko or [misc. postage stamps]. They're functional and work well enough for softer waxes or something as cold as blue. However, if you're working with a harder wax, you're likely wasting a lot of wax, time, and energy trying to apply it to the ski. That's because economy wax sheets are thinner, lose heat quickly, and are difficult to measure. I've spent the better part of 15 years getting by with this type of iron and while it technically "works", waxing has often become a very tedious task due to the shortcomings of my iron. Point out the Toko T14 iron in this review: Waxing is fun again. The difference between this iron and the standard Swix entry-level iron is immediately noticeable. The most important feature of this iron is a digital display that shows the current platen temperature and, if set, the target temperature. This allows you to precisely set the correct wax temperature, which is key to avoid wasting wax and burning your ski base. The second thing to look out for is how much better this stove retains heat. As you run the iron across the ski to melt the wax, it loses almost no heat and you'll see a constant melt from tip to tail. In addition, the heat is very even over the whole plate. This differs from economy irons, which lose heat quickly and usually have a hotter platen surface on one side or the other, requiring more or less pressure on each side of the iron and more melting passes. TL;DR: If you're considering your first XC waxing iron or an economy iron upgrade, this should be your number one choice.