Philips AVENT iQ24 Steam Sterilizer
by Philips AVENT
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List Price: Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Philips AVENT iQ24 Steam Sterilizer
Customer Review: Sleek and Useful
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Before I got this, I had no idea I needed a sterilizer for my bottles, but my tech-hungry curiosity wanted to try it out. I have found it to be easy to use, quite sleek, and it works quickly. It gives me peace of mind knowing that the bottles are germ free. You know there are so many nooks and crannies in the bottle parts, and it's good to know they are being reached. I can put bottles in before going to bed and get up in the night and they're all in there, clean and ready to go.
As far as concerns about the plastic. Sorry, I don't buy the hype. There are lots of people criticizing everything we eat, breathe and touch as giving us cancer and there's a lot of conspiracy theories out there (most of which contradict each other). Here's the way I see it: there are plenty of germs that make people sick, sometimes very sick. Germs I don't want to get my baby to be around. You never hear of people getting sick from plastic. Better to kill the real concerns with this sterilizer. Maybe do a quick rinse before filling if you're concerned. Just my feelings (don't shoot me for that--k?)
This is an easy to use tool that would make an excellent baby gift. You might want to throw in some avent bottles with it (these are the *best* bottles out there). It's sturdy and well designed to hold 6 bottles and pieces (and you can throw in a binky or two--you know where THOSE end up!)
I held back from 5 stars because I have to clean the bottles first. Yeah, that's picky. But it would be nice to just stick them in dirty and have clean and sterile results!
Customer Review: Time Saving Versatile Sterilizer
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Philips Avent iQ24 Steam Sterilizer is neat looking, easy to use and a blessing when you are trying to get yourself into a good routine to keep baby content. To get the Sterilizer up and running, you put the water into it, get your bottles etc. in the rack/basket and put the lid on. You then select the mode you want and hold the button to start the unit on its sterilizing cycle.
There is plenty of room in the Sterilizer and you can use it to sterilize bottles but you can also use it for sippy cups, breast pump parts, nipples, pacifiers etc. so the unit is very versatile. It takes around 6 minutes for it to do the sterilizing so it saves you time and energy. There is a digital display, electronic countdown, and sound alerts which let you know when things are done.
The unit has 2 modes; Mode 1 which sterilizes in 6 minutes and the contents stay sterile for 6 hours. Mode 2 which continually repeats the cycle so keeps the contents sterile for 24 hours which can be very useful. With our baby we need a constant run of bottles throughout the night so it is nice to have them sterilized and ready.
An important note is that this unit is not meant to clean things, it is meant to sterilize after you clean. So it is recommended that you clean your bottles etc. before you put them in the sterilizer and always put fresh water in the unit before you use it. This will make it work better and keep it from breaking. Trust me; once you get one of these you will become reliant on it!
Customer Review: Very Useful Sterilizer! Recommended!
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Being somewhat paranoid about germs when we had our first child, we were ultra careful with sterilizing EVERYTHING. This was a time consuming process and we likely spent much more energy than needed. By the time we had our second child, we were still careful but just not quite so much.
Now we have the "iQ24 Steam Sterilizer" which drastically simplifies the sterilization process. With it's two modes of operation, we can choose to quick sterilize (6 minutes) or longer (keeps sterile for 24 hrs). We can't see any real need for the longer mode since the quick mode keeps the bottles sterile for 6 hrs.
This really beats having to boil bottles on the stove like we did for my first two children and saves us a lot of time and energy. As one other reviewer noted, the iQ24 does not clean the bottles! You must wash the bottles before putting them in the Sterilizer.
As a side note, my science minded daughter has already claimed the iQ24 for use in science projects since she knows that it can also be used to sterilize lab equipment and Petri Dishes. Not quite an autoclave but usable.
Note that this does not come with bottles!
For time and energy saving convenience, highly recommended! For a less expensive solution, check out the microwaveable version, Philips Avent Express II Microwave Steam Sterilizer without Bottle
Customer Review: Very happy with the BPA-free version
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading reviews of the earlier version of this product, which was not BPA-free, I was a bit concerned about safety but that issue has been resolved now that it is BPA-free. The one we bought indicated that it was BPA-free on the box, but if this is not confirmed in the product listing online you should probably check to make sure before ordering to make sure you have the latest one.
One great thing about this product versus microwave sterilzers is that you can have it in a room where there is no microwave (e.g. the nursery) and even potentially take it with you on the road (although it is probably better for a car trip than when flying due to it's size). The instructions say that you should use distilled water and descale it periodically with a bit of vinegar. I haven't found this to be an inconvenience and simply keep a bottle of distilled water next to the machine, but compared to a microwave sterilizer it requires a bit more maintenance.
The 6 minute sterilization cycle (the shorter of the two modes available) works fine and the fact that the bottles stay sterile for 6 hours if you don't open the lid (according to the manual) means that you can have the bottles sterilized and cooled well ahead of time. There's plenty of room in the trays for various bottles parts as well as pacifiers, breast pump pieces, etc. and it does work with non-Avent bottles (we are using Nursin' Smart and they fit fine). It is also very simple to use, with two basic modes and one button used to operate the sterilizer.
Overall, I can't find any problems with this product and am very happy with this purchase.
Customer Review: Close to Perfect Sterilizer for Convenience
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Avent makes terrific baby products and the iQ24 is just about as perfect as a sterilizer could be. It has capacity for 6 of the Avent bottles which are the very large diameter ones.
It allows for a quick 6 minute sterilization cycle and another which allows the bottles to remain sterile for 24 hours. In reality, anybody who has a baby knows that it's quite unlikely that you'll keep bottles in the sterilizer for 24 hours. Babies consume quite a few bottles, so the sterilizer will in reality be constantly used to sterilize loads of bottles throughout the day.
For my baby son, we actually have been using the old fashioned glass bottles with all of our different sterilizers with great success. The glass bottles are much more inert than many of the plastics used. One of the chemicals widely discussed is BP-A, which is present in MOST baby bottles. It's not something any parent would want, but its actual harmfulness is largely unknown. If you want to be conservative, it would be best to use glass bottles with any of your sterilizers.
It should also be said that although most parents like to use sterilizers, their use is not a requirement and their benefit is somewhat questionable for most healthy babies out of the neonatal period. It is however, reassuring to use. The iQ24 is about as good a they come.