TOKO T14 1200W Digital Ski and Snowboard Waxing Iron - Professional & Home Waxing Tool with Ergonomic Design - 110V for USA Use - Perfect for Ski Tuning, Snowboard Maintenance & Winter Sports Equipment Care

If you're like many cross-country skiers, you started off with an economy iron from Swix, Toko, or [misc. brands]. These are functional, and will work sufficiently for softer waxes or anything as cold as Blue. However, if you're working in any harder wax than that, you're probably going to waste a lot of wax, time, and energy trying to get it into your ski. This is because economy wax plates are thinner, lose their heat rapidly, and are difficult to gauge the temperature of. I spent the better part of 15 years getting by with this type of iron and, while it does technically "work", waxing often became a very tedious chore due to my iron's shortcomings.Enter the Toko T14 iron in this review: waxing is fun again. The difference between this iron and the standard entry-level Swix iron is immediately apparent. The #1 feature on this iron is the digital display that shows the current plate temperature and, when adjusted, the target temp. This allows you to accurately dial in the right temp for your wax, which is key to not wasting wax or burning your ski base. The second thing to note is how much better this plate holds its heat. When running the iron down the ski to melt in the wax, it barely loses any heat at all and you see a consistent melt from tip to tail. Additionally, the heat is very even across the entire plate. This differs from the economy irons which lose their heat quickly and typically have a plate surface which is hotter on one side or the other, causing a need to put more or less pressure on different sides of the iron and make more melt-in passes.TL;DR: If you are considering your first XC wax iron or an upgrade from an economy iron, this should be your first choice.