The bottom line? If you have tons of stuff that require dry cleaning (e.g. bedsheets, leathers, silks, jackets and bags), the LG Styler will save you a ton of time and money. For everything else? Not so much.
LG Styler 5.2kg, $2,299 on Lazada
What We Loved:
- Great for removing wrinkles on delicate clothing like silk, laces, soft cottons.
- Our stuff always came out smelling great – regardless of the cycle.
- Great for cleaning items that are hard to put into the washer. (E.g. soft toys, pillows, leathers and furs, shoes and bags).
- Easy to use and navigate. The app helps users choose the right cycle for optimum results.
- No harmful chemicals are used - only water and steam.
What We Didn’t:
- It can’t put a lot of clothes or items at once.
- Cycles still take some time - not ideal if you're in a rush!
- The smartphone app cannot start on its own without having to manually press ‘Start’.
- It's not as good in removing wrinkles in rougher fabrics like linen.
Best for:
Busy homeowners who often dry-clean than wash their stuff.
A laundry game-changer?
Pillows, soft toys, stiff suits or leather skirts – every home is bound to have stuff that simply cannot be thrown into the washer or under an iron. Sure, there’s always the dry-cleaning option, but that can be equally time consuming – and costly! That’s where the LG Styler comes in. Picking up the slack of everyday appliances, the Styler sanitises, de-wrinkles and refreshes all sorts of textiles - all without the use chemicals! Could it be your home’s answer to the dry cleaners? We tested it with a bunch of our wrinkled, dusty and stale-smelling items to find out:
Design
Designed to fit into apartments, the ultra-slim (and sleek) Styler looks eerily like a refrigerator. Don’t make the mistake of putting groceries in this gizmo! Inside, there are three inserts for hanging clothes, and a removable rack for putting up other objects like soft toys. Meanwhile, the door doubles as ‘board’ for creating pant creases. The Styler also features a touch-screen control panel that lights up when you press the ‘Start’ button. Only downside? Evident from the number of hooks and knobs, don’t expect to fit in an entire wardrobe in there.
Using the Styler
An absolute breeze. After plugging in and powering up, the Styler comes with a list of cycles for sanitising, refreshing and drying to choose from. There are also ‘Special Care’ cycles for specific textiles like fur, leather, bedding and wools. It can leave you spoiled for choice (or very, very overwhelmed). Don’t worry though, the smartphone app is there to help.
Don't worry about having to fill it up with detergent powder or bleach, all it uses is water for steaming too! Upon selecting the cycle, make sure the water tank is filled up before starting. It’ll alert you, so you won’t forget it! After which, simply press start and you’re good to go.
Using the Styler via LG’s SmartThinq App
Alternatively, you can also control the Styler and access a wide range of features via LG’s SmartThinq app. You can schedule cleaning cycles, download more presets and receive notifications once the cycle is completed (or if problems crop up). It also includes the super-helpful Cycle Set feature, which recommends you the best cycle for your items. Hell, it even tells you the weather, if you need to know.
Notifications sent from the LG Smart Thinq app.
That being said, the app still has a couple of quirks. For one, you can’t actually remotely power the Styler up via your phone. You’ve got to manually press the ‘Start’ button to enable your app’s remote control. This is to refrain from accidental cycles, but it also makes it quite inconvenient.
The Cycle Set recommendation feature (left). Downloading a cycle (right).
Likewise, while the app lets you download more presets for specialised cleaning – you can only download up 2. Any previously downloaded presets will be replaced. Furthermore, the Styler doesn’t show exactly which downloaded preset you’re using - just ‘Download 1’, ‘Download 2’, which gets pretty confusing.
Performance:
We did not go easy on the Styler – to test out its de-odorising, de-wrinkling, drying and sanitizing features, we put the following through its doors (not all at once):
- A wrinkled loose blazer
- A crinkled silky top
- A leather skirt (that’s slightly mouldy)
- A pair of very wrinkled linen pants.
- A pair of cotton straight-legged pants
- A wool shawl (with tons of lint)
- A pair of slightly dusty fabric sandals
- A pair of damp canvas sneakers
- A fabric pillow
- A soft toy
What it does great:
De-wrinkling delicate/light clothing: Both the slightly creased silky top and soft cotton blazer came out significantly less wrinkled. The silky top had no visible creases, while the blazer saw a reduction in fold marks on its sleeves – in one refresh cycle.
Getting rid of loose dirt/lint: While the Styler's 'Moving Hanger Action' shakes garments side to side to straighten out wrinkles, it also helped to loosen some of the lint and dirt on the wool shawl. Likewise, the dusty fabric sandals came out looking significantly cleaner, thanks to the steam.
Refreshing all types of fabrics: What we loved best about the Styler was the freshly laundered smell (and toasty feel) it gave garments and other items alike, regardless of how soiled they were initially. Only exception was for the leather skirt, which unfortunately retained its stale, mouldy smell.
Managed to remove mould: That being said, we were surprised that it managed to remove some of the mould spots from the leather skirt and softened the material. However, it didn’t eradicate the mould entirely – despite multiple sanitizing cycles.
What needs improvement:
De-wrinkling tougher, heavier clothing: It didn’t manage to remove much creases from the pair of linen pants, in spite of putting it on ‘Refresh’ twice.
Drying damp items: Three ‘normal’ drying cycles; a couple of hours later before we were able to mostly dry out a damp pair of sneakers caught in a light rain. Hmm.
Refreshing items with filling (e.g. Soft toys, pillows): Not really a downside per se, but due to the steam mist during sanitizing/refreshing cycles, both items came out slightly damp, which meant they had to go for a round of drying.
So, is it worth the buy?
While good to have, we wouldn’t call it a necessity yet. Sure, having warm, fresh smelling items may be nice, but its limited capacity makes putting things out under the sun a more practical, efficient option. Likewise, it was a mixed bag when it came to removing wrinkles, and let’s face it – it can’t actually substitute proper washing in the long run. We’d recommend it to those who have a ton of delicate, ‘dry-clean only’ pieces in their wardrobe. Having the Styler handy prolongs the freshness of your clothes - reducing the number of trips to the dry-cleaners.
Buy the LG Styler here.
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