A hair-tools brand with a real steamer line, and a specification field that cannot be trusted on three listings out of four.
By Scooter M., enthusiast, crease control · Published
CHI is a professional hair-tools brand that also sells garment steamers, and on US Amazon it sells several. The one to buy is the 11590 handheld: a 300 ml tank, 1.7 pounds, a two-year warranty and a published steam output of 18 g/min — a figure almost nobody in this category states. The one to pass over is the Deluxe Digital 3-in-1, which costs more, weighs more than a pound more and carries less water. Before any of that, though, there is a problem with CHI's specification sheets: three of its four listings file a bare "1000" in the wattage field while advertising 1,725 W, 1,600 W and 800 W respectively. We do not publish that number, and this page explains why.
We earn a commission if you buy through the links on this page, at no extra cost to you. It does not change which steamer we rank first — the ranking comes from published specifications and the arithmetic on our method page. We have not tested these units. Full disclosure.
A correction, first
This site has carried a CHI product since launch and has been rude about it. The main roundup named the Deluxe Digital 3-in-1 as the unit it would not buy, and the reason given was "one thousand watts in a 2.9-pound body — the worst power-to-weight figure in the whole set".
That reasoning was wrong, and researching this page is what found it. The 1,000 watts came from the structured Wattage field on the listing, which is where every figure on this site comes from. It turns out CHI files the same bare 1,000 on model after model regardless of what the models actually are. We have dropped the figure, rescored the product, and rewritten the verdict. The Deluxe is still the CHI we would pass over, for reasons set out below — but not for that one.
The wattage field, and how we know it is a default
Four CHI garment steamers were live on US Amazon when this page was written. Here is what each one advertises, against what each one files in the structured Wattage field that specification tables and comparison sites read:
CHI listings, advertised power against filed power, October 4, 2026
Model
What the listing advertises
What the Wattage field says
Deluxe Digital 3-in-1 (11620)
1,725 W in its own highlight and feature copy
1000
Handheld 11590
1,600 W in the product title
1000
Steam Handheld 11580F
800 W in the product title
1000
SteamPress 11600
1,500 W in its feature copy
1500 watts
Three models with three different advertised figures file one identical value. The fourth files a per-model value — and writes it with the unit attached, in the normal form. A field that reads the same on a 1,725 W machine and an 800 W machine is not measuring either of them.
The 800 W model is what makes this conclusive. If the filed 1,000 were real and the marketing were inflated, you would expect the advertised figures to sit above the filed one. On the 11580F the advertised figure is below it. No marketing department under-claims its own product by two hundred watts. The only reading that fits all four listings is that the bare 1000 is a catalog default that was never replaced.
So we drop it. The methodology page sets out the rule: where a structured field carries something that is not the specification it claims to be, the field goes and the page says which figure was unavailable. Two CHI products on this site are now scored on tank, heat-up and weight only, and their overall scores are the weighted mean of those three. The SteamPress keeps its 1,500 W, because that one is filed properly.
The three models, side by side
CHI, read from the live listings, October 4, 2026
Handheld 11590
SteamPress 11600
Deluxe Digital 11620
Power
Not published*
1,500 W
Not published*
Tank
300 ml
200 ml
220 ml
Heat-up
30 s
25 s
30 s
Weight
1.7 lb
2.6 lb
2.9 lb
Published output
18 g/min, 26 on MAX
Not published
Not published
Warranty
2 years
Not published
2 years
Spec score
7.3 (3 metrics)
5.4 (4 metrics)
4.5 (3 metrics)
*The wattage field on both reads a bare 1000, which the table above shows is a catalog default. The listings advertise 1,600 W and 1,725 W respectively; we publish neither, because neither is filed as a specification.
CHI publishes a steam output, which almost nobody does
The 11590's listing states 18 grams a minute in normal mode and 26 in MAX. That makes CHI the third brand on this site to publish a steam rate at all, after Steamery and Philips — and the only one of the three to publish a figure per mode rather than a single headline number.
It also resolves a contradiction inside CHI's own copy. One bullet on that listing claims up to 20 minutes of continuous steam; another claims up to 16, from the same 300 ml tank. Three hundred divided by eighteen is 16.7, so the 16-minute figure is the one the brand's own output rate supports and the 20 is the optimistic version. On MAX, 300 ml at 26 grams a minute is about eleven and a half minutes.
That is a genuinely useful pair of numbers, and it is worth saying that a brand which files a junk wattage field also publishes better output data than Conair or Rowenta do. Specification quality is not uniform within a listing, and the useful response is to read each field rather than to trust or distrust the whole sheet.
The 11590 is the CHI to buy
Against its own siblings it wins on everything that is actually documented: 300 ml against 220 and 200, 1.7 pounds against 2.9 and 2.6, a two-year warranty, a published output figure, and the lowest price of the three. Three hundred milliliters ties the HiLIFE HL9 for the largest handheld tank on this site.
Against the wider field it is harder to place, precisely because of the missing figure. If the advertised 1,600 W is real it is a strong machine — more power than any Steamery, in a lighter body than the Conair, with more water than either. If it is not, you have bought a 300 ml tank of unknown output. CHI will not tell you which, and this site will not guess.
The SteamPress is the one that documents itself
It is also the only machine on this site that clamps both faces of the fabric at once. A vertical steamer relaxes a wrinkle; a 2-in-1 presses one side of the cloth against whatever is behind it; this closes two titanium-ceramic plates on the garment the way a press does. For a collar or a cuff that is nearer to what an iron and a board achieve, without the board.
Its 1,500 W is filed correctly, which is how we know the others are not. 200 ml at that power works out at about eight and a half minutes of continuous steam against a stated nine — one of the closest matches between a maker's run-time claim and the tank arithmetic anywhere on this site. The costs are 2.6 pounds and no published warranty, which is odd given both other CHI models publish two years.
And the Deluxe Digital, which we would still pass over
With the bad wattage removed it scores 4.5 rather than 3.9, and the old "worst power-to-weight on the site" line is gone. The case against it now rests only on figures CHI does state: 2.9 pounds, the second-heaviest handheld here, behind only the Rowenta Pure Force, which at least publishes 1,875 W to justify its mass. A 220 ml tank. And a price above the 11590, which carries 80 ml more water in a body more than a pound lighter with the same warranty.
What you get for the difference is nine automatic fabric modes, a digital display and a retractable cord. Those are real, and someone who wants temperature chosen for them rather than judged by eye will value them. They are not worth a pound of weight and a smaller tank to most people.
Is a hair-tools brand a sensible place to buy a steamer
It is the obvious question and the honest answer is that it does not matter much either way. CHI's listings lean on the brand's salon heritage, and heat styling and garment steaming do share a problem — getting controlled heat into a fiber without scorching it. Equally, brand recognition earned in one category is not evidence about another, and this site has no way to test build quality.
What is checkable is the paperwork, and CHI's is mixed: a two-year warranty on two of three models, which beats the category norm and matches Conair; a published steam output, which beats almost everyone; and a wattage field that is unusable on three listings out of four. Judge it on that rather than on the logo.
The three CHI models
Ranked on published specifications. Tap a row for the full write-up; the price button goes to Amazon.
#
Product
Best for
Spec score
Price
1
CHI Handheld Garment Steamer 11590300 ml, 1.7 pounds and a published 18 g/min — the best-documented CHI and the cheapest of the three.
CHI does not publish power draw for this model, so that figure is excluded from the score rather than estimated.
What the numbers mean
CHI publishes something here that almost nobody in this category does: a steam output, and two of them. Normal mode is stated at 18 grams a minute and MAX mode at 26. That makes CHI the third brand on this site to put a rate on a listing, after Steamery and Philips, and the only one to publish a figure per mode.
Those numbers also settle a contradiction inside the listing's own copy. One bullet claims up to 20 minutes of continuous steam and another claims up to 16, from the same 300 ml tank. 300 divided by 18 is 16.7, so the 16-minute figure is the one its own output rate supports; 20 is the optimistic version. On MAX, 300 ml at 26 g a minute is closer to eleven and a half.
What it does not publish is a wattage we can use. The title says 1,600 W and the feature copy repeats it, but the structured specification field reads a bare 1000 — the same value CHI files on models advertising 1,725 W and 800 W. We drop the field rather than publish a number that is plainly a catalog default, so this unit is scored on tank, heat-up and weight only, and its score is not comparable with a four-figure one.
Good
300 ml ties the largest handheld tank on this site, with a published 18 g/min to go with it
1.7 lb, lighter than both other CHI models by nearly a pound
Two-year published warranty, and a 10-foot cord
Not good
The wattage field is a catalog default, so the power is effectively undocumented
The listing contradicts itself on run time, claiming both 16 and 20 minutes
Scored on three figures rather than four, which flatters it against fully documented units
Who should not buy it. Skip this if you need a published wattage before you spend. CHI will not give you one you can trust on this model, and if power on paper is the deciding factor there are 1,875 W handhelds that document themselves properly for similar money.
2. Handheld · A press that closes on both sides of the cloth
CHI SteamPress 11600
The only CHI listing that files its own wattage properly, and the only press here that clamps rather than pushes.
This is the CHI listing that documents itself. Where the other two file a bare 1000 in the wattage field, this one files 1500 watts with the unit attached, which is a per-model value and is scored as published. Finding one correct field among three wrong ones is also what confirms the others are defaults rather than measurements.
The mechanism is genuinely different from the rest of the handhelds here. A steamer relaxes a wrinkle and a 2-in-1 presses one side of the cloth against whatever is behind it; this clamps both sides between two titanium-ceramic plates. For a collar or a cuff that is closer to what an iron and a board do, without the board.
200 ml at 1,500 W works out at about eight and a half minutes of continuous steam by the arithmetic used across this site, against a stated nine. That is one of the closest matches between a maker's run-time claim and the tank arithmetic anywhere on the site.
Good
1,500 W, filed properly in the specification field rather than defaulted
Clamps both faces of the fabric, which no other steamer here does
25-second published heat-up, among the faster figures on the site
Not good
200 ml is about eight and a half minutes of steam, short even by handheld standards
2.6 lb, the second-heaviest handheld here
No published warranty term, where both other CHI models publish two years
Who should not buy it. Skip this if nothing you own needs a crease. A clamping plate is weight and money spent on the one job steam cannot do, and if you only ever refresh hanging garments it is the wrong shape of machine.
3. Handheld · The CHI not to buy
CHI Deluxe Digital 3-in-1
The heaviest CHI, outsold on every figure its own listing states by the cheaper 11590.
CHI does not publish power draw for this model, so that figure is excluded from the score rather than estimated.
What the numbers mean
We used to call this the worst power-to-weight figure on the site. That was wrong, and the correction matters: the 1,000 W we were scoring is a bare default CHI files on three different models, including one that advertises 800 W. We no longer publish a wattage for it at all, and the honest position is that its power is undocumented rather than low.
What the listing does state still does not flatter it. 2.9 pounds is the second-heaviest handheld here, the 220 ml tank is middling, and CHI's own 11590 carries 300 ml at 1.7 pounds with the same two-year warranty for less money. Within CHI's line this is the one to pass over.
The nine fabric modes and the digital display are real features and some people will want them. They are what you are paying the premium over the 11590 for, along with three tenths of a pound less tank and more than a pound more weight.
Good
Two-year published warranty, matched here only by Conair
220 ml tank is adequate
Digital temperature settings, which some fabrics genuinely benefit from
Not good
No usable published wattage — the field is a catalog default CHI repeats across models
2.9 lb, the second-heaviest handheld on this site
Beaten by CHI's own cheaper 11590 on tank, weight and price, at equal warranty
Who should not buy it. Skip this in favor of CHI's own 11590, which carries more tank in a lighter body for less money and publishes a steam rate this one does not. If you want documented power instead, the Conair publishes 1,875 W in its specification field.
Questions people actually ask
+How many watts is the CHI garment steamer?
CHI does not reliably publish it. Three of its four US listings file a bare 1000 in the structured wattage field while advertising 1,725 W, 1,600 W and 800 W respectively, which makes that field a catalog default rather than a measurement. The SteamPress is the exception and files 1,500 watts properly. This site publishes no wattage for the other two and scores them on tank, heat-up and weight.
+Which CHI garment steamer is best?
The 11590 handheld, on everything CHI actually documents: a 300 ml tank, 1.7 pounds, a two-year warranty and a published 18 g/min of steam, at the lowest price of the three. The Deluxe Digital costs more, weighs more than a pound more and holds less water.
+Is the CHI garment steamer worth it?
The 11590 is a reasonable buy on its documented figures. The Deluxe Digital is harder to justify against its own cheaper sibling. Across the board you are buying a brand whose warranty and output data are better than most and whose wattage field cannot be read, so if a published power figure is part of your decision, buy elsewhere.
+How long does the CHI 11590 run on one tank?
About 16 to 17 minutes in normal mode and roughly eleven and a half on MAX. That is CHI's own 300 ml tank divided by its own published 18 and 26 grams a minute. The listing also claims up to 20 minutes in one bullet, which its own output figure does not support.
+Does CHI offer a warranty on its steamers?
Two years on the 11590 handheld and the Deluxe Digital 3-in-1, which is double the category norm and matches Conair. The SteamPress publishes no warranty term at all.
