Tefal Pro Express Ultimate II GV9713 Review: 7.7 Bar, 5.26kg
The Pro Express Ultimate name has run through several generations, and the one in UK shops now is the Ultimate II GV9713. Hundreds of buyers like it a great deal. What they rarely mention is that it is a 5 kg-plus box that lives beside the board, and that it has no auto-off — which is where the steam-generator-or-steam-iron decision really gets made.
Where the reviews line up
We could find no public editorial test of the Ultimate II, so the evidence comes from three places: Tefal’s own spec sheets and the ratings on its UK shop, the buyer ratings at Currys and John Lewis, and a thin layer of community reviews on Trustpilot and ProductReview.com.au. The volume is in the retailer ratings — 4.7/5 from 380 at Currys — and they agree on the basics.
It shifts creases fast. 7.7 bar, 160 g/min continuous steam and a 580 g/min boost are well beyond any plug-in steam iron, and buyers who move up from one notice it on cotton, linen and bedding. The iron itself feels light because the water and boiler sit in the base. And tap water is fine: Tefal designs it for untreated tap water, with a removable scale collector you rinse about once a month.
The catches are practical. The whole unit weighs 5.26 kg by Currys’ and John Lewis’ listings and the base is roughly 25 × 42 cm, so it needs a board with a generator rest or a worktop beside it. Tefal’s UK shop lists no auto-off. The tank is 1.2 litres, smaller than the 1.9 litres of the older Ultimate+ GV9611. And on 7 October 2026 stock was patchy: Tefal’s own shop and John Lewis showed it out of stock.
Steam generator or steam iron? If you iron a full basket of shirts and bedding every week, this is the sort of machine that earns its space. If you press a few things before work, a good steam iron such as the Philips Azur 8000 — about 1.7 kg in total, around £120 — is easier to store and a third of the price.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- TefalManufacturer spec sheets for the GV9713 and its GV9710 sibling, plus 4.7/5 from 106 reviews on its UK shop.
- Currys & John Lewis4.7/5 from 380 reviews and 4.6/5 from 126 — on pages that sell it.
- Trustpilot & ProductReview.com.au4.2/5 from 5 and 3/5 from 2. Tiny samples, but the only critical voices we found.
Before the review: which Ultimate is current?
Tefal has sold several irons as “Pro Express Ultimate”: the GV95xx range, the Ultimate+ GV9610/GV9611 (8 bar, 1.9 litre tank) and now the Ultimate II GV9710 (blue) and GV9713 (dove grey). Tefal UK still shows the GV9611 page as stocked, but we could not find it at a major UK retailer, while the GV9713 is listed at Currys, John Lewis and Argos. This page reviews the GV9713. If you are offered a GV9611 or GV9620, it is the previous generation with a bigger tank and different figures.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure | 7.7 bar (GV9713) · 7.6 bar (GV9710) | Tefal Ireland and Tefal UK shop; Currys and John Lewis agree on 7.7 |
| Continuous steam | 160 g/min | Tefal and Currys; John Lewis and Tefal’s GV9710 page say 155 g/min |
| Steam boost | 580 g/min | All sources agree |
| Vertical steam | Yes | Tefal |
| Water tank | 1.2 litres, removable, refill at any time | Tefal; Currys calls it continuous fill |
| Heat-up time | About 2 minutes | Tefal Ireland; repeated by Direct Vacuums |
| Water and scale | Untreated tap water; 50/50 with distilled if very hard. Removable scale collector, rinse every 10 uses (about monthly) | Tefal manual and FAQ |
| Weight | 5.26 kg (Currys, John Lewis) · GV9710: 5.34 kg “iron” and 6 kg total (Tefal shop). Iron alone not published | Sources disagree — see below |
| Base dimensions | H 296 × W 245 × D 415 mm | John Lewis |
| Power cord | 1.6 m | Tefal, Currys, John Lewis agree. Steam hose length not published |
| Auto-off | No | Tefal UK shop and Currys. A Middle East GV9710 variant does list auto-off |
| Power | 2,700 W | Tefal; one retailer listing says 2,600 W |
| Guarantee | 2 years, plus Tefal’s 15-year repairability pledge (spare parts at a fair price, not a warranty) | Currys and John Lewis; Tefal |
| Price | £399.99 RRP · £399.99 at Currys · £284.99 at Tefal’s shop (out of stock) | All checked 7 October 2026 |
Tefal
Tefal’s figures are the ones every retailer repeats: 7.7 bar, 160 g/min continuous, 580 g/min boost, a 1.2 litre removable tank and a Durilium Airglide Autoclean soleplate, with a lock that clips the iron to the base for carrying. The heat-up figure is about two minutes. The headline claim — up to 30 minutes off your ironing time compared with a traditional steam iron — is Tefal’s own marketing and nobody independent has measured it.
The anti-scale design is the part worth understanding. Instead of a cartridge, the boiler has a removable scale collector that Tefal says catches up to ten times more scale particles than rivals. The manual is clear that you still have to work at it: rinse the boiler every ten uses, roughly monthly, and if your water is very hard, mix tap water 50/50 with distilled. That is the real tap-water claim — tap water is fine, but in hard-water areas it is a maintenance job, not a free pass.
Two details on Tefal’s own pages are less flattering. Its UK shop lists auto-off as “No”, and the ratings on the blue GV9710 are lower than on the grey GV9713 — 4.3/5 from 115 against 4.7/5 from 106. The machines are the same apart from colour and a small spec difference, so treat that gap as noise in small samples rather than a difference between them.
Watch: Discover Pro Express Ultimate II Steam Generator Iron GV9710 & GV9713
From the title, a manufacturer-style introduction to both colours of the Ultimate II. Promotional, but it is this exact generation.
Watch on YouTube ↗Currys and John Lewis
This is where the volume is: more than 500 ratings between two big retailers, nearly all positive. Treat it as a signal, not a test — these are reviews hosted on pages that sell the product, usually written within weeks of purchase. What 380 ratings at 4.7 does tell you is that few people are returning it disappointed.
The retailer listings also settle the practical numbers Tefal’s page skips. Both give the weight as 5.26 kg, and John Lewis gives the base as 296 mm high, 245 mm wide and 415 mm deep. That is the figure to check against your ironing board: many boards have an iron rest too small for a generator base, so plan on a board with a dedicated generator rest or a table beside it. Both list a 1.6 m power cord and a two-year guarantee.
They disagree with each other on one thing: John Lewis lists 155 g/min continuous steam against Currys’ and Tefal’s 160 g/min. We have printed Tefal’s figure in the table and flagged the other. On 7 October Currys showed £399.99 with delivery still to be confirmed at checkout; John Lewis showed £399.99 and out of stock.
Watch: Tefal Pro Express Ultimate II Steam Generator Iron GV9710
This shows the blue GV9710 — the same generator as the GV9713 in a different colour, with Tefal quoting 7.6 rather than 7.7 bar.
Watch on YouTube ↗Trustpilot and ProductReview.com.au
We include these not because seven reviews prove anything, but because they are the only places we found anyone saying what they disliked. Read them as anecdotes.
On Trustpilot, one buyer says it handled a range of fabrics with no melting, scorching or water spots; another found the controls confusing and said the iron has “no settings” — which is Tefal’s design, since the temperature and steam are preset for all fabrics. One was pleased to pay around half the usual Tefal price, and one received a different model from the one pictured, which is a reminder to check the model code on delivery.
The Australian reviews are of the GV9720, a 3,000 W sibling not sold here. One owner praises the build, the glide and the base lock; the other complains that hose and cable storage is cumbersome and that an earlier Tefal generator lasted only a few years. Long-term reliability is the question none of our sources can answer, and it is where Tefal’s 15-year repairability pledge matters more than the two-year guarantee.
Watch: How to descale Tefal steam generator (Pro Express Protect Ultimate Ultimate ...)
A descaling walkthrough covering the Pro Express family rather than this exact model. Worth watching before you buy if you live in a hard-water area.
Watch on YouTube ↗Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- 7.7 bar and a 580 g/min boost — far more steam than any plug-in steam iron.
- 4.7/5 from 380 Currys buyers and 4.6/5 from 126 at John Lewis.
- Light in the hand, because the water and boiler stay in the base.
- Designed for untreated tap water, with a removable scale collector.
- Ready in about two minutes, and the 1.2 L tank can be refilled mid-session.
- Vertical steam for hanging clothes and curtains.
- Tefal’s 15-year repairability pledge on parts.
What people complain about
- 5.26 kg in total and a base about 25 × 42 cm — it needs a home and a generator-rest board.
- No auto-off listed by Tefal UK or Currys.
- 1.2 L tank is smaller than the older Ultimate+ GV9611’s 1.9 L.
- The scale collector still needs a rinse roughly every month.
- Preset settings confuse some buyers who expect a temperature dial.
- Patchy stock and a big price spread: £284.99 to £399.99.
- Only a two-year guarantee, and no public long-term reliability evidence.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you iron a lot at once — a week’s shirts, bedding, tablecloths — you have somewhere to keep a 5 kg base, and you want fewer passes and less refilling. At nearer £285 than £400 it is good value for the class.
Look elsewhere if you iron a few items at a time, have no storage space, or want an iron that turns itself off. A steam iron like the Philips Azur 8000 does that job for about £120. And if most of your creases come out of the dryer, sorting the drying first — our Bosch Series 4 heat pump dryer review covers that — may save more ironing than any generator.
Running cost, our sum: at full 2,700 W draw, an hour would cost at most about 71p at the October 2026 cap of 26.32p/kWh. Real use is lower because the boiler cycles; nobody has published a measured figure.
What we could not check
- Independent editorial testing. Which? lists the GV9713 as tested, but its score and findings are for members only. We found no public UK editorial test of the Ultimate II.
- Weight of the iron alone. No source publishes it. Currys and John Lewis give 5.26 kg; Tefal’s GV9710 page gives 5.34 kg for “iron weight” and 6 kg total, which looks like base plus iron and packaging. We cannot reconcile them.
- Steam hose length. Not published anywhere we checked. The 1.6 m power cord is.
- Auto-off. Tefal UK and Currys say no; a Middle East GV9710 listing says yes. We have gone with the UK pages.
- Continuous steam: 160 g/min (Tefal, Currys) against 155 g/min (John Lewis; Tefal’s own GV9710 page). Power: 2,700 W (Tefal) against 2,600 W in one retailer’s listing title.
- Stock. On 7 October 2026 Tefal’s shop and John Lewis showed it out of stock and Currys did not confirm delivery. We could not check AO or Argos prices directly.
- Noise, energy use and long-term reliability. No measured figures exist in any source we found.
- The videos were confirmed by search listings, not by opening them, because YouTube does not load from our research tools. None names its channel in the listing.
Sources last checked 7 October 2026. Prices and stock change quickly on this model — check the code on the listing (GV9713 grey, GV9710 blue) before ordering.