Well, you might not get 12 years out of it, but I LOVE the black & decker irons. I average about 2-3 years with one. I just got a new one. Apparently the older one had become suicidal and I did not realize it. One day it leapt from the ironing board onto the ceramic tile, over concrete slab. I tried, to the best of my abilities to save it, but alas it succumbed to its injuries.
I went directly out to wal-mart and replaced it with the newest B&D iron. About $42.00. No leaking AT ALL so far. This one has a stainless steel soleplate, which I prefer over teflon of any sort. I just don't like teflon....not in irons or cookware. This one also has 2 tanks. One is for water and does the burst of steam. That is the larger of the 2 tanks. The other tank is for the spray of water. You can also put Downy Wrinkle Releaser in there. The idea being that you use the wrinkle releaser on fabrics that cannot take high heat from the iron. Works really really well on DH's work shirts that are poly. Give it a blast with the wrinkle releaser, then cruise over it with the iron. Works as well as spray starch on a 100% cotton shirt. Yeah, really nifty huh? It says it is designed so that it Won't leak on lower temperatures (where they are most inclined to leak.) So far it appears to work as advertised. The iron is heavy enough that I can press a hem on jeans without leaning on it. Light enough that I can iron a whole load of his dress shirts and pants without my arm falling off. ;) And gets hot enough to press linen beautifully. I'm very very pleased with this one. Of course, I've loved all my B&D irons. This is my third. The one with digital controls got a little unpredictable after a while--about 2 years. It would just shut itself off for no reason (before it was due to shut off automatically. In mid-iron.) I still have it in case DH needs a project. ;) I will have him tear into it and see if it has a loose connection or something.
YMMV, but for my money, I won't buy any iron other than a B&D ever again. They are durable enough to stand up to the amount of pressing I do in the sewing room and the laundry room. And they work as well as they are advertised to work (very big plus IMO.) Also, they aren't so expensive that I will cry for days and not be able to replace them if they do tumble off the ironing board in a dramatic fashion. ;)
Sharon