The price of electric shavers varies massively, and there’s no guarantee that an enormously expensive shaver will work for your individual face and beard growth. Build quality and battery management will also be significantly better. It’s worth noting that some of the more expensive shavers also come in cheaper versions without all the accessories or cleaning stations. These cut-down versions lose some of the convenience, but you’re getting great shaving tech at a lower price. Where the Braun Series 7 competes with the world’s best shavers from a slightly lower price point, the Series 9 Pro shows what Braun can do on a high-end budget. The new head contains five cutting elements, including a ProLift trimmer designed to lift and trim tricky low-lying hairs.
To be honest, we doubted Panasonic could improve on the ES-LV9Q. In fact, adding a sixth cutting blade to the LV9Q’s five seemed a little like a gimmick. The LS9A ups that to 84,000, with two new thick stubble blades designed to tackle long and tricky growth.
The other two variations available in the USA are the 2500 (S1311/82) (1-hour charging time) and the Philips Norelco Shaver 2100 (S1111/81) . Cheaper and extremely similar performance-wise to the new Series 3000, it looks like a very appealing option for the budget-conscious buyer. Unlike our picks, the lightweight Andis ProFoil Lithium Titanium Foil Shaver is not waterproof, and it is warrantied for only one year . The pop-up trimmer is similar to Braun’s design, and it works just as well for mild sideburn grooming. Remington’s center bar design isn’t as sophisticated as Braun’s, but our testers found the shaver to work almost as well. James has been using the Series 7 to shave a portion of his face since first testing for this guide in 2020.
What is a deal breaker for some is not even an inconvenience for others. Shaving is a very personal experience and opinions on what is best differ dramatically depending on who you ask. Of course you cannot expect to take the big and bulky smart cleaning system when you travel. Fortunately you can simply take the shaving unit head apart and rinse it out with hot water. Overall the SmartClean unit did it’s job, however I definitely feel that 4 hours is a little too long to clean a shaver.
The OneBlade Hybrid has a T-blade that works effortlessly around your neckline and sideburns. We spend a lot of time reviewing the best electric shaver, so when it comes to recommending what shaver to buy, you can be safe in the knowledge that we’ll recommend the best options for you. Another thing to note if you don’t shave every day is that you’d be better off using a chainsaw or angry dog to remove three-day growth than a cheaper electric razor. If you want to stay smooth, without facial irritation, you simply MUST go high-end when electric razor shopping.
Likewise, companies only put the warranty period of how long they are confident for their products to last, thus it can help you judge how long you can expect to use them. It depends solely if Braun Series 5 you need them or not and how you’ll use them. It’s important that you identify the usability of a product and how much you can afford before making the purchase for it to be worth your money.
If you only shave twice a week or less then you will see the heads last much longer. The shaver actually contains three individual shaving heads and each shaving head is made up of two pieces. This is probably why you only ever see the front of the 9000 series electric shavers shown in Philips advertising. So overall, what you get with the Series 8 is a high quality trimmer for about $75 cheaper than the industry-leader. What you sacrifice is less power when cutting thicker hairs and less range of motion in the flexible head , but if you’re someone using a razor everyday then this one will perform with flying colors.
An electric razor needs break-in time—not for the razor, but for your face. If you’re switching from a manual to an electric, or even from one electric style to another, generally you’ll need to give your skin two weeks to adjust to the new tool. We couldn’t figure out exactly why this break-in period is necessary. Because of their shape, Philips Norelco razors need to be held in the cleaning base by a kind of stalk-like support, which means an extra step of inserting the razor. You’ll have to decide whether the convenience is worth it; maintaining your shaver manually with the included cleaning brush is certainly easy enough.