Best electric I have ever owned

Introduction

I had grown tired of blade shaving years ago. The razors cut up my neck, shaving was messy and took up a lot of my time. I had fiddled with the Norelco rotary units a couple times with decent results, but I felt I was putting in too much effort to get a decent shave with them.

I found myself frustrated and going back and forth between electrics and blades. On my recent round back to electrics in September of 2004 I decided to try the foil units which I will discuss in detail later.

After researching, I settled with the top of the line Braun Activator 8595.

Electric Shaving Basics

The Braun Activator line falls into the category of a foil razor. There is a thin metal foil that separates the skin from the cutter block. Hair enters the foil through slots and the cutter shaves the hair as you drag it across your face..

Rotary units (Norelco) work on a similar principal. Instead of dragging the unit across, you move in small circles across your face. Hair enters the slots in the cutter heads and the cutters below that head cuts the hair. Rotaries have typically three round heads arranged in a triangular position.

Activator Features

The Braun Activator package features the following hardware:

1) Shaver
2) Clean & Charge Stand (with cartridge)
3) Plastic Carrying Case


Shaver

The shaver is about the length of a desk stapler and has a solid weight to it. At the top if a pivoting foil head and the unit features an LCD display center.

The foil is designed in a unique geometric shape. This is designed to capture stubborn neck hair and smaller hairs that are hard to cut.

The LCD display center will inform you about battery life, shave time, charge time (when on clean % charge) and when to replace the foil/cutter block.

The head on the unit can either pivot or lock. There is also an included side burn trimmer. This is all controlled by the tri-mode switch. As you move it up through each setting, you can either select it from pivoting, locking or side burn.

The shaver also features something called SmartLogic. There is a battery monitoring system in the razor that maintains the batteries. The batteries are periodically drained and recharged. This prevents much of the long-term battery damage that can occur, especially with frequent charges.

Clean and Charge

This is a feature Braun has been employing on its high end razors for a few years now.

Basically its a base that the razor vertically sits in while it is not in use. Sound waves somehow detect how dirty your razor is and selects either the ECO, Normal or Intensive cleaning cycle.

When the Clean & Charge process is running an alcohol based cleaning solution is pumped and the razor is run in a few brief cycles. After cleaning, the unit is dried at high temperatures and your razor is left clean and fresh, even smelling like lemons.

Some may ask, is this a marketing gimmick? Yes, it can be considered such. However, I don't like the alternative: Cleaning out all the hair particles with a brush.

The alcohol solution is contained in a cartridge that lasts a little more than a month. The replacements aren't expensive but are a recurring cost none the less. It's something to consider when purchasing this razor.

Use

The Activator is very easy to use. You just glide it across your face against the grain of your facial hair using light pressure. It takes some getting used to, as technique is vital to get the razor to shave properly. This is referred to as the "adjustment period" and lasts about 4 weeks.

It has some noise to it though. I guess the closest thing to compare it to would be loud side burn trimmers. I wish it was a tad quieter, but the noise isn't bad once you get used to it.

Cleaning the unit is a snap too. You just set it in the Clean & Charge base, press the button and forget it. You can leave it in the charger without hurting the razor, so it's really a maintenance free device for the most part.

Results

After getting used to it and improving the technique, I was impressed with the Activator. It will never be as smooth as a blade, but it's a trade off.

The razor shaves very smooth though with little to no irritation. The main point is learning to shave the sensitive areas like the neck and jawline. That takes time, but is learn able.

The best thing about owning this is the time factor. After you learn to use it, the whole shaving process takes about 2-3 minutes to get a good shave. That sure beats the pants off the 5-10 minutes you would spending blade shaving.

Conclusion

This is a wonderful item at a cost. Electric shaving isn't much cheaper than blade shaving. They rarely pay for themselves, especially ones wiht recurring costs like the Activator.

However, if you are fed up with blades and or rotaries and need a way out of the trap, the Braun Activator 8595 is something to consider.