Panasonic ES8101S Electric Shaver - Sharp Blades, Good Battery
Written: Apr 28 '08 (Updated Jun 02 '09)
Product Rating:
Durability:
Ease of Use:
Battery Life:
Effectiveness:
Pros: Price, performance, Li-Ion battery, easy and practical to clean, quality, charge, dry/wet
Cons: No induction charger, somewhat expensive replacement blades and foil
The Bottom Line: I am very happy with my new shaver. It is an improvement over the previous one I had in virtually all respects, aside from having to...
dkozin's Full Review: Panasonic ES8101S Electric Shaver
I have used the ES7017S shaver for 5 years. The battery was still strong, but the blades and the screen were getting dull and needed replacement. Unfortunately, replacement blades and screen cost almost as much as the new shaver. And who knows how long after the replacement the Ni-Cd battery would last. So it was a time to shop for a new shaver. And I got the Panasonic ES8101S, which proved to be mostly better than the old model, but not in all respects.
The ES8101S was selling for around $65 on Amazon.com at the time. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the shaver was not packaged into a blister pack (which I hate with passion), but rather was in a box that was easy to open.
What’s In the Box
Included was the cord/charger and travel cloth shaver case as well as manuals.
Features
The ES8101S is a wet/dry shaver. Unlike my previous shaver, it has electric contacts and does not use induction charger. Still, it is compatible with any voltage (110-240 V, 50-60 Hz) and probably cuts down on power use since it is not constantly plugged in, unlike the induction charger. The shaver can be charger completely in one hour and uses memory-free Li-Ion battery, which is also lighter than Ni-Cad or Ni-MH.
The shaver has a triple-blade design with blades that move in opposite directions to minimize vibration as well as the trimmer for beards/moustaches. The blades are claimed to be among the sharpest in the industry and use nano-technology. Nice. I noticed that the shaver is quieter than the old one (which in turn was quieter than the one before) and vibrates much less. The blades also seem to move much faster (at claimed 13,000 rpm it moves about twice faster than a car engine at redline). And the so-called Turbo mode, used for cleaning, moves blades several thousand rpm faster.
The full charge time is about 1 hour, which is the same as the previous shaver I had. And the new shaver still uses Li-Ion battery, which has no “memory effects” and thus does not require full discharge-recharge cycles to maintain full capacity.
The shaver looks attractive and has chrome accents with blue and gray plastic case. The shaving module can be fixed or float to limit the amount of force you apply to your face. There are two indicators – charge and battery low. This is unlike the battery status indicator that I had on my previous shaver.
They should have had been the opposite. The previous model had an induction charger, which I always placed the shaver in between uses and therefore, I did not really need to know that the battery was 100% or 80% charged at any given time. The new shaver is more cumbersome to charge, since it needs a charger’s cable to be plugged into it, so the more accurate battery indicator would be better. Still, it is adequate since the charge is fast and the low battery indicator provide an early warning.
The blades are very sharp and the noise level/vibration is much less than with the old shaver. The trimmer is especially sharp, comparing to the old model, which is a very significant plus for me.
Performance and Cleaning
The shaver impressed me with its shaving performance. Although it takes some time for me to achieve clean shave with it, it is definitely an improvement over the previous shaver. The chin/neck is no longer a problem, since the trimmer seems to be sharper. In fact, the wet shave with this shaver achieved the results I have never been able to achieve by other means (regular razors irritate me and my skin :-) ). The separate shaving heads allow the shaver to reach pretty much everywhere. But the question is does it shave better than the old model when it was new? Not sure, but at any case, it shaves very well.
The shaver can be washed and the manual provides some useful info on how to clean the shaver using liquid soap and/or its Turbo mode, which works extremely well. There are removable/replaceable parts: the foil and the blades. The replacement is simple, but the price of replacement parts is steep.
The manual says that it is recommended to replace the foil cartridge every year and the blade cartridge every 2 years. I know it will work for longer than that, but the sharpness of the blades will decrease gradually and at some point it is replacement time. I am disappointed that replacement foil and blades cost almost as much as a new shaver, which is bad for environment.
Charger
The wired charger supplied with the shaver can work with any voltage worldwide. The charger should work in any country in terms of the voltage, but you will have to buy a plug adaptor. The full charge takes one hour and you can recharge the shaver at any time. The shave time on one charge seem to be long, but shorter than that of my old shaver that used heavy Ni-Cd battery. I can use the shaver several times between recharges, only 2 times if I have long hair and have to use the trimmer extensively every time.
Build Quality
The ES8101S appears to be solidly built and, based on previous experience with Panasonic shavers should work well for many years.
Durability
Update 06/2009: I have used the shaver for over a year and it works perfectly so far, aside from getting seemingly noisier lately. It seems that something vibrates in the top part of the shaver making it somewhat noisier than new (and it wasn't very quiet to begin with). Still, it shaves well at this point.
Bottom Line
I am very happy with my new shaver. It is an improvement over the previous one I had in virtually all respects, aside from having to plug in the charger. And for less than the old one, it is a bargain. I highly recommend it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 65 Noise Level: More quiet than most
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