djsepinions's Full Review: Panasonic ES 8243 Hair Trimmer
My Review Philosophy When I make a purchase, peer review sites are one of my most valuable resources for non-biased experiences and information. When I come here to research a product I generally read reviews and the product specifications on other sites as well. You will find that my reviews try to focus on my personal experiences and research discoveries that I think are not easy to discover through pre-purchase research. I will also highlight any differences between actual product features and performance and what the vendor's marketing states or implies.
This means that my review will not spend a lot of time on basic specifications, operating procedures from the manual, self-evident product limitations or stock commentary that you can read in other places.
I try my best to keep my comments to the unique perspectives and information I can add - in hopes that this will be mean less work for you trying to find the parts of my review that are different from the others you are reading about this product.
Vendor and Product Info Links http://www2.panasonic.com/ consumer-electronics/support/ Personal-Healthcare/ Men-s-Shavers/model.ES8243A
My Relevant Product Background Over 20 years ago I used a rotary blade electric shaver. I found it was rough on my skin and left me sore and/or ichy for the day - my skin never "conditioned" to the process as I was told it would. Until this electric shaver I used the Gillette Mach 3 razor blades.
My Purchase When Mach 3 blades hit $22 for 8 of them, I started thinking it was getting too expensive. It is also a lengthy and messy process. When doing the hot water pre-heat, the water must be hot enough and I needed to remove my shirt to avoid getting it soaked. When I checked into electric, the reviews for this shaver were great and included some by people who had sensitive skin and some who specifically came to it from the Mach 3 blades.
I bought the shaver for $99 at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/ Panasonic-ES8243A-Nano-Rechargeable-Shaver/ dp/B001DKMY9Q/desktopengineers
What I Like Wet Shave - I wasn't specifically looking for a shaver capable of doing wet shaving, but I really like this feature now. I use a small amount of my regular shaving creme along with water. I tried sharing in the shower, but find it difficult to do a thorough job since I can't see well enough - even with a mirror (water on the mirror). When shaving at the sink, clearing the shaver using water (running or in sink) results in better cutting. Also, when I'm done shaving, the shaver is already clean - compared to dry shaving where it is filled with whiskers and must be cleaned seperately. Status Display - I also like the status display for battery strength and length of shave. The length of shave timer helped me notice that my shave time for a good shave was quite consistent despite my thinking "This time I must have shaved twice as long as usual to make sure I didn't miss any spots." Wet Grip - The grip works well when wet or even a bit soapy.
Hair Trimmer - From the pictures I saw before buying I didn't think it had a trimmer and I must have missed this fact in reviews and the company website - so it was a pleasant surprise that it has one. Easy Cleaning - the screens over the blades are extremely easy to remove and replace (one piece). The shaver has a cleaning mode - when it is off, holding down the power button for 3 seconds causes it to go to a much higher RPM. I have used this mode with the screens on or off and have never really had to use any soap. Battery / Charging Technology - the charging is as quick as claimed and the battery life is very acceptable. The display of remaining battery is very helpful to know when you need to charge it.
What I Don't Like Cost of Replacement Parts - on the Panasonic website it looks like replacing all the cutting parts is near $100. Of course this shaver is generally around $170 or more, but since I got a bang up deal at $99, the replacement parts cost look steep to me. Also, I haven't found any information anywhere on how long I could expect the cutting parts to last. I know it would be different for every beard - but even a range like 2-4 years would be helpful in estimating the "cost per shave" compared to Mach 3 blades.
Awkward To Set Down (very minor) - Due to the cool shape and the projection of the hair trimmer, the shaver can really only be set on it's front. It cannot be set on porcelin or surfaces that are not completely flat because it has very few touch points when set down and will slide. Also, if you use it wet, then it needs to have a home where the water dripping from it won't ruin anything. Hidden Gems and Tips Shaving Creme Or Not - I use Trader Joe's shaving creme which is more like a mosturizer than a soap. So it does pretty well with this shaver, not foaming very much. I use about 1/4 of the amount I would to shave with a blade.
Pivot Control - The shaver has a button to control wheather the head is allowed to pivot or not. I have disabled the pivot for now. If the pivot is enabled - when I press harder to get closer or use the edge/corner of the shaver, it just pivots instead.
Shaving techniques for those coming from a regular razor blade - I had used electric before, but needed to re-learn some skills. A regular razor blade has some implicit rules of use that become second nature. (top to bottom, one direction only, don't shave against the direction of the hair) These rules are learned from cutting yourself. However, with an electric shaver, you need to do the opposite of those rules to get a close shave. So when shaving with this shaver make sure you: 1) Press harder to get a closer shave 2) Allow the shaver to push the skin along and bunch up a little in front of the screen (opposite of stretching it out for a razor blade) 3) Shave against the direction of the hair after shaving with the direction of the hair 4) stretch your skin until you feel the unshaven area and shave it (this would cut me to ribbons on regular blades), 5) go any direction with the shaver - experiement with rotating it, moving it sideways and "backwards", 6) go over same areas many times from multiple directions, 7) use the "edge/corner" of the shaver to get into areas that are harder to get at. 8) Use water and/or a non-soap shaving creme/lotion (this is counter intiutive to electric shavers if you haven't used a wet/dry model before)
Experience precision shaving with this electric shaver designed to cut through the heaviest of beards. The shaver is equipped with an arced foil and s...More at Best Buy ®
Type: FoilFeatures: Adjustable Pivot Action Head 30° Inner Blades Patented High Speed Linear Motor (13 000 RPM of Linear Power) Turbo Cleaning Mod...More at Newegg.com
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