Schick Hydro 5 power select razor 1 ea (0841058015031)

I have been using disposable razors most of the time with Gillette sensor 3 being my preferred choice. I like the simplicity of it and the wide availability. However 6 months back I received a Schick Hydro 5 Power Select from my wife who went on a holiday to Australia. With its impressive looks and computer gadget like pack it was a sure winner from the get go. 

My experience
The snazzy looks which is predominantly a white body with dashes of dark blue rubberized exterior stands out with this razor. It looks sporty, sophisticated and powerful and clearly targeted at men not boys. Besides the razor is relatively heavy and requires a firm grasp. 

Why is the Schick Hydro 5 Power Select so heavy? This brings me to describe the defining feature of this razor. Its "power select" feature is where this beast differentiates from the regular Schick Hydro 5. The bottom of the razor has a nicely disguised screwed bottom which you can unscrew to pop 1 "AA" size battery in. Once done you can power it on with the strategically placed power button in the middle of the inside  handle. The ergonomics here is brilliant. Its very unlikely one will accidentally press the button as it doesn't stick out of the handle. Instead the power button is seamlessly integrated and requires a definitive push to power it up. So what does it power? "Vibration" of course...and 3 levels of vibration mind you. The beauty of it is that there's a level indicating light which shows up right above the power button on the handle. The 3 levels give low, medium and high vibration modes. One thing not so cool is that from level 1 if you want to switch the vibration off you need to click 3 more times to go thru the other levels before bringing the vibration to power down. No big issue though. 

In terms of the practical use of vibration let me be honest and tell you I found the technology or the science behiind it useless. The 5 blade razor gives a clean shave and vibration for me seemed just a fancy feature and in the past 5 months I have rarely turned it on. In fact I forget its there! If you happen to use the vibration feature here's what it s supposed to do... its supposed to reduce skin irritation.

How good are the blades and the shaving experience?

The Schick Hydro 5 Power Select is equipped with a flip button detachable razor blade head with 5 glistening ultra glide blades. Having used this razor for 5 months now I can vouch for the quality of the blades. The razor also claim to have skin guards which I fail to locate or recognize but whatever the technology it has the razor has never cut my skin.

Although the handle is big (since it houses the "AA" battery within its body) I felt the large rubberized handle gave an excellent grip which ensures minimal pressure being required to push the razor blades against the skin. Due to this my hands were always more required to make the gliding actions with the razor rather than put pressure on it to get that clean smooth shave. 

The hydrating gel reservoir at the top of the Schick Hydro 5 Power Select works really well. Its supposed to have aloe vera and vitamin E and the gel gets activated when wet. You can get thru a few shaves without shaving cream, foam or gel in an emergency due to the in built gel reservoir. The little pores of the reservoir give an indication when its running out as it turns from white color to transparent and my gel reservoir has completely drained out after 5 months. Im however continuing to use the razor since the blades are fine.

Bonus feature -
Something I found out only while writing this review and checking the product website, the gel reservoir part of the Schick Hydro 5 Power Select razor head flips out to make the razor a mini trimmer! Again even if I had found it out before, I dont think I would have used that feature. But in essence its a feature packed razor and looks to have got a lot of thinking and technology behind it. 

I really cant find any faults to dock any stars so this gets a 5**** rating from me.

Recommend this product? Yes