
Introduction:
Everyday, I wake up in the mourning and have to shave. My current shaver(Panasonic EX8066) was on its last leg, and I knew it was time to get a new one.
I tried researching shavers online, and was disappointed that there was really no reviews out their. Braun, panasonic, and Remington websites were worthless in telling me about there products. In fact Braun redesigned their website when I was researching and they improved a little. But Braun website lists the Braun 790cc and Braun 760cc features as identical. The only difference is the 790cc has a 1 hour quick clean, but Bruans website won't tell you that. Panasonic website was just as bad, and did not help me figure which shaver was best for me. So I relied on amazon.com reviews to help me decide. Amazon.com now has 109 reviews of the Panasonic ES8249K, but I only saw 29 reviews on it when I made my purchase. After my research, it came down to the Braun 790cc and the Panasonic ES8249K. Panasonic won me over because of its low price of $119 when I bought it. Now its $199 on amazon.com(4-5-09).
Hardware Impression:
The shaver is very light in my hands. The front cover is a grayish marble color, buts its hard to tell without proper light. There is a side button the locks the head in place or unlocks the head to be springy. The front button turns on the shaver and turns off the shaver. The LCD shows battery life and when using the shaver, starts a timer for how long the shave was.
My old shaver had a metal shaver head, and felt heavy in my hand. To me this meant quality. The panasonic shaver had was flimsy plastic that felt like it wouldn't break if I wasn't careful. I would normally take my shaver head off and tap it the sink to remove hair particles. But with the panasonic, I feel it dangerous to do such a thing.
There are two blades inside the head. I was expecting 3 or 4 blades since it has 4 foils on top. The two blades coincide with the two outside foils. The two middle foils move bases on the motor. The blades don't look sharp at all. I thought this for a while, but then I put my thumb over the blades and slide my thumb across. Those blades are really sharp. I was impressed. I got to say, I don't like 4 foil head on top. I would prefer three foil heads. I say this because, when I would shave my upper lip area, only the two middle foils are doing any real cutting, and it feels like I am not getting the closest shave. With 4 foils, I found it hard to shave my upper lip area. I prefer three foils for this reason.
The cleaning station is quiet large. You put some water in a container located in the back and the cleaning cartridge slides onto the bottom. The shaver goes in head first into the station. There are three contacts on the back of the shaver that connect to the hydraclean station to charge the shaver and control the shaver for the cleaning process. There a single button on the station that allows you to rotate through possible cleaning cycles. Some gripes I have about the cleaning station is how the power cords sticks out at a 45 degrees angle from the side of the base. I wished it was flush. When you put the shaver in the hydraClean station, it will start the charging process but not the cleaning process. You mush always press the button to start the cleaning process. I wished I didn't have to do this since it remember the last cleaning cycle I choose, it should do that automatically. There should be a choice to charge every time the shaver goes in or to clean every time the shaver goes in. It would have been a nice feature. As far as the cleaning goes, it works and is better than not cleaning it. I although had 1 day that it didn't dry completely from the previous day. I went to shave and had dirty hair spread on my face. It hasn't happen again, so I considered it a fluke. The base makes noises when it cleans(shaver turns on, fan noise), so don't expect a ultra quite clean station.
With my old shaver, I had a charging station( by magnetic induction which panasonic seems to no longer include with there shavers. WHY panasonic? ), and would always let it fall in. Placing the shaver in the hydraClean station, you have to be carefully not to drop it in, but place it in. I say this because if you are not careful, you will damage your foil. I wish there was a way around this, but a better approach alludes me. I like the idea of being able to plug in my shaver directly into a outlet and start shaving. The panasonic has a direct charging port, but when the shaver is plugged in, you can't shave. I am not really sure why this is, but it might be a safety feature since this is a wet/dry shaver. This is something you can do with Braun.
First Shave Impression:
For my test, I let myself grow out 4 days worth of hair. I started on the sides, after 2 to 3 passes most of the hairs were gone. I spent some extra time to go over all areas of my face. Afterwards, my face was very smooth. The neck area and under the chin were free of hair. The edges of my jaw bone had some hair which I think is due the large size of the shaver head.
My neck did suffer some irritation. But that is normal until you get use to the shaver. I didn't really like the spring motion of the head, so flip the switch on the side to prevent the spring motion.
One thing I didn't like was that you can only use one side of the shaver to shave since the head is slightly tilted. I like to reverse the sides when I shave, and did so quite often with my old shaver.
This shaver is much more quieter than my old shaver, but still audible, but the sound it made is a consistent with vibration sounds. This is unlike my old shaver where the sound could sound like a un-oiled hair cutter(used for hair cuts).
After the shave, the foil was very dirty on top, and even dirtier inside. Considering my growth, this was OK, but I didn't like the amount of shavings left on the exterior.
The side trimmer in my opinion is terrible. Its width is smaller then my older shaver. It doesn't seem to cut as well as my old trimmer. Shaving my side burns was annoying since the trimmer pops out not at a 90 degree angle, but at 100 degrees. This makes getting a even side burn hard for me. This might just be me because I am not use to this angle.
Conclusion:
I hold my old shaver at high regard, and knew any knew shaver would have a hard time competing. The ES8249K although does a decent job for a electric shaver. Overall, the ES8249K is decent shaver but far from a perfect shaver.
I posted pictured on amazon.com, they should be up soon.
Pros
* Cleaning station is nice to have, even though its not perfect.
* The shave is good
* $119 was a good price, but if its $199 now, Braun 790cc might be a better choice with it be the recommended choice based the 500 amazon.com reviews
Cons
* Can't plug in the power cord directly to the shaver and use. The shaver becomes disabled.
* Cleaning station takes up a lot of room.
* 2 1/2 to clean shaver. No quick clean?
* Would like the end of the charging plug to not have the power converter, but be in the shaver.
What comes in the package
* Shaver
* Shaver Case
* Plastic shaver head shield
* Power Cord
* Vortex HydraClean System
* 1 Vortex HydraClean System cartridge
* Manuel + other papersGet more detail about
Panasonic ES8249K Arc IV Nano Vortex Wet/Dry Rechargeable Shaving System, Black.