I've been focusing on razors since late last year, and to be honest I'm curious what exactly is the difference between different brands of razors. Therefore, when purchasing, I simply bought all the products of the three mainstream brands on the market.
So far, I have bought three models. One of them was given to Daddy, and the other two were for daily use (in different places).
The three products are Philips 5 Series (S5585), Braun 5 Series (51-B1000S) and Panasonic Little Hammer (ES-JLM3C), all of which are competing products in the 500 yuan price range, which I think is suitable for both self-use and gifting.
The following content, I will share my experience in detail about these three products, I hope to give you a little reference who also wants to buy.
Reciprocating or rotating
The mainstream shavers come in two categories: reciprocating and rotating. Among them, the typical representatives of the reciprocating type are Braun and Panasonic, and the rotary type is almost monopolized by Philips.
Reciprocating
Swivel type
The two types of razors are different in their working principles, and the differences are well understood: the former uses the left and right reciprocating movements of the blade head to cut the beard; The latter uses a rotational movement to cut the beard
In general, we consider the two different forms of shavers to have the following advantages and disadvantages:
- Rotary shavers have low vibration and long blade life, making them more suitable for soft beards, but may cause tugging (it hurts to think about).
- The reciprocating shaver vibrates greatly, the life of the blade head is shorter than that of the rotary type, it is more suitable for hard beards, and the cleaning is simpler than that of the rotary type;
But the above is only theory after all. In actual use, there are actually many details that affect the use experience.
From left to right: Philips 5 Series (S5585), Braun 5 Series (51-B1000S), Panasonic Hammer (ES-JLM3C)
The three products to be compared in detail in this article are: Philips 5 Series (S5585), Braun 5 Series (51-B1000S) and Panasonic Little Hammer (ES-JLM3C). The following Philips 5 series/Philips, Braun 5 series/Braun and Panasonic small hammer/Panasonic refer to these three products, no longer say the specific model ▲
At the beginning, put the conclusion here to facilitate your purchase:
If you don't care about the larger size and retro shape, Philips can be bought casually, the shaving is indeed clean, the fit is good, in addition to the shape has no obvious groove, Father's Day is also very good for the elders - but the paradox is that the rotary razor is actually more suitable for soft beards, and men get older and harder.
If you prefer reciprocating shavers, the Panasonic hammer has a better overall experience: the head design is more compact, the shaving fit is better, and the key is to shave cleaner than Braun. In addition, the blistering function and Type-C interface are a plus, usually whether it is placed on the desktop or carried, it is also smaller, and there is an additional pop-up hair repairer, which has more application scenarios. , you can also consider the youth version, which is more cost-effective.
All-round comparison
1. Appearance
Philips
Braun
Panasonic
Because of the difference in individual aesthetics, it is difficult to say which of the three products is more beautiful, but the styles presented by the three are very different: Philips classic retro, Braun tough and smooth, Panasonic young fashion ▲
In terms of functionality, both Philips and Panasonic have a pop-up hair trimmer on the back, while Braun's machine does not.
Some people may think that the hair trimmer is not used on a daily basis, but in fact, this function is very practical. For example, if the beard is too long, you can first use a hair fixer to shorten and then use a razor to shave the short beard, which will be much more efficient.
2. Battery life
The three shavers are all built-in lithium batteries, and the official battery life parameters are 45-60 minutes, and even the charging time is the same, unified to 1 hour, and all have 5-minute flash charging function, and the book parameters are comparable.
Such battery life to meet daily use is actually not much of a problem, so charging convenience has become the key to the problem.
From left to right: Philips, Braun, Panasonic
Among the three products, Philips and Braun still use the double pin jack of the traditional shaver - the biggest problem with this type of interface is "special for special machines", which has to be equipped with a special charger to charge, and it is not a good match to lose, and it has to be specially carried on business trips; Panasonic adopts the hottest C port, which suddenly breaks the barrier between it and digital products, and is not afraid of running out of electricity wherever it goes
In terms of charging convenience alone, the Panasonic Little Hammer wins by a clear advantage.
3. Portability
Portability depends mainly on size and weight.
In terms of size, Philips is the largest, Braun is second, and Panasonic is relatively the most slender and compact ▲
In terms of weight, it also continues the order of the three in terms of size: the Panasonic small hammer is the lightest, while the Philips 5 series is relatively heavier
In theory, Panasonic is the most portable and Philips is the most troublesome.
However, I think that if you travel with a suitcase, this difference is almost invisible. But if you're a backpacker and like to travel light, the shape of the Panasonic little hammer is indeed the best way to tuck it into your bag.
In addition, in terms of details, all three shavers have travel locks, which are locked to prevent accidental activation in the trunk.
4、Quiet operation
"Reciprocating shavers vibrate greatly" is the consensus of almost all users. But does a lot of vibration mean a lot of noise?
Or is it most intuitive to use data to speak:
According to actual measurements, it can be seen that the three are extremely similar in terms of noise control, and the difference is only reflected in the decimal point, which can be almost ignored
In terms of body feeling, Braun and Panasonic that use the reciprocating working principle are significantly more intense, and the noise is manifested as high-frequency noise, which is the kind of "buzzing" sound; Philips' rotating blade head makes a "croak" sound, and the noise frequency is relatively low, which I personally feel is a little softer.
Talking about science, the noise of the three is close; Speaking of subjective feelings, Philips will be better.
5. Self-cleaning
Whether self-cleaning is convenient is mainly determined by two factors: one is the disassembly and assembly design of the knife head, and the other is to a large extent the waterproof level of the razor.
Regarding the waterproof level, I checked the relevant parameters and found that all three products have a waterproof level of IPX7 - they can withstand short periods of water immersion. This means that all three products can be used safely in a hot shower.
In terms of knife head design, all three models support one-handed quick release, all of which are very good ▲
Among them, Braun 5 series has a selling point is no-dismantling rinse, you can directly rinse the small hole between the knife head and the knife body with the faucet, so as to clean up the slag
But the so-called "no disassembly" actually has a bug: after rinsing, the remaining water stains inside the knife head are not easy to dry, and they still need to be disassembled to dry - so strictly speaking, there is not much advantage in eliminating disassembly.
In terms of details, Braun and Panasonic's knife head design ideas are not quite the same. Obviously, the structure of the latter (Panasonic) will be more thoroughly clean when rinsing ▲
In addition, Philips' rotary blade heads need to be removed regularly for deep cleaning after a long time - which is why the self-cleaning of reciprocating shavers is more convenient ▲
Overall, the three shavers have a good blade disassembly design, and they can be easily handled with one hand. Braun's no-dismantling design is more eye-catching, but there is no obvious advantage in the actual experience, and it is even less reasonable than Panasonic's design. Personally, I feel that Panasonic self-cleaning is the most convenient, followed by Braun, Philips is relatively more complicated.
PS: There is also a demonstration in the experience section below about self-cleaning.
6. Fit
The fit mainly tests the ability of the knife head to be undivided, and this is the difference between rotary shavers and vibrating shavers.
Through the GIF comparison, you can see:
- (1) Philips cutter head can rotate 360 degrees, the blade can not only float up and down, but also rotate to different angles, which is very flexible;
- (2) Braun's knife head is fixed, and the blade can float up and down and left and right, far less flexible than Philips;
- (3) The same reciprocating shaver, Panasonic's design is much more flexible than Braun's, in addition to the blade, the blade part can also move left and right.
In addition, the Panasonic blade set is significantly narrower than Braun, so it feels more compact when used and the fit is significantly better ▲
PS: However, this point varies from person to person, and I feel that Panasonic, as an Asian brand, will be more in line with the relationship between Asian physiology in terms of design.
Philips 5 Series
Braun Series 5
Panasonic small hammer
The actual shaving experience is also completely consistent with the above analysis: Philips' rotating head fits best, and Braun obviously feels very stiff and uncomfortable
The objective comparison ends here, and the key to razors depends on whether they can be shaved cleanly and how the experience of shaving is.
Usage experience
My personal beard is slightly softer, especially the chin part, which is completely in line with the fine soft hair characteristics.
For daily use, I used to have a razor on the table, and when I thought about it, I would pick it up and scrape it. Especially when staying up late, the beard grows especially fast. Shaving in the middle of the night can both rest and relieve the mind, but also refresh the mind - this is actually to express the point that I rarely shave in front of the mirror seriously, and I usually do blind exercises.
The test results are directly on the following:
Because they were not taken at the same time, the color temperature of the image may differ slightly. But careful comparison is still not difficult to find: Philips and Panasonic are shaved very clean, and the one with Braun is obviously not very thoroughly shaved
Braun Series 5 shaving results
I noticed this problem at that time, so I also took a partial close-up, and I can see that there are obvious residues of slag in several places
Of course, these residues can be cleaned up, but I need to look at the mirror and deliberately treat these uncleaned places locally - which is why I stated my personal usage habits at the beginning of this section.
The above is only one of the shaving results, but it is very representative. The measured Philips and Panasonic shaving is easier and cleaner, but Braun has always been "one breath away". And after shaving with Braun, you will feel a little tight skin.
Speaking of which, both Philips and Panasonic advertise the "wet and dry" function on the detail page. Among them, Panasonic even claims that it can "blister with one button" ▲
Below I performed a foaming test using facial cleanser as a wet shaving medium:
The three tests were about 30s from the beginning to the end, and the measured three models had a foaming effect, but Philips and Panasonic foamed significantly faster, and the foam produced was smoother and richer▲
The foaming function, combined with the above-mentioned IPX7 waterproof rating, means that all three shavers can be used in the bathroom for a long time. Every time I wash my face, I can also shave my beard by the way, and I also save the trouble of manual blistering, which can be said to kill three birds with one stone~
However, in the cleaning link after use, we can see that Philips' knife head part is not good to clean up thoroughly because of the gap, and it needs to be rinsed repeatedly many times, which is simply intolerable for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder
Braun and Panasonic are much simpler, and after disassembling and rinsing, they become refreshing and refreshing, and there is no foam residue at all
In terms of the experience of use, Braun is very lost in the point that the shaving is not clean. The experience with Philips and Panasonic was good. Philips has a better fit and softer shaving, but because the blade part is large, it is difficult to perform delicate operations such as local processing, which is far less dexterous than Panasonic's compact head.
In addition, all three support both wet and dry, and can also foam (Philips and Panasonic are significantly better), which is very cool when used in the bathroom - so when you buy a razor, you must choose a high waterproof level, not only for easy rinsing, but also a lot cooler to use!
Spit
Before summarizing, let's talk about the slots I encountered in use, each of which has:
Philips 5 series is a mature and good product, but the body shape has not been optimized for many years, it looks a little retro, and it is difficult for young people to like it. In addition, the rotating cutter head part occupies a large space and volume, so the overall look is really bulky, and it is not so convenient to carry ▲
The Braun Series 5 is famous, but it doesn't shave clean, which I didn't expect. There are personal reasons for blind guessing, or it may be that the German brand is more suitable for the European physique. But what I want to complain about the most is this storage box sent by the store, I can't put it down at all 5 series, I don't know what use it is to send me ▲
The Panasonic Little Hammer 2.0 has a stylish and youthful shape, and the shaving is crisp and neat, which has no slots.
But its power indicator is really very unfriendly, whether in use, or when charging, always only display a static icon with only one block of electricity, will not flash at all, let alone display the power ratio, the user never knows the remaining power ▲
On the other hand, the other two models have a three-compartment power indicator, and there will be flashing prompts when charging, which is much more intuitive ▲
Fortunately, Panasonic Little Hammer 2.0 uses C-port charging, and in the current era when C-port charging cables are everywhere, there is no battery life anxiety at all, which can be regarded as a return to a city. But it can obviously do better, but it just doesn't do it, and people can't help but want to complain.
summary
A complete comparison of the three razors, in fact, we will find that in terms of hardware parameters that everyone pays relatively high attention to, there is no gap between competing products of the same level of each brand, and it can even be said to be exactly the same:
For example, the three waterproof levels are IPX7, the battery life is 45-60min, all have 5 minutes of flash charging, all have floating blades, all support quick release, self-cleaning looks very convenient, and even the noise size is not different.
So how to choose a razor? At this time, you can not only look at the parameters, but also look at the real use experience, and you have to look at the details:
For example, with the same battery life, Panasonic's C-port charging conforms to the development of this era, and daily charging is very convenient. On the other hand, the charging method of the other two is too conservative, and every time you go out, you have to carry a charger specifically, even if it is at home, you have to store it separately, which is a typical "eat the old book, not optimize".
For example, in terms of styling, although it is difficult to say which one is more beautiful, it is obvious that Philips' styling is slightly bloated, between Braun and Panasonic, one is tough, one is fashionable, each has its own merits. Men over the age of thirty-five may prefer Braun's style, but younger people are expected to prefer Panasonic.
But returning to the essence, to evaluate whether a razor is good or not, it still depends on whether the shaving beard is clean. This kind of personal care products that directly contact the skin, as long as they have been used, do not support no reason to return, so everyone still needs to think clearly which one is more suitable for themselves when purchasing.
From my experience, if you don't care about the larger size and retro shape, Philips can be bought casually, the shaving is indeed clean, the fit is good, except that there are no obvious grooves in the shape, and it is also very good to give it to the elders on Father's Day - but the paradox is that the rotary shaver is actually more suitable for soft beards, and men get harder and harder as they get older.
If you prefer reciprocating shavers, the Panasonic hammer has a better overall experience: the head design is more compact, the shaving fit is better, and the key is to shave cleaner than Braun. In addition, the blistering function and Type-C interface are a plus, usually whether it is placed on the desktop or carried, it is also smaller, and there is an additional pop-up hair repairer, which has more application scenarios. , you can also consider the youth version, which is more cost-effective.
Insist on doing reviews with attitude and produce content with temperature. I'm Tomato, we'll see you in the next article~