Before buying this shaver, I was put off by a few reviews that indicated a less than smooth shave. But, after looking over all of the options, this still seemed like the best option. I am glad I made this purchase beacuse the shaving experience has been perfect. I have a beard but like to keep the cheek areas and neck areas smooth. After 3 or 4 days, I can use the trimmer to cut down the stubble and then use the shaver to get a nice clean smooth shave. Switching from the trimmer to the shave head is simple and easy. Hairs do see to like to stick to the rubber parts of the shaver, but they and the heads can be easily cleaned by rinsing with water. The battery seems to last since I have not recharged it after using it for several months. The one down side is that the trimmer is not as effective at taking off the stubble as my last shaver was. But the shaver part does such a good job, that has not been a problem. Read more
It is awesome! I bought the 5020s, which comes with a trimmer with 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 leveled plastic trim heads. The difference between options are (without the trimmers), (with plastic trimmers), and (metal trimmers, I believe). Before 5020, I used Braun Cruzer 3 and then Braun Cruzer 5 totaling about 15 years. I was looking for a shaver around 40-50 bucks but decided to go for the extra. I have been using it for month. I shave every other day, and shave it super clean (i.e. any feel of the tiniest beard is unacceptable for me). My cheeks are alright and easy to shave but my neck beard grows irregularly, in I, W, Z ways, it is crazy. Normally, I was using the razor to shave the 2 days old neck-beard, and then using the machine to make it smooth. So shaving was always a problem for me. 5020 is awesome because I almost don't use the razor at all anymore. It can shave my whole face with 95-98% perfectness. If you are a regular shaver, that should be more than enough; it is just my obsession to make it 100%. I can be totally fine if I am on a rush and leave it like that. Thus, it is absolutely perfect for my daily shaving. In my first use, I had a week old beard (my beard grows really fast with medium thickness). It pulled the hairs a couple of times, but I believe I wasn't adjusted yet. Using it just a bit slowly and gently was much better, then had no problem. Yesterday, I also used the trimmer part with 3 and 5 mm option to shave the sides of my head and it was better than my Braun BT3020 beard trimmer. Transition between the levels are pretty smooth and much better than my so-called barber/butcher's work. Another positive thing is that it creates just a little bit of beard dust, about 10% of the previous machines that I used. Cleaning the machine is much easier. Just put it under water. I opened the head and there was no beard dust at all. May be the only negative thing is that the machine is not elegant and easy to control. Both the handle and the head is pretty big and it feels bigger than it should feel on your face. Not a problem for me but, feels weird. I guess the upper series, 7 and 9, are slicker and feels better at hand, but do the cost/benefit analysis. Read more
The shave is good and relatively quick, but not great. In order to finish the shave to a smooth cut, I run a Harry’s blade shave over most of my face. Read more
I am really pleased with this razor for the following reasons: 1) it works amazingly well as a body groomer, with multiple hair length options, including one for sensitive areas, 2) the charge lasts a long time and the rapid charger that's included recharges the unit very quickly, 3) it is reasonably priced and is of high quality, 4) for face shaving, it works just fine, although it is a little tricky trying to get those whiskers under your nose, where a more narrow razor head would be more effective. I am very pleased with this purchase and would buy again. Read more
Comfortable, lightweight, incredibly easy to clean, very ergonomic grip, excellent battery life. The trimmer attachment is fairly lame. It isn't a very effective trimmer at all. They needn't bother with the collection of guards they provide because you are pretty safe from it trimming too much! I have a cheap Wahl trimmer that uses disposable batteries that is far more effective. That said, the shave is closer than a blade, yet very safe and comfortable even with my sensitive skin. As far as I know, this is the least expensive Braun that's manufactured in Germany instead of China. I haven't owned the shaver long enough to evaluate how long the coil/cutting block lasts, Braun claims 18 months. My past experience with Braun and Remington is that foils develop holes and become unusable in a about 6 months. Even if this foil lasts only 12 months that would reduce the operating cost by half! By the way, beware of Chinese imitation foils on Amazon. Unless you look extremely closely, you won't realize that these are not manufactured by Braun. To be safe, look in the Braun Store in Amazon. The German made foil will set you back $35 instead of the approximately $20 of the look-alikes. Intuition tells me that this hyper-close and comfortable shave is largely due to the quality of the foil/cutting block assembly. Using the cheap foils would be kind of like putting cheap tires on your BMW. Your car wouldn't drive, handle and stop like a BMW any more. Read more
