I could kick myself for not going with electric razor sooner. I've been using razor blades for 30 years now and I recieved this panasonic arc 5 as a gift and this has been life changing for me. LIFE CHANGING. How could I be so stupid wasting tons and tons of money on expensive razor blades and handles which dont last and irritate the skin. I wouldn't shave daily because I wanted to make my blades last as long as possible. I also shaved minimal so that there would be less irritation and cutting of skin. Nicks would still happen occasionally. Shaving cream bottle after shaving cream bottle. So much time and money and headache. I never thought an electric razor could shave close. I'm the kind of man who thinks men should be clean shaven so its an important ritual. The panasonic arc 5 cuts as good or even better than my best blades. Japan steel is amazing. Japan makes great products. I'm an advocate of anything made in the USA, In Japan, or Germany. Usually you can't go wrong. High quality engineering. I use my arc 5 daily now, even when I'm actually done shaving I keep on shaving because its so relaxing and therauputic to use. So easy, So gentle. Just like a REAL blade its important to go in different directions to get the perfect shave. Right to left. left to right. downward, upward. angled. pull your skin taut in some areas might help. Exactly the things I do when using a real blade. I do this with my new shaver to acheive perfection. The pop out trimmer works perfectly for sideburns. The cleaning unit is awesome. Once I'm done shaving I dump the shaver in it and it starts charging. The stand is beautiful looking. If I need to clean it , which I do maybe once a week, I push one button and it begins the clean and dry cycle. You just need to setup once with the tiny packet of panasonic soap and some water and it lasts about month before you need to refill with water and another little packet of soap. I now recommend electric shavers to EVERYONE I know. And the shaver I recommend is the arc 5 or the arc 6 along with the cleaning stand. I think battery life is great. Mine never gets low since I have the stand. I couldn't imagine not having the stand. Comes with travel case. A little brush. One or two packets of soap. Oil. Cord. You can lock the head or you can let it pivot freely. There are two arc 5 versions one has more pivotal movements than the other. The arc6 besides having more an additional "blade" array, has additional pivotal movements somehow. Read more
tldr; this arc5 shaves my head smoother. with no stubble. better than anything ive tried. backstory: i started shaving my head using a manual razer. but i had a tendency to get ingrown hairs. so i started shaving with the hair grain. that is not as close shaving. so i looked for something else. thats when i found the pitbull silver pro. ive been using it a year. its advantage over the arc5 is its multi-blades that wrap around the head. making for a faster shave. but im left with the stubble look.. which is nowhere close to a shaved head look. as a note, the pitbull gold pro has shorter stubble. but still has stubble and is much more expensive. all of the rotory shavers had stubble with the gold pro being the least. i used an ai-search engine. asking the question of how long the stubble would be for various electric shavers. the arc 5 was the closest. manual razer first. arc5 second. arc5 the good: extremely close shave (im shocked). no hair pulling. i shave dry, sometime lectric shave. the bad: shaver head very large. hard to shave around ears. the shave head is flat. takes a lot of passes back and forth to get that smooth shave. i touch my head with my free hand to find the stubble and then shave it smooth. the manual is inaccurate. there are a lot of iterations to the arc5 evidently. the ugly: that premium automatic cleaner/charger. unnecessary and waste of money. at the time im writing this i can buy an arc5 for $129. save the $70. plugging charger into shaver is easy and a quick charge. the foil and blades are very expensive to replace but do last a long time when buying genuine products. final thoughts: when searching for a head shaver i didnt know what i wanted. everybody talked about how great the pitbull is. well, it is great if you want stubble. nobody talked about using an electric shaver on the head. but, for me, thats the way to go. is it for you ? ? ? Read more
It cuts quickly, comfortably and as close as a razor. The cleaning module is amazing. It cleans and/or charges effectively so you don’t have to remove the shaver head and risk damage. The concentrated cleaning solution is reasonably priced and can last 2 - 3 months before needing replacement. It also lubricates. Read more
Overall this shaver works very well for cleaning up my early stubble. It sometimes misses hairs on the more curved parts of my jaw, for that reason I’m giving it 4 stars because I think it it could be a little more efficient for a shaver that costs over $200. Pros: • Little to no irritation for my sensitive skin • Cleaning station is very convenient, you can usually get away with swapping the cleaning solution every month. • Can usually clear most of my stubble in 1-2 swipes. • Water resistant so you don’t have to dry shave. • Convenient shape, easy to handle. Cons: • A little inconsistent for contours (Chin and lower jaw). • Replacement blades are a bit expensive (≈$60-$100). • Pretty noisy. Read more
