Another Electronics "Dumb-Down" by Norelco
There is nothing wrong with the shaving system here--it shaves well, although you must move it more slowly across your beard, the shave is much quicker when you do.  It's in the flashy electronics that Norelco has done another reverse-turn. Old Norelcos would "beep" for a few seconds and also show a blinking "time to clean" symbol until you opened the head (presumably do to so). Then the "beep" was removed in a later model and the cleaning indication on the screen only stayed lit for a minute or so--if you didn't look at the screen, too bad. Now for this latest "improvement"(!), the cleaning indicator blinks after EVERY shave regardless if it needs cleaning or not. The instruction manual says on page 13 says it will blink "about once a week" and on page 22 that will blink "after each shave". Believe page 22! If I have to clean out the head after every shave, shake it in a towel and let it air-dry on the counter-top, then I might as well go back to a blade & foam--it's about as much mess and trouble! The count-down "minutes left" feature has the annoying habit of starting a rapid decent when you switch off the shaver from 20 minutes or so remaining, suddenly to single digits--which again makes you have to physically look at the screen's slowly appearing symbols after every shave. A row of "pixels" that form the numbers on the screen were not working to begin with making it a bit tricky to read some of the numbers (annoying, but not enough to send it back!). Norelco's attempt to keep you purchasing their cleaning solution is a marketing-ploy. If you wash it out with warm water occasionally as instructed, you should only have to use the solution cleaning system when you re-charge it. The charger/cleaner base also has to be un-plugged when not in use & there's no provision for cord-storage.<br /><br />A whole series of easily-fixed annoying "niggles" that make it much less than satisfactory (and I'm not even going to mention the lurid orange trim on the otherwise sleek stainless steel colored body shape!).  Buy it for the shaves, not for the "bells & whistles".
Rating: 3 stars