Review (4/5): Pretty good.
I bought this to upgrade my lotion dispensing Norelco that's now 5 years old. The battery on it barely lasted one shave and it lived in its charging cradle except when drying.
Since I was so used to the old cradle and how it always was in it, I liked the little clock on this. But once I noticed it lasts < month the cradle is now a relic in my junk drawer! It seriously only needs about an hour to charge fully so there is not any need for the cradle. The tiny (not a huge brick that sticks in the wall) will fit inside the cradle or the razor.
When I first used my 9160XL I really irratated my skin, even being a long time Norelco user. But it went away in about a week. I still get red spots from irratation some times but heres my trick: wait until BEFORE you shower because soap strips all the oils off your face, making it hard to glide or try using a TINY amount of shaving cream, spread so thin you can barely notice it and then go over with a splash of water. If you use alot the Norelco could choke on all the extra cream and become less effective. I hardly notice any differences in irritation when using the <S N> dial (sensitive or normal skin)
The trimer is neat but I only use it to shave my unibrow when I am too lazy to actually pluck the hairs out. The trimer + the head array pop up with a flick of a finger. I was used to pulling open the head like my old Norelco but this is spring loaded. Some how when I was store drying it (the recommend to leave it wide open to air dry out the insides) the head came off. I was frightend! But it is designed to snap on and off easily.
The plastic head cover is working like it should. I just prefer my old head cover more because it was easier to tell which side is going on the top. But it is getting easier the top nub is alot smaller the my old one. The travel case is awesome, fits it like a glove and zippers up. Be sure to leave the cover on for double protection.
Be sure to look for a brush to clean the heads before you throw away the box. The packaging is so complex it took me a while to extract all of it's contents.
More cons:
- I don't like how the heads are unprotected during air drying... I wish the cover would fit while its opened.
- Orange? Bold color for something thats mainly blue, silver and gray.
- Maybe my drain needs draino but when washing out the chamber and heads alot of my hair gets stuck to the side of my sink, requiring splashing until it all goes. But it's kinda cool filling my sink the top then start draining and look up close at all tiny hairs it cuts.
I am been using this for 4 months now.
edit, now it's been 5 years and the battery still holds a pretty decent charge. Still working really well too. Only replaced the blades once so I'd say I got my monies worth.