Review (2/5): unwieldy upgrade
For years I owned a previous model, the Norelco T860. In fact, I still own it and it works just fine (although it now only holds a charge for about a week). I needed another trimmer for another location, and this one was the upgrade that was available. What a disappointment.
For one thing, it's really big. While the T860 was like a small South American banana, the T780 is like a big North American cucumber. Imagine trying to create an intricate drawing with a child's crayola instead of a pencil.
The extra size is apparently needed for the internal vacuum. This vacuum "works" in that it doesn't let hairs fall to the sink. But they become forever clogged inside the apparatus; you're never going to get them cleaned out, even after opening the flimsy plastic cover. The vacuum also adds to the noise. And my razor doesn't have a vacuum, so I'm going to have to clean up hairs anyway.
The extra girth and the vacuum outlet near the blades means that, as much as I try to cram the thing up under my nose, the blades can't reach the hairs at the top of my upper lip. I have to resort to using the (non-vacuuming) trimmer on my razor, or I'll have two or three long, uncut hairs just under my nose. And the retractable vacuum cover near the blades obscures the view and turns an agile row of blades into an unwieldy block of plastic.
The only benefit of this model is that the battery works well and it uses a nice color scheme.
I wish I knew where to buy another Norelco T860.
Update 2010-09-20: It turns out that the [[ASIN:B002C741MM Philps Norelco QT4021 Stubble Trimmer]] is apparently the upgrade to the Norelco T860, renamed to a "stubble trimmer". Its form is seemingly identical to the T860 and, besides the black/red color and the more grippable rubber coating on the handle, the only major changes seems to be a welcome battery upgrade from a NiCad to a NiMH. The QT4021 is just what I was looking for. I guess I'll drop off the T780 at my parents' house to use as a backup.