Review (4/5): Ummm Quirky?
I tend to bounce back and forth between Braun and Norelco and I've owned several models of each brand. As for this one, Norelco Arcitec 1090, I think it's a bit awkward to hold against the face. Norelco used to have a nice angled handle/body that made it very comfortable to use but not so with this one. It also seems very light weight and is a bit louder than my old Norelco. The shaving performance is very good but I'm not sure it's any better than the older models. I love the look of the charging stand but I found one fault with it. There is no power switch to turn it off which means that you have to unplug the power cord after the charge is complete. The owners manual says not to leave it plugged in 24/7 which kind of defeats the purpose of the charging stand IMO. The stand is functional as a place to store the razor when charging is complete. Replacing the $35 head (blades) is by far the easiest of any razor that I've ever owned. Cleaning the blades is also easy by rinsing under running HOT water. I've had self cleaning Braun and Norelco's and got tired of buying those cleaning cartridges every month which made the purchase decision on this razor easier to make. The pop out mustache trimmer is way too small and very hard to deploy. They could have left that out of the design and included a separate trimmer which would have been more useful. All in all I like this razor but I must admit that I'm not as excited about the purchase as I have been in the past with older models.
UPDATE: After spending a few days with this shaver I decided to return it. I don't think that it's performance justifies the price. It's awkward to use, noisy and it's performance is no better than the outgoing models. I have decided to save my money and buy replacements heads and cleaning solution for my old razor.