Review (2/5): I had to try it for myself.
After reading all of the bad reviews on this new Norelco shaver, I swore I was not going to buy this unit.
Well, a few months ago I realized my local stores didn't stock my HQ5 Norelco replacement blades anymore and I about had a heart attack. Oh, darn, I am now being forced to upgrade and I was quite happy with my current shaver.
I have had a Norelco 5885XL for the past 13 years. I love this unit and it suits me well. This only noteworthy things about this old unit is that I have had to have the batteries replaced only two times, but this is normal since they wear out every 6 years or so.
Here is my 1050x review.. it was painful to write, but here goes..
--This is a noisy shaver folks.. I graduated to a 5885XL a long time ago and was surprised of the whisper quiet shave it delivered. The 1050x is about 2-3 time noisier than my 15 year old Norelco, WTH? This is not good. I simply cannot accept a noisy shaver. This thing is inches away from my ears at 5am and that is very annoying. I need peace and quiet at those early hours, and this would not work long term.
--What a bad shave. Starting with a 2-day shadow growth, I shaved half of my face with my trusty 5885XL [using 1.5 year old blades] and the other half with my shiny new 1050x unit. I actually had my wife feel both shaves afterwords to confirm I wasn't being overly critical of my new toy.
As I suspected, she confirmed my 5885xl produced a better shave, in about the same amount of time.
As I shaved with the 1050x, I realized that I was going over the same growth areas without making things smoother, especially around the neck. I was getting tired, frustrated, and irritated. The pivoting head technology is clearly inferior to Norelcos older units.
--Here come the skin irritations: Ahhh!!!
Just a few minutes after my shave test had ended, my 1050x side was now irritated and not feeling comfortable [like my 5885xl side was]. Having used Norelcos all of my shaving life, about 25 years, this irritation I feel is not normal, and I do not find this acceptable; even if there is a break-in period; not for me there isn't. no thanks..
--Bad charging system! What the heck is it with this terrible charging system. I should be able to plug the unit in directly and not have to lug around more junk to lose or break while on travel. The AC adapter cable does not even fit into the travel case, how stupid is that!?! I can see this cable being the 1st thing I lose on a business trip because it does not have a place to be stored.
Gosh, I wanted to love using this shaver. I was excited and wanted to prove all these other bad reviews wrong. Sadly, they are correct in every way.
My guess is many of the good reviews are being written by persons who have not had the pleasure of trying one of Norelco's older shavers to notice the amazing quality they can provide. Folks, do yourself a favor and get an older model, preferably something from the late 90's IMHO.
Norelco, come'on buddy.. Your losing me big time here.
It's back to my 5885xl, and I have found my HQ5's here on Amazon, clicking buy; and it's byebye to my 1050x.
:(
F.