Review (1/5): Slower Shaving than my old Norelco!
I have been a long time Norelco shaver user. When it was time to buy a new set of Series 7 Lift-and-Cut heads for my old Norelco 6885XL razor, I decided to get the new 9170XLCC razor. Big Mistake! The new 3-ring Smart Touch heads are not as good as the old reliable Lift-and-Cut heads.
Why you say? To make the head look like it has more surface area and thus should cut faster, the Norelo engineers reduced the cutting area of the fastest, outer, ring, to squeeze in the two inner, but slower surface speed, rings. In fact the outer ring cutting blades are only 1.00 mm wide as opposted the the 1.75 mm width cutter width in the series 7 Lift-and-Cut heads. The added inner rings actually cause pulling of the beard hairs if you try to shave at the same speed you did with the older models.
By the Way, the so-called cleaning system is a big bother and not worth the extra cost. You can rinse the 9170XL under the faucet just like the older XL models. In fact, you HAVE TO rinse it because of the sticky mess the cleaning system leaves in the razor after "cleaning."
The bottom line: In a failed attempt to make a quieter, faster, shaving system, Norelco actually made it WORSE than earlier lift-and-cut models. Then to top that off, changed the drive pin design so that one can NOT use the superior heads. Do not waste your hard-earned cash on this sub-par Norelco product.