Review (4/5): Good for the frequent shaver
The Philips Norelco Arcitec shaving system is designed to look good and feel good in your hand. It also has handy packaging, coming with two handy storage/charge mounts: one designed to stand up in your bathroom and another secure case for travel. Both mounts can be plugged in and charge the system. The only thing I don't like about these mounts is they don't have a space to carry the cleaning brush. Still, I haven't had to use the cleaning brush yet, since one of the best features of the Arcitec is that it can be cleaned in the tap: you just flip open the blade covers and run water over them. It cleans nicely. There is a very nice lcd display that shows how much battery time remains -- and the nice thing in terms of design is that you can't see the display unless it's on. Otherwise it hides completely beneath the chrome like finish of the handle -- no ugly lcd display turned off.
Enough about design: it looks great and feels great and has nice features. What about function? Does it shave well? The answer to that is a bit more complicated. The simple answer is: it gives a very smooth shave, IF you already have a fairly smooth shave. If you shave at least once a day and preferably twice a day I find that it keeps the face smooth and polished, and feels very even across the skin and shaves quickly. If you let it go for a day or two, however, and begin to show some stubble, the Arcitec doesn't like that. It can run over fairly short stubble over and over again before it finally trims it. Even the (fairly modest) click out trimmer can't cut significant stubble to a length that can be easily shaved by the Arcitec. This is unfortunate for me, since I like to let it go a day or two between shaves. I did, following the directions on the razor, give it about three weeks of solid shaving every day and that certainly did the trick keeping my skin feeling (almost) like a baby's, but I found after a few weeks I wanted to skip a day, and then tried to shave with the Arcitec and needed to pull out my disposable razor to finish the job. (I should mention that I once had a much cheaper razor -- you know, the $30 variety -- that I got for Christmas several years ago and it did seem to have greater tolerance for longer stubble. With that I could get away with shaving every couple of days.)
So, to sum up: this razor is very well designed for the basic application of shaving at least once a day. Very good for the distinguished gentleman, let's say. But for those a bit rough around the edges (or, as someone might put the point less charitably) for those who are too lazy to shave every day, it may not be the ideal choice.