Review (4/5): No real improvement over older models
I have owned and used an early model of this razor, known as the Norelco Advantage for perhaps eight or so years. This has been, and still remains, a great razor if used properly. During my ownership of the Norelco Advantage razor I have had only one maintenance action, and that was the replacement of the battery about three years ago at a cost of about $43.
About a week ago I accidentally knocked this older razor off its base and, unfortunately, the razor ended up on the bathroom tile floor. It still works as well as ever, however, but the razor is now quite hard to close to its proper operating position so I opted to buy the new model 8040X since, after all, the older model had really worked for me over a long period of time, and maybe the newer model would have some worthwhile advantages.
What I have observed, however, is that the new model has no advantages, but one significant disadvantage. The new model must be left on charge no more that four hours to prevent battery damage, whereas I could leave the old model on charge all day, which provided me with about two weeks of shaving before the next required charge. The old model could also run about a week with only a one hour charge. I have also noted that Norelco now supplies a flimsy plastic construction of the razor, whereas the older razor was much more rugged, a not surprising evolution of articles of this kind.
One other point which pertains to both the old and the new model -- there is no need to use the Nivea shaving lotion supplied by Norelco. On the contrary, the need to push an additional button during shaving is actually distracting, at least for me. My shaving procedure is, after taking a shower, to first wash my face thoroughly with liquid soap and hot water, leaving the soap lather on my face. I then apply a moderate amount of skin lotion (I use Dermalube, but most skin lotions will do) over my face evenly, and then proceed to shave without using any Nivea lotion. I find this procedure to be both superior and much less expensive than using the Nivea lotion.
In summary, the new model 8040X provides the same comfortable wet shave experience as the older model, but don't look for any improvements.