Review (3/5): New but not better
I've used this for the past 5 days and compared it to my "old" 9160XL shaver. I wanted to like this new Arcitec design, but I ended up preferring my old shaver.
The Arcitec and XL-based shavers use the same blade design, though the blades are replaced individually for the XL and as one complete unit for the Arcitec. The Arcitec was MUCH noiser than my 9160--surprisingly so. The heads on the Arcitec are designed to spread open which gave me a better shave on my neck. However, the blades don't "float" on the Arcitec, so when pushed against my chin there is no give like on the 9160XL, so the 9160XL gives me a better shave on my chin.
And the worst for last, the side burn trimmer is terrible. It's very small and doesn't protrude from the razor more than about 1/8". I literally could not trim my sideburns because I couldn't see them--the large razor head completely shadows the trimmer. This was a surprising departure from the large trimmer on my 9160XL.
Finally, the shave itself is fine. Since the Arcitec no longer uses the "floating head technology" I actually thought I was getting a slightly closer shave than with the 9160XL. However, as a test I shaved half of my face with the 9160XL and half with the Arcitec and asked my wife to tell me which was closer. She chose the 9160XL. My conclusion on the shave is that they shave equivalently, neither better than the other.
So, as much as I wanted this new Arcitec shaver (received it as a gift), it's too noisy and the small side burn trimmer is a deal killer. And for that matter, my "old" 9160XL still works fine. I'm sending mine back.
Update:
Well, I never sent it back and I kept using it, and, well, I like it better now. I found a better way to use the trimmer--remove the razor head. If your not familiar with this style of Norelco, the individual blades are not replaceable. The entire head is replaced. So when I was playing around with this, I removed the head and thought, hey, THIS is how to use the trimmer! I also do believe it shaves closer than the older "floating head" razor heads. I was concerned that the cost of replacing the head would be more expensive, and it is a couple dollars more than a set of individual heads but not enough to persuade me.
So, I'm keeping it, and I'd change my rating to 4 stars if I could. The reason I don't give it 5 is because it's still noisy; noticeably more noisy than the Norelco it replaces.