Review (5/5): It works as I expected.
When my old beard trimmer conked out after a half dozen years, I wanted a nice new one. Not the clunker my wife had purchased for me six years ago that pulled hairs, kept my sink a mess, and looked cheap. So I typed in Google, "What is the best beard trimmer?" On two of three sites I checked, the Philips Norelco T980 Turbo Vacuum Trimmer was tops.
What sold me, was the video of one reviewer actually using the trimmer and explaining all of its functions and how to use it. As an aside, the Amazon reviews were helpful as well - so when I was shaving and turned the trimmer on its side, I was not surprised when hairs fell out of the vaccum trap.
That being said, the beard trimmer worked just as I had hoped. I look forward to taking time out once a week to trim my beard. The guard feels good against my skin and the hairs are all evenly cut. I haven't had a pulled hair yet. The shaper works well, giving nice clean lines. And the vaccum works great with the beard trimmer and guard - 99% of hair winds up in the vaccum chamber. The pieces are easy to clean and adjust.
Negatives and these are minor andonly have to do with the vaccum. Mind you, if there was no vaccum my sink would be filled with black hairs, so having any type of vaccum is great. The negatives are: 1. if you turn your hand too far over, the hairs will start to spill out - that's happened twice in the eight times I've used it so far. And it was only a little. 2. The vaccuum is realitively useless with the shaper as other reviewers have mentioned.
One other thing, where the beard meets my hairline just above the ear, I've found the guard obstructs the view a bit so it's hard to see where to stop. It's probably just a thing of practice and the length of my beard, but I figured I'd let everyone know where I find myself taking a little bit of time when shaving.
Definately a good buy. I look forward to beard trimming day.