Review (4/5): Most Confortable shaving system I ever tried
I had a Philips 8160XL, but it irritates so much my neck skin. After that I bought a Panasonic linear electric shaver. Again, a lot of irritation on my neck, so I gave up and returned to razor blades. After a while, I want to return to an electric razor, for the long run savings, because razor blades are expensive. So I start looking. Finally, I have 3 posibilities: Norelco 9160XL, Norelco 8020X and Norelco coolskin 7735X. I found that Norelco 9160XL shares the same cutting blades than the 8160XL, so I discarted. The Norelco Coolskin 7735X was a temptin option, but this shaver use NiCad batteries (this battery suffers from memory, and after some time, retain less shaving time per charge). Finally, I decided for the Norelco 8020X.
Shaver:
This shaver has a body very similar to the new line of Norelco: Arcitec. The shaver is build on light plastic, but feels sturdy. The body is slim and very confortable to handle. You can use this shaver on the shower. Norelco recommends that you only use the Nivea for Men shaving conditioner, but I tried with shaving gel, and I got better results in the confort and closeness department. This is the reason why I tooked one star: Norelco should tell you that you can use others products, not only Nivea (this little can cost $9.95 on amazon plus S/H).
Charging:
Is recommended that you drain the battery before charging. This will prolong battery life. Charginf take only 8 hours. You have check, because if you charge more than 8 hours, it can damage the battery. Philips should had designed a system that shut up the current when the battery is fully charged. One full charge gave 30 minutes of continuos shaving (according to manual). I used an entire week before I had to charge it again.
Cleaning:
Very easy, just rinse the shaving heads using hot water (you can easily do this while you shower, or in the sink). You don't need special solution to clean.
Confort:
This, pherhaps is the most important area. This razon doesn't irritate my skin. Inclusive, I can wash my face using a product with salicilic acid. My recommendation is that you use shaving gel. The shaving conditioner gave me good results, but is not so great to justify the cost. In some days, I shave twice, and cero irritation.
In conclusion:
This is the best shaving system I ever tried. It gave me no irritation on my skin, no matter how agressive my pre-shaving wash soap is. I highly recommend it to any men with sensitive skin. The closeness is similar to the one when you shave with a blade following the grain. Just skip the shaving conditioner and use shaving gel (but not too much, because you can choke the shaving heads).