I have all the Al Hensons, mild, medium, and aggressive. Since I've supported Henson well, I wanted to try the knockoff/inspired-by Yaqi Tile. Following are some initial thoughts.
Aggressiveness - just from shaving it is clear that the Tile is more aggressive than the Henson mild or medium, so the remainder of the comments will be in comparison to the Henson aggressive.
Exposure/Gap - Henson lists the aggressive specs as Exposure: 0.0045" (0.11mm) - Blade Gap: 0.039" (0.99mm). Yaqi does not list the exposure, but lists the blade gap as 1.15mm. Visually, the Tile exposure appears to be less than the Henson, look at the attached pictures for comparison. So it seems the Henson aggressive has a little bit larger exposure and smaller gap than the Tile.
Weight/Materials - the Henson Al aggressive head is aluminum and weighs 14g and the Yaqi is stainless and weighs 43g. The total weight of the razors depend on the handles you pair them with. While many find a heavier razor feels better in the hand, it is the quality of the shave that matters, not the heft. With a solid stainless handle the Tile is quite heavy, to get no/little pressure I actually have to counter the weight of the Tile. With the lighter Henson it is easier to get no pressure.
Henson is Better - Overall the Tile has similarities to the Henson aggressive and is quite a bit more aggressive than the mild/medium. At this point I like the Henson aggressive a bit more. Part of that is because it is light, I can more easily apply no pressure, I have to think a bit more with the Tile. Both have a locked-in shaving angle, which I like. Henson also gets points because they offer their razor in three levels and two materials. I have also read that the quality control is not good on the Yaqi, mine seems to be OK, but ymmv.
I do not like that Yaqi constantly copies or clones razors that other companies worked so hard to dream up and produce. I was quite hesitant to buy a Tile head and even more to post in our community about it. But because I've supported Henson and also find their razor to be better, I wanted to share my thoughts with y'all.
Aggressiveness - just from shaving it is clear that the Tile is more aggressive than the Henson mild or medium, so the remainder of the comments will be in comparison to the Henson aggressive.
Exposure/Gap - Henson lists the aggressive specs as Exposure: 0.0045" (0.11mm) - Blade Gap: 0.039" (0.99mm). Yaqi does not list the exposure, but lists the blade gap as 1.15mm. Visually, the Tile exposure appears to be less than the Henson, look at the attached pictures for comparison. So it seems the Henson aggressive has a little bit larger exposure and smaller gap than the Tile.
Weight/Materials - the Henson Al aggressive head is aluminum and weighs 14g and the Yaqi is stainless and weighs 43g. The total weight of the razors depend on the handles you pair them with. While many find a heavier razor feels better in the hand, it is the quality of the shave that matters, not the heft. With a solid stainless handle the Tile is quite heavy, to get no/little pressure I actually have to counter the weight of the Tile. With the lighter Henson it is easier to get no pressure.
Henson is Better - Overall the Tile has similarities to the Henson aggressive and is quite a bit more aggressive than the mild/medium. At this point I like the Henson aggressive a bit more. Part of that is because it is light, I can more easily apply no pressure, I have to think a bit more with the Tile. Both have a locked-in shaving angle, which I like. Henson also gets points because they offer their razor in three levels and two materials. I have also read that the quality control is not good on the Yaqi, mine seems to be OK, but ymmv.
I do not like that Yaqi constantly copies or clones razors that other companies worked so hard to dream up and produce. I was quite hesitant to buy a Tile head and even more to post in our community about it. But because I've supported Henson and also find their razor to be better, I wanted to share my thoughts with y'all.