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Lambda Ares V2

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The Lambda Ares V2, it arrived in the tropics after a long journey from Greece. What an amazing work of art. Thank you Theodoros for such an amazing razor.

I have wanted an Ares since I saw it last year but it took quite a while to finally be able to purchase one. More than a full year of watching and waiting and pestering Theodoros and finally, it has landed. What a thing of beauty. Wonderfully polished surfaces with amazingly tight manufacturing tolerances.

Don't let the specifications fool you. Neutral exposure, 0.3 gap. This is one superbly efficient shaving machine. The razor head and handle comes in at a combined weight of 99 grams with a handle length of 95mm. The balance point of the razor is 1/3 the length of the handle from the head.

The handle is beautifully shaped like a column from a Greek temple. The grooves are deep and well defined, and it looks absolutely perfect with no scratches or scuffs. The only slight negative to this razor is that while the handle looks really good, and is perfectly balanced (for me), the straight but polished grooves can make it slightly slippery when soapy.

The shave is excellent. It feels almost closer to a Tatara Nodachi, but that's just the way it feels. The actual shave itself the teeth are present but not at all scratchy. You CAN feel the blade but it's not in any way or form dangerous.

The feedback from the razor is present but not loud, due to the high clamping of the blade. The whole shave is excellent for me, WTG/ATG and pickups around the adams apple and under the jawline.

The net result? BBS! What joy! I can buff slightly without irritation. With this razor, you can feel distinctly that it is open comb, without any scratch or irritation, kinda like rubbing a good horn or plastic comb over your skin.

The results of the shave have surprising longevity as well. 24 hours on a lesser razor would have yielded stubble long enough to pick with my nails, but with the Ares, it's present, but short... I feel this could be a 30 hour shaver.

All in all, I love this razor. It's well built, shaves amazingly and looks absolutely gorgeous. Thanks once again Theo for this amazing production.
 

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Iridian

Cool and slimy
Interesting that it has such a small gap, but it shows how irrelevant gap is without further details about the other parts of the geometry. For instance the Timeless Slim, I wonder how many thought with 0.5 it must be their mildest razor. Or the huge gap WR2 heads and clones, at 1.25 or 1.5 they are still a far cry from real monsters with much smaller gaps.

I like the long handle, reminded me a bit of a Blackbird, but looking more like the column of a greek temple, particularly given the base and other design elements.

An aggressive Ares/Arse is probably fitting me better than the wisdom of the milder Athena. ;)

As I said, I am regenerating $$$. I already let the Dart slide, I have too many other things to spend money on than razors, fortunately or unfortunately. And apparently not enoug cash.
 
I should be able to collect my Ares v2 from the local post office this afternoon. I don’t know why the postal service delivered a card rather than the package this morning, but they seem to do it all the time here now. Maybe they sold all their vans and they can’t carry boxes to people’s homes any more.

I am excited to try the Ares and I honestly have an open mind what to expect. @ClumsyBull ‘s review is very helpful, and indicates that I should find it more efficient than the Athena, with a little more blade exposure, but still not much. It makes sense - the Athena is still decently efficient with zero blade exposure. It sounds like the Athena could be a nicely efficient but reasonably gentle razor, which is exactly what I tend to like a lot of the time. I originally imagined the Ares was a more conventional design and the Athena was an innovation - but it sounds like everything unique about the Athena design may already have been present in the Ares.

The original Ares was said to be savage (like an R41++) but I have no idea if that was really true. I know many users say the Athena has a lot of blade feel, even though it doesn’t, so the same thing might have made people think the original Ares was more aggressive than it actually was. I think with the Athena the perception of blade feel really comes from auditory feedback and not blade feedback.

I suspect I would also like to get an original Ares v1 some day, although Theo says the v2 is equally efficient but feels milder.
 
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Indeed. I want to get my hands on the V1 just to see how it handles. I think the Ares V2 is nowhere an aggressive shave but very highly efficient. My second shave again is exhibiting that 24 hours isn't enough to generate noticeable growth.

I agree with Mr Shavington's assesment and would like to add that many who find a razor too aggressive may be shaving at the wrong angle or mistaking feedback for blade in some fashion.

This is a steep shaving razor for me. And I love it.

Anyway, I look forward to Mr Shavington's comments soon!
 
Here is a video that a Greek YouTuber posted, doing a side-by-side shave with the Ares v1 and v2. It’s all in Greek, so you can’t understand what he says, but you can see the shaves and the result seems to be equal - I think that’s the gist. He also shaves with both razors at the same time - one in each hand - so they can’t be dangerous. And he seems like a really nice guy.

At least you can see both of the razors. The v1 has a smaller handle - looks slimmer, not just shorter.

 
I did pick up my Ares yesterday. I’ll have a couple of shaves and post my thoughts in due course. But for now I am just pleased I was able to get one. I would guess Theo did a batch of 50 for these but there should be more coming in a couple of months or so, since they all sold out, and almost all from his waitlist.

The handle length does feel right in my hand, though. My little finger rests naturally under the button and it feels well balanced and comfortable.

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I’ll wait for more reviews of the Ares before deciding if I want to approach Theo about obtaining one in the future, but is the Ares made from the same bronze, copper, aluminum alloy as the Athena??

The Ares looks great, especially the eye-catching beauty of the handle. Congrats to everyone who got one.
 
I’ll wait for more reviews of the Ares before deciding if I want to approach Theo about obtaining one in the future, but is the Ares made from the same bronze, copper, aluminum alloy as the Athena??

The Ares looks great, especially the eye-catching beauty of the handle. Congrats to everyone who got one.
Yes, it’s the same bronze alloy as the Athena.
 
I just had my first shave with the Ares v2. Like the Athena it is a very interesting razor, and I think I should take a few shaves before I try to contrast the two and attempt any conclusions.

Apparently, like the Athena, the Ares v2 has zero blade exposure. The Ares gap is quoted at 0.30mm, which is even less than the 0.43mm for the Athena. The blade angle is flatter, though (31.4 degrees vs 35 degrees for the Athena), but the blade clamping (and I guess blade reveal) is quoted even closer to the edge than the Ares (0.55mm vs 1.80mm on the Athena). The Ares has an open comb whereas the Athena has kind of a hybrid, slotted bar. All of that is interesting and baffling when both of these razors are pretty efficient and give a lot of feedback (but I think no direct blade feel, even though it feels like a lot of blade feel when it’s cutting).

My immediate impression is that the Ares seems more efficient and the shaving feedback is stronger than the Athena. But the open comb on the Ares also affects things.

For now, suffice to say that they have a lot in common and the Ares gave me a very easy, super close shave, without any irritation. It’s definitely an exceptional razor and, I am sure, something special. I’ll see how much regrowth I have in the morning, if any, but right now I feel sure it is as close as I get from anything, and my skin feels really good.

The Ares v2 doesn’t shoot water out from the sides like the Athena does, so in that sense it is inferior.
 
I can add that this shave with my Ares v2 was even more close and long-lasting than I thought. It is now 15 hours after my shave and I can finally feel a little bit of re-growth appearing in a couple of spots on my jawline. Nearly all of my face and neck is still completely smooth in all directions. For me, this is a very rare thing and I’d say it may be the closest shave I’ve ever had. Will be amazing if I can repeat this, and even more amazing if we can ever understand and explain it.

Regardless, this razor is certainly extremely efficient, while having no blade feel (but still a lot of feedback, and I think more than the Athena). I did not have to buff much during the shave to get this result. I did not find it extremely efficient with-the-grain, and it probably does its best work against-the-grain, like some other razors that have extremely close blade clamping.

I am quite amazed. If the next shave is like this then I would have to conclude this is my best razor (for me), even though it doesn’t shoot water from the sides.
 
Rocnel Sailor, Elite, Overlander, Blutt and Athena exit room in tears.
He loved us once, but now....I don't recognise him any more. 😢
Haha. Yeah, there have been some really nice razors recently. I still had my Sailor and WR2 1.55 at the top, which has been so for a while, but if I continue to find the Ares is as efficient or even more efficient than both of those then it has to change my view - it is certainly a good deal milder on my skin than the Sailor or WR2. Too early to be sure, but the first shave with the Ares was very surprising.

I really don’t want to be the guy who says everything is the best razor ever. And I assure you there have been plenty of other razors I never talked about because they weren’t anything special (just as you’d expect most razors to be average or thereabouts).
 
I plan to end up with a few razors I can use with confidence every single time and I'm getting that way with a few of mine. I'm not looking for that one, unicorn razor.. or a goldilocks razor...
Exactly. Same with me. And we both have a few like that, for us at least. There will never be one unicorn razor - if there was, everyone would copy it. And I don’t think there will ever be a razor that works great for everyone’s preferences, hair, skin, and techniques - mileages will always vary somewhat.

I haven’t lost any of my love for the Blutt, Overlander, Athena, Elite, Sailor or WR2 (1.55). They are superb for me and I’d recommend them to anyone - and if anybody picks any of them for any reason, they will likely have not just the only razor they’d ever need, but one that can give better shaves than they ever expected to get. I use those razors all the time. They also each have something unique about them that is what makes me reach for them on any given day, which is a cool thing. No duplicates or redundancies, to me.
 
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I can add that this shave with my Ares v2 was even more close and long-lasting than I thought. It is now 15 hours after my shave and I can finally feel a little bit of re-growth appearing in a couple of spots on my jawline. Nearly all of my face and neck is still completely smooth in all directions. For me, this is a very rare thing and I’d say it may be the closest shave I’ve ever had. Will be amazing if I can repeat this, and even more amazing if we can ever understand and explain it.

Regardless, this razor is certainly extremely efficient, while having no blade feel (but still a lot of feedback, and I think more than the Athena). I did not have to buff much during the shave to get this result. I did not find it extremely efficient with-the-grain, and it probably does its best work against-the-grain, like some other razors that have extremely close blade clamping.

I am quite amazed. If the next shave is like this then I would have to conclude this is my best razor (for me), even though it doesn’t shoot water from the sides.
Stop it, just please STOP IT!! I have no room left... ;)
 
Stop it, just please STOP IT!! I have no room left... ;)
Haha. From what I’m seeing so far the Athena is still the one for you. They are both very mild to the skin but I think the Ares might shave too close for a daily shaver and you wouldn’t have much to shave the next day. Or you could get the more efficient Ares and reduce your shave to two quick passes - but somehow I suspect that would take the fun out of it for you.
 
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