Item Description
The Gillette Vector is the current version of the Atra that's being manufactured for the Asian market. Most are made in China and are available online, and at a decent price. You can purchase a Vector for less than five bucks, shipped.
A bit of background on the Vector: it's a standard Atra design that was introduced in the late seventies to replace the Trac II. The basic blade design was the same as the Trac II, updated to include a lube strip and a pivoting head. Love it or hate it, I still think that this is the best pivoting head razor ever made.
The Atra was later superseded by the Sensor, and was sold worldwide as the Contour. Production halted about ten years ago. Gillette has tried (unsuccessfully) for years to penetrate the razor market in India, which is 90% DE. Attempts at marketing cartridge razors there always fall flat, due to the prohibitive costs of the cartridges themselves.
In an effort to stake out new multi-blade ground there, Gillette took the decades old Atra design and started selling it as the Vector, with the blades selling for a reasonable price compared to the other cartridge razors on the market. So far it's been a profitable venture, though only time will tell if multi-blades take the place of DE's there. The cartridges for the Vector have come under close scrutiny by consumers, as they are often shoddily manufactured.
I can personally attest to the overall cheapness of the Vector. The thing weighs about as much as a disposable Bic, a featherweight in the world of plastic razors. From the pictures I thought that maybe the head was chrome, with a rubber handle, but the whole thing is painted plastic. The grip, however, is very good at what it does- thick texturing makes this hard to slip out of your wet little hands.
When I initially opened the pack, which came supplied with one cartridge, the first thing I noticed was the pivoting head. It was all over the place; if you've ever used a Schick Protector than you know what I'm talking about. Thankfully, after the first shave the head seemed to "settle" better, like it wasn't seated properly to begin with. The overall pivot now is like a cross between the original Atra and the Sensor, it has a slight degree of movement but it's not all over the place like the Mach III. Very easy to get a precision shave with. I personally hate pivoting heads, but the angle is so slight you won't even notice.
The blade that came supplied with it is another good example of why I hate cheap lube strips. I wiped my dry finger over it and the strip fell to the floor. I ran my fingernail over the glue dots that held it in place and scraped them off, and proceeded to shave.
Well, I was surprised. The blade was reasonably sharp, and with one pass I had a DFS. I did a little touch up to a couple of spots on my beard and ended up with a BBS. The blades rinse clean well; this particular cartridge has the mash button on the top that extends the top blade out to aid in removing whiskers from the cartridge. Some people hate these mechanisms, but on this particular razor it did the trick and was greatly appreciated.
So far I've had four shaves with the same blade, and doesn't seem the least bit dull yet. Why Gillette can't manufacture a blade like this- a self cleaning, mildly pivoting, reasonably priced, sharp twin blade with no lube strip- for the US market, I'll never know. I suspect that it would eat into their MIII and Fusion profits.
I honestly don't see the razor itself holding up well over the years, though. It's designed like a cheap throwaway- honestly the disposable version of the Mach III seems better suited to longevity than the Vector. I also wish that the thing had some sort of heft to it- I guess if you've never used a nice wood or metal handled Atra you wouldn't know what you're missing.
Anyway, I'm going to use this razor with some Personna's, and possibly a genuine Gillette Atra blade, and see how it holds up. It's fun, cheap, fast and easy (insert a filthy "blonde joke" here) and will probably become my favored travel razor. I wouldn't cry if this got lost in transit, but I'd probably order another one just the same.
A bit of background on the Vector: it's a standard Atra design that was introduced in the late seventies to replace the Trac II. The basic blade design was the same as the Trac II, updated to include a lube strip and a pivoting head. Love it or hate it, I still think that this is the best pivoting head razor ever made.
The Atra was later superseded by the Sensor, and was sold worldwide as the Contour. Production halted about ten years ago. Gillette has tried (unsuccessfully) for years to penetrate the razor market in India, which is 90% DE. Attempts at marketing cartridge razors there always fall flat, due to the prohibitive costs of the cartridges themselves.
In an effort to stake out new multi-blade ground there, Gillette took the decades old Atra design and started selling it as the Vector, with the blades selling for a reasonable price compared to the other cartridge razors on the market. So far it's been a profitable venture, though only time will tell if multi-blades take the place of DE's there. The cartridges for the Vector have come under close scrutiny by consumers, as they are often shoddily manufactured.
I can personally attest to the overall cheapness of the Vector. The thing weighs about as much as a disposable Bic, a featherweight in the world of plastic razors. From the pictures I thought that maybe the head was chrome, with a rubber handle, but the whole thing is painted plastic. The grip, however, is very good at what it does- thick texturing makes this hard to slip out of your wet little hands.
When I initially opened the pack, which came supplied with one cartridge, the first thing I noticed was the pivoting head. It was all over the place; if you've ever used a Schick Protector than you know what I'm talking about. Thankfully, after the first shave the head seemed to "settle" better, like it wasn't seated properly to begin with. The overall pivot now is like a cross between the original Atra and the Sensor, it has a slight degree of movement but it's not all over the place like the Mach III. Very easy to get a precision shave with. I personally hate pivoting heads, but the angle is so slight you won't even notice.
The blade that came supplied with it is another good example of why I hate cheap lube strips. I wiped my dry finger over it and the strip fell to the floor. I ran my fingernail over the glue dots that held it in place and scraped them off, and proceeded to shave.
Well, I was surprised. The blade was reasonably sharp, and with one pass I had a DFS. I did a little touch up to a couple of spots on my beard and ended up with a BBS. The blades rinse clean well; this particular cartridge has the mash button on the top that extends the top blade out to aid in removing whiskers from the cartridge. Some people hate these mechanisms, but on this particular razor it did the trick and was greatly appreciated.
So far I've had four shaves with the same blade, and doesn't seem the least bit dull yet. Why Gillette can't manufacture a blade like this- a self cleaning, mildly pivoting, reasonably priced, sharp twin blade with no lube strip- for the US market, I'll never know. I suspect that it would eat into their MIII and Fusion profits.
I honestly don't see the razor itself holding up well over the years, though. It's designed like a cheap throwaway- honestly the disposable version of the Mach III seems better suited to longevity than the Vector. I also wish that the thing had some sort of heft to it- I guess if you've never used a nice wood or metal handled Atra you wouldn't know what you're missing.
Anyway, I'm going to use this razor with some Personna's, and possibly a genuine Gillette Atra blade, and see how it holds up. It's fun, cheap, fast and easy (insert a filthy "blonde joke" here) and will probably become my favored travel razor. I wouldn't cry if this got lost in transit, but I'd probably order another one just the same.
