This is the first shaver I've used and had it for eight months. I recently purchased a Fat Boy Gillette at EBay and am comparing the two.
Having used the Fatboy and enjoyed its weight, grip and the smoothness of the pull, I'm returning to the Ming Shi for a few reasons.
The Ming Shi is simply more precise. You can feel exactly where the blade is at any time, and adjust blade angle very precisely as you go. The head is flatter than the Gillette and you simply feel where you are on the road much better than the Fatboy. The razor is so well tuned you can hear each hair being cut. The razor magnifies the sound, like a guitar. And that feedback is very helpful when you are cutting through foam and trying to confirm your angle is right and you are actually cutting hair.
The FatBoy is like driving an old Cadillac. Very very smooth drive, but it slides on the road, cornering is less accurate, with more slippage, and the head is so heavy against your skin you can't hear the hairs being cut nor feel the blade as you can with the Ming Shi, and so you are not as sure of where your angle is. You have to guess and confirm after the pass. So the result is not so precise.
Having adjusted the FatBoy to my preference, the FatBoy at level 5-7 is about what you achieve with the Ming Shi. Again, the Ming Shi allows me to learn a very precise level of blade adjustment. The head is very flat, offering a much wider range of angle than the Gillette. The Grip on the Ming Shi is too slippery, but guess what? A single rubber band solves that problem giving me a grip at least as effective as the FatBoy, which has a great handle. The light weight of the Ming Shi also allows for greater precision, but also potentially the need to learn how to adjust pressure.
The Fatboy has so much mass you just let the weight do all the work, but then you may get more cuts, or less closer shave.
The Ming Shi is like driving a sports car. You feel everything on the road, you hear what's going on, and you have more control, but then the skill level to drive it is higher. It is actually not a mild shaver, if you control angle using the actual range provided by the low head design. I can get a BBS shave that is so close it lasts all day, but that requires about 3 very careful passes with lots of water, lotion and shave cream before and between each pass...lots of attention to avoid a number of nicks and cuts, and some touch up afterwards at key points: Using a Derby blade. I'm going slower, the blade is going over the skin very few times, but carefully. Result? A perfect and lasting shave where you can't feel stuble even stretching your skin very tight, even on tough spots like the upper lip and chin.
So, it's a better razor, engineered to modern technical standards. if you put in the time to figure it out.
Had I started on the FatBoy, that probably would have been easier as a first razor. Because on level 3, there are no nicks, though the shave is nothing to write home about. You get a working professional shave, just not BBS. And when you ramp up the settings, you can get BBS, but it's like trying to do microsurgery with a standard scalpel. You are using a very heavy tool to do very careful work. You get the same result, but you end up taking off more flesh.
The FatBoy is a bit more automatic, with a smooth head that protects your face but gets in the way of feeling and controlling the blade. So very close results are less reliable: More nicks for a shave that isn't as close, or a lot more nicks for a shave that is as close as the closest shave the Ming Shi will provide.
The Fatboy does allow a much faster shave and allows more passes, but quite a bit more touch up to get the places you thought you had but hadn't....When you get a nick on the Ming Shi, you know it immediately. On the FatBoy, you don't find out until you move onto another section. It's a little deceptive and so more nicks can happen....so, back to Ming Shi.
I'd suggest the FatBoy as a starter razor and the Ming Shi as the next step of skill demand. It's the Violin of shavers compared to the Bass of the FatBoy.
Having used the Fatboy and enjoyed its weight, grip and the smoothness of the pull, I'm returning to the Ming Shi for a few reasons.
The Ming Shi is simply more precise. You can feel exactly where the blade is at any time, and adjust blade angle very precisely as you go. The head is flatter than the Gillette and you simply feel where you are on the road much better than the Fatboy. The razor is so well tuned you can hear each hair being cut. The razor magnifies the sound, like a guitar. And that feedback is very helpful when you are cutting through foam and trying to confirm your angle is right and you are actually cutting hair.
The FatBoy is like driving an old Cadillac. Very very smooth drive, but it slides on the road, cornering is less accurate, with more slippage, and the head is so heavy against your skin you can't hear the hairs being cut nor feel the blade as you can with the Ming Shi, and so you are not as sure of where your angle is. You have to guess and confirm after the pass. So the result is not so precise.
Having adjusted the FatBoy to my preference, the FatBoy at level 5-7 is about what you achieve with the Ming Shi. Again, the Ming Shi allows me to learn a very precise level of blade adjustment. The head is very flat, offering a much wider range of angle than the Gillette. The Grip on the Ming Shi is too slippery, but guess what? A single rubber band solves that problem giving me a grip at least as effective as the FatBoy, which has a great handle. The light weight of the Ming Shi also allows for greater precision, but also potentially the need to learn how to adjust pressure.
The Fatboy has so much mass you just let the weight do all the work, but then you may get more cuts, or less closer shave.
The Ming Shi is like driving a sports car. You feel everything on the road, you hear what's going on, and you have more control, but then the skill level to drive it is higher. It is actually not a mild shaver, if you control angle using the actual range provided by the low head design. I can get a BBS shave that is so close it lasts all day, but that requires about 3 very careful passes with lots of water, lotion and shave cream before and between each pass...lots of attention to avoid a number of nicks and cuts, and some touch up afterwards at key points: Using a Derby blade. I'm going slower, the blade is going over the skin very few times, but carefully. Result? A perfect and lasting shave where you can't feel stuble even stretching your skin very tight, even on tough spots like the upper lip and chin.
So, it's a better razor, engineered to modern technical standards. if you put in the time to figure it out.
Had I started on the FatBoy, that probably would have been easier as a first razor. Because on level 3, there are no nicks, though the shave is nothing to write home about. You get a working professional shave, just not BBS. And when you ramp up the settings, you can get BBS, but it's like trying to do microsurgery with a standard scalpel. You are using a very heavy tool to do very careful work. You get the same result, but you end up taking off more flesh.
The FatBoy is a bit more automatic, with a smooth head that protects your face but gets in the way of feeling and controlling the blade. So very close results are less reliable: More nicks for a shave that isn't as close, or a lot more nicks for a shave that is as close as the closest shave the Ming Shi will provide.
The Fatboy does allow a much faster shave and allows more passes, but quite a bit more touch up to get the places you thought you had but hadn't....When you get a nick on the Ming Shi, you know it immediately. On the FatBoy, you don't find out until you move onto another section. It's a little deceptive and so more nicks can happen....so, back to Ming Shi.
I'd suggest the FatBoy as a starter razor and the Ming Shi as the next step of skill demand. It's the Violin of shavers compared to the Bass of the FatBoy.