DE shaver quality and consistency

[Too Tall]

Not all shavers are equal!

I'm NOT crazy afterall??? Somebody throw me a lifeline.

Recently I gave the wife an Merkur Futur in order to stop her from blasting thru my blades. Mission accomplished During the calm I secretly ordered her an Feather SS which she loves. Now I am looking at a spare Merkur and curiosity got the better of me.

With both razors settings on #3 and fresh Panasonic blades they absolutely shave differently!!! I've very carefully inspected and cleaned her almost brand new Merkur to be sure it was in good order, it is. I've tried using her old Merkur on #2 and #4 settings and no soap so to speak. Lousy shaves.

Anybody?

 

[Drubbing]

Not surprising. Progresses settings aren't standardised and I don't think the Futur is either, so no 2 razors are necessarily going to have the same exposure/angle on the same settings.

 

[michiganlover]

Not surprising. Progresses settings aren't standardised and I don't think the Futur is either, so no 2 razors are necessarily going to have the same exposure/angle on the same settings.

+1

At least for the Progress, Merkur doesn't calibrate these razors. There is no standard setting for what a setting of #1 should be. The numbers are merely a guideline so you can remember your favorite settings, thus there can be a wide variance in what a #1 setting can be from Progress to Progress.

This is not the case for Gillette Adjustables, for which a #1 settings has the same blade gap for all of the razors of a given model.

 

[stubblefree]

+1

At least for the Progress, Merkur doesn't calibrate these razors. There is no standard setting for what a setting of #1 should be. The numbers are merely a guideline so you can remember your favorite settings, thus there can be a wide variance in what a #1 setting can be from Progress to Progress.

This is not the case for Gillette Adjustables, for which a #1 settings has the same blade gap for all of the razors of a given model.

This is news to me and sad news at that.

One would expect zero error from Merkur for all their products.

Vijay

 

[Too Tall]

You are being completely serious? Good grief. I'll try the other settings just for giggles and report back. Given the provenence of these Merkurs you'd think otherwise. Sheesh.

 

[pauls51]

One way to make your Progress as perfect as possible is to send over to Mer (member on these forums)...

 

[Drubbing]

You are being completely serious? Good grief. I'll try the other settings just for giggles and report back. Given the provenence of these Merkurs you'd think otherwise. Sheesh.

What would you expect for ~$40? And then ask yourself why no other modern manufacturer is even bothering to make adjustables.

Gillettes were made in an era where engineering and manufacturing could be done at much higher levels, for much less cost.

 

[MASSDRIVER]

This is news to me and sad news at that.

One would expect zero error from Merkur for all their products.

Vijay

There is no "error". They are constructed properly.
There just is no standard index from one shaver to the next because of the mechanical construction of the shaver.
A machine just spits these things out. The threads are cut and the first thread may not correspond to a particular number.
The Gillette are constructed in such a fashion that the thread to hold the head on has nothing to do with the indexing of the blade.
It's almost as if they knew what they were doing back then.
Brent.

 

[MASSDRIVER]

What would you expect for ~$40? And then ask yourself why no other modern manufacturer is even bothering to make adjustables.

Gillettes were made in an era where engineering and manufacturing could be done at much higher levels, for much less cost.

Maybe the engineering. Modern manufacturing tolerances are far superior. There may be a valid argument concerning QC practices, past to present.
Also, Gillette may own the patents to designs that are mechanically superior that Merkur or others are unable to utilize.
Brent.

 

[Drubbing]

Maybe the engineering. Modern manufacturing tolerances are far superior. There may be a valid argument concerning QC practices, past to present.
Also, Gillette may own the patents to designs that are mechanically superior that Merkur or others are unable to utilize.
Brent.

I don't see the potential differences as errors either.

I think tolerances are superior, as technology can make it so. Therefore potentially cheaper manufacturing can make a very consistent product.

I wouldn't want to hazard a guess as to what a Gillette would cost to make today, but I doubt it would be in the $40 ballpark. The size of the market alone these days will reduce volumes enough to push the price well beyond average consumers I'd have thought.

So what I'm arguing I suppose, is that Merkurs are a bargain. They shave me great, and that's what we all want.

 

[michiganlover]

One way to make your Progress as perfect as possible is to send over to Mer (member on these forums)...

Correct, Mer can calibrate two Progresses in your collection, so they both match up in regards to adjustment. So a #1 setting would be exactly the same blade gap on both razors.

If I recall correctly, Merkur doesn't consider the lack of calibration to be a flaw. The numbers are just a guideline, a reference point so that a shaver can easily dial in the same level of aggressiveness in the future.

 

[Sir Ronald]

ok a Progress setting is different from razor to razor. but assuming you buy one and intend on using it; find out what suits you with your first shave and stick with that setting. it's not rocket science.

 

[Too Tall]

Reporting back as ordered SIR!!!

Honestly, this never occured to me that I'd have two new(ish) Merkur Futur razors and have to use very diff. settings in order to get the same shave.

Today I adjusted the newer Merkur from #3 to #1 and got 99% the same shave as with old faithful Merkur Futur I've used for well over a yr. on setting #3. Go figure?

Boy that really helps me justify a deeper collection of shaving goods doesn't it?