- Thread starter
- #41
Makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up!
EJ 89 vs Mühle R89. Opinions??
- Thread starter jwray15
- Start date
Makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up!
That is what marketing tells us ... has anyone ever seen proof of where those heads are really made? It's still possible that both companies outsourced them to the same manufacturer, maybe doing some last step finishing in hourse. It's the same strategy that some Swiss watch companies used for years.
OTOH, who cares who does the actual manufacturing, as long as it is high quality work? I'd rather have that they speak up clearly about the base material properties of the razor heads (Zamak 2, Zamak 3, unspecified zinc alloy).
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100% ACK
I don't care if the razor is not "Made in Germany" but made in Poland, Bulgaria, India or China, as long as it is of good quality. I want to shave with it, not talk to it.
But it has a fishy smell, when a company tries to make the customer think, that they are producing razors in their own plant, while they are sourcing them from a manufacturer somewhere on the planet.
It is the same with pretty much everything nowadays. Almost all major brands are nothing but that...brands! Bosch for example is made in People's Republic of China,under strict specifications from Bosch obviously.
China produces nearly everything you can imagine,ranging from the very good to the extremely bad,it is all a matter of targeted market/price range/specs , etc...
I am NOT saying this is the case of Muhle of course, Im just saying we shouldn't be surprised by well known brands outsourcing their products.
These are my 2 cents!
China produces nearly everything you can imagine,ranging from the very good to the extremely bad,it is all a matter of targeted market/price range/specs , etc...
I am NOT saying this is the case of Muhle of course, Im just saying we shouldn't be surprised by well known brands outsourcing their products.
These are my 2 cents!
I used the R89 for a long time before selling it and getting the R89 Grande. Back when I was looking into it I was pointed toward Muhle's version and not EJ. I own an EJ product at the moment and I have products of theirs. In my experience the quality between the products of both companies which I've had the pleasure of owning have been one in the same. This is merely my experience and personal opinion. Everyone has their own opinion of either razor. Either way both companies have lovely products.
My biggest problem is that they deliberately use vague marketing terms to hide what materials they are using for the heads. Everyone "knows" it is some kind of zinc alloy. However, there is a huge difference between the specifications of such alloys.
They are so proud of their brass handles ... why don't they come clean on the heads?
They are so proud of their brass handles ... why don't they come clean on the heads?
- Thread starter
- #48
So is there absolutely zero difference between the two heads?? They are in fact the same exact product?
R89 has better detail and quality!
- Thread starter
- #50
Do you know the difference in the materials used??
I don't have the slightest idea, I find the Mühle to be put together better but they are both topnotch really.
- Thread starter
- #52
Cool. I dropped my Mühle r89 and scuffed up the head. I found a site that sells ej89 heads and bought one. I was worried that I might be getting an inferior head.
Because making a head from zamak-2 is nothing to be proud of. ;-)
I can't find the source ATM, but I'm about 75% sure I remember a pretty definitive assessment somewhere that it was zamak-2. (Or maybe I dreamed it...) It's the strongest of the zamak alloys, and for such a small part, the additional copper would have a negligible effect on cost. It seems to be the most suited for the job, as well.
- Thread starter
- #55
Is the design just the same between the ej89 and the r89 or is everything the same i.e. Materials used?
I'm not a materials engineer, but I don't know of any good reason to NOT use zamak-2. It can be gravity cast, and it hold its shape well over time. It's a little more expensive than zamak-3, but in the amounts we're talking about here, it couldn't be more than a few cents per razor, and the benefit would be substantial. And even compared to low quality pot metal, I still can't imagine that the tiny cost difference could amount to anything compared to the vast quality difference between the metals. It might be a different story if we were talking about large machine parts, but the cost difference in a <40g razor head would be pennies.
I just weighed my EJ89 head. It's 29.6g. A quick search on metal prices and a little cocktail napkin math suggests that the current market price for zamak-2 is roughly $0.1493USD for 30g. For zamak-3 that price would be $0.0065522 less, which is less than a penny. Using the cheapest contaminated mostly zinc pot metal I could find on a quick search, it would cost $0.11433. So, if their aim is to make the highest quality part, would it make any sense for them to save less than 4¢ per razor head, for something substantially inferior?
Note that I don't know the answer to this question. I really hope not, but, hey, you never know what someone will do to save a buck. I think I read somewhere that they sold 70,000 of these in a year, or maybe that was a quarter. So, assuming it was a quarter, that would be a grand total of $2,453.15 saved, or less than $10,000 in a year for that amount of heads. In comparison to the cost of running a large company, that is nothing. They could probably save that much money by switching toilet paper. If they're really pinching pennies that tightly, it would undoubtedly come back to bite them in lost reputation when those parts inevitably failed.
Note that I don't know the answer to this question. I really hope not, but, hey, you never know what someone will do to save a buck. I think I read somewhere that they sold 70,000 of these in a year, or maybe that was a quarter. So, assuming it was a quarter, that would be a grand total of $2,453.15 saved, or less than $10,000 in a year for that amount of heads. In comparison to the cost of running a large company, that is nothing. They could probably save that much money by switching toilet paper. If they're really pinching pennies that tightly, it would undoubtedly come back to bite them in lost reputation when those parts inevitably failed.
ever heard of the light bulb conspiracy?
How many people have problems with the heads breaking ? Seems to me that if they don't crack when dropped on a tile floor, or have the threads strip when overtightened, and get warm when dipped in hot water -then it makes little difference what it's made of. Except maybe to a replating company.
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- #60
So are the heads made of zamac-2 or pot metal?
