As a big Merkur Futur fan, I was stunned by the price of these Chinese clones. So, there wasn't much thought about it, I've ordered one from Aliexpress. $6.25, shipping included.
I've used Merkur Futur almost daily, for the last 2 years. It's definitely my go-to razor, I find it extremely solid and efficient shaver. It just was the razor that clicked, nothing shaves my beard as good as the Futur.
I've received the Ming Shi 2000S yesterday. Took it apart, and it looks pretty well. Not many manufacturing marks, except few areas. One, on the inside of the cap, where there was a rusted spot, and some areas around the base plate, on the interior, where the coating it's not well applied. I've cleaned out the rust, but it's still a dot where the coating is broken.
Right off the bat, I've noticed that the Ming Shi it's lighter than the Futur.
Out of the box, the blade was misaligned. This can happen with Futur too. The way to fix it, on both razors it's to turn around the spring or the base plate and the cap. Turn them around until they stay fixed. I've found a good spot and it looked pretty well aligned. Not perfect, but well enough.
I've shaved twice with it, yesterday and today. Now, the thing with it is that it's different than the Futur. The blade exposure it's different, the angle you need for the blade to cut well is different too. One thing that I've appreciated at Futur, and probably the reason why I've clicked so well with it, it's that the natural angle of the razor it's exactly the same as with the optimal cutting angle.
Can't say the same about the Ming Shi. You need to take a shallower angle in order for the blade to make contact with the hair you need to cut. Even doing so, the blade exposure it's not enough. The problem is the top cap, so even if you adjust the aggressiveness, you're still not gonna get the same results as with the Futur.
I've ended up with bad shaves, yesterday and today. A bit of irritation and plenty of hair left on my face. The effectiveness just isn't there and the razor is weird to use due to the angle adjustment.
Sorry for the long post... To cut it short. It's not the same as the Futur. You're not gonna get the same feel with it as you get with Futur. So, if you grab one of these in this idea, that you want to try the Futur, you're not gonna have a good impression of the original razor.
I can't really recommend it. I mean, if you can afford the Futur, just go for the real thing, you're gonna get a great razor. If the price is the problem, there are better alternatives. From the top of my head, you can get a Fatip Grande and get more Futur-like feeling than you get with the Ming Shi.
I've used Merkur Futur almost daily, for the last 2 years. It's definitely my go-to razor, I find it extremely solid and efficient shaver. It just was the razor that clicked, nothing shaves my beard as good as the Futur.
I've received the Ming Shi 2000S yesterday. Took it apart, and it looks pretty well. Not many manufacturing marks, except few areas. One, on the inside of the cap, where there was a rusted spot, and some areas around the base plate, on the interior, where the coating it's not well applied. I've cleaned out the rust, but it's still a dot where the coating is broken.
Right off the bat, I've noticed that the Ming Shi it's lighter than the Futur.
Out of the box, the blade was misaligned. This can happen with Futur too. The way to fix it, on both razors it's to turn around the spring or the base plate and the cap. Turn them around until they stay fixed. I've found a good spot and it looked pretty well aligned. Not perfect, but well enough.
I've shaved twice with it, yesterday and today. Now, the thing with it is that it's different than the Futur. The blade exposure it's different, the angle you need for the blade to cut well is different too. One thing that I've appreciated at Futur, and probably the reason why I've clicked so well with it, it's that the natural angle of the razor it's exactly the same as with the optimal cutting angle.
Can't say the same about the Ming Shi. You need to take a shallower angle in order for the blade to make contact with the hair you need to cut. Even doing so, the blade exposure it's not enough. The problem is the top cap, so even if you adjust the aggressiveness, you're still not gonna get the same results as with the Futur.
I've ended up with bad shaves, yesterday and today. A bit of irritation and plenty of hair left on my face. The effectiveness just isn't there and the razor is weird to use due to the angle adjustment.
Sorry for the long post... To cut it short. It's not the same as the Futur. You're not gonna get the same feel with it as you get with Futur. So, if you grab one of these in this idea, that you want to try the Futur, you're not gonna have a good impression of the original razor.
I can't really recommend it. I mean, if you can afford the Futur, just go for the real thing, you're gonna get a great razor. If the price is the problem, there are better alternatives. From the top of my head, you can get a Fatip Grande and get more Futur-like feeling than you get with the Ming Shi.
