I have been watching all the threads on these Futur clones with interest. After a few "false starts" I finally received one from a vendor on the 'bay for $6.26. Took a month to receive. The picture on the listing was in the black box that the QShave brand uses, but I received a MingShi branded box, along with a tuck of Ming Shi blades. I can't really find any consistent/ reliable information that confirms that there's any difference, so I'm not going to worry about the branding.
Looking it over, I'm reasonably impressed. Some very small marks here-and-there that seem to be common. The adjustment mechanism seems smooth. There does seem to be a little "play" in the head. I'm going to shim the head piece as many have done, and expect that the play will be sorted out without much trouble.
Last night I dropped a Gillette 7 o'clock yellow (one prior use on it) into it and it appeared that the blade didn't align perfectly. Having repeatedly read about this, I was prepared. I took the top cap off and turned it around and pressed it into place, and all looked well. Deciding to err on the side of caution, I started with it set at 1.5. After the first stroke, I could tell that wasn't going to cut it (sorry, had to do it), so I turned it up to 2.5. Second pass, I moved it up to 3.5.
First thing I noticed is that this thing is very loud. The "scraping toast" sound that many mention is definitely there.
Overall, this thing provided a remarkably good shave considering that it was my first use with it. The huge head on it seems a little unwieldy, and it was kind of hard to judge the line on my goatee and sideburns, but both of those complaints will probably go away with more use.
I only did a WTG and a XTG pass, with a bit of touch up around my throat. Resulted in a very nice feeling and good looking result. After the shave, I noticed that there was no irritation anywhere, even in my usual tricky spots.
Color me very impressed with this thing. I'm going to stick with it for a while and see what more experience with it does.
For the hilariously-low price of $6.26, including a tuck of blades and shipping from the other side of the world, I cannot even begin to complain about this razor.
Looking it over, I'm reasonably impressed. Some very small marks here-and-there that seem to be common. The adjustment mechanism seems smooth. There does seem to be a little "play" in the head. I'm going to shim the head piece as many have done, and expect that the play will be sorted out without much trouble.
Last night I dropped a Gillette 7 o'clock yellow (one prior use on it) into it and it appeared that the blade didn't align perfectly. Having repeatedly read about this, I was prepared. I took the top cap off and turned it around and pressed it into place, and all looked well. Deciding to err on the side of caution, I started with it set at 1.5. After the first stroke, I could tell that wasn't going to cut it (sorry, had to do it), so I turned it up to 2.5. Second pass, I moved it up to 3.5.
First thing I noticed is that this thing is very loud. The "scraping toast" sound that many mention is definitely there.
Overall, this thing provided a remarkably good shave considering that it was my first use with it. The huge head on it seems a little unwieldy, and it was kind of hard to judge the line on my goatee and sideburns, but both of those complaints will probably go away with more use.
I only did a WTG and a XTG pass, with a bit of touch up around my throat. Resulted in a very nice feeling and good looking result. After the shave, I noticed that there was no irritation anywhere, even in my usual tricky spots.
Color me very impressed with this thing. I'm going to stick with it for a while and see what more experience with it does.
For the hilariously-low price of $6.26, including a tuck of blades and shipping from the other side of the world, I cannot even begin to complain about this razor.
