My 2011 vs. 2013 Muhle R41 Comparo

[Grumpy_Bottom]

So, when the R41 first emerged, I grabbed on and quickly left my slants, TTOs, news, and olds behind. Once in a while I'd give something a shot to see if I liked it better, but in the 2 years since I bought my first R41, I've probably only used another razor 10-12 times. I love it. A great shaver, and it lets me get BBS every time. But, my complaints were the usual - the razor felt a bit grabby, and had a tendency to nip a little bit, esp. depending on the blade. I tried many blades during the first 6 months or so, trying to find the right one: the sharper blades like feathers and med/lab Personnas seemed to nip a lot. The smoother blades like Personna reds and PermaSharps didn't nip at all and gave a great shave, but the "tugging" feel of a dull blade was beyond disturbing. And a blade I had tried repeatedly and hated, the Astra SP, turned out to be the perfect blend. The blade was stiff, and didn't flex and nip, and it was sharp enough not to tug too bad. I would still see a weeper or two here and there, but it was manageable, and left me with a pretty darn great shave every time. The downside was 2 shaves/blade maximum, and a bit of tugging. I urged Muhle a few times to go with the same design in a slant, as I thought the scything action would give less tugging with a smoother blade, and less blade flex and less nipping, but they never went for it.

In the meantime, I used it for 2 straight years with very little complaint (though admittedly I'd been looking ahead to the Tradere slant in the hopes that it would be a *minor* improvement)...

Enter the 2013 that I ordered from Connaught. By widening the cap by just a tiny margin, Muhle has cut down on blade flex just enough. My first shave this morning led me to go bold - I loaded up a Personna Lab to see what the new design could do regarding blade flex and nipping and boy was I rewarded. Flawless. No nips or weepers (and as always with the R41, not a hint of irritation), a much smoother shave with less pulling than the Astras. The redesign achieves exactly what I hoped. Two thumbs up for Muhle for tackling the design challenge of a great razor and making it better!

I'll try to get a side by side head shot of the '11 vs. '13 from Connaught to show the widening, I hadn't seen one posted here when I was reading up on the '13

 

[Kev Kev]

Jason—thank you for the comparison.
I as well went through a variety of blades before landing on the 'ideal' match for the 2011 R41 (for me, it was the Feathers). I've been a regular user of this razor now for just over a month since acquiring it from another B&B member. I noticed the tugging you described with certain blades, but this is no longer an issue once I started using both the Personna Meds and Feathers.

End result using this Mühle is consistent BBS shaves, often with only two passes. I've been fortunate not to have drawn any blood during these shaves, and little or no post-shave irritation—both common complaints with this razor. One has to respect the R41—especially the 2011 model—and use thorough, good pre-shave prep. Even then, a minor nick and/or 'bite' can easily happen if attention lapses. But the reward is an extremely close shave, no matter how many day's growth is evident.

 

[Codfish]

Here are some comparison shots from my review of the R41 2013.

 

[chamm]

I have been using a 2013 R41 for a couple months now. Getting settled in, but I still experiment a bit. I just got a 2011 in the mail, and I'm pretty anxious to try it out tomorrow. There are quite a few threads out there saying that these are identical, but with mine own two eyes, that just ain't the case!

 

[Avincenty]

I purchased a 2011 version last week and have had 3 shaves with it. It definitely shaves very close but I cant use the same angle for the whole shave. I do fine with the steep angle on my cheek and neck but I have to switch to a shallow angle for the mustache and chin. With a brand new blade (med prep) it just grabs to the whiskers and hurts. I took on of the pictures above and drew some angles. I don't think that with this head one can shave while having both head and bar touching the face. The blade is way too exposed. In comparison to the 2013, it looks much more like a traditional razor that shaves pretty much at a traditional angle with both head and bar touching the skin. I don't have a 2013 yet. Maybe it works better for me under the nose and chin. One thing for sure the 2011 can shave. I get a BSS in two passes and a DFS in one pass.

 

[chamm]

What program are you using to draw those lines/angles? Does it measure the angles as well? I'm looking for an application that can be used to do that kind of stuff. Bonus if it's able to do measurements from the pics as well. (If provided with a reference measurement.)

 

[Avincenty]

I use Microsoft Visio and it has all kinds of tools form dimensioning. It is very accurate, so I think if the picture was scaled properly that it would provide accurate measures of both angles and dimensions. In the above case, I first had to rotate the drawings so that the base tips were aligned with the a horizontal reference line (this is why you see the picture slightly rotated)

 

[chamm]

Oh great! I have a licensed copy of Visio that I use for work. (I use it for network diagramming.) I've never explored that feature, but it looks like I will now!

 

[Roughneck12]

I have no experience with the 2011, but do have a Rose handled 2013. Those comparisons of the blade exposure. Holy crap the 2011 is intimidating.
i found my 2013 to have a different feeling than any razor I have. It felt like it didn't glide over my skin. I was thinking of giving it up but through a Med Prep in it this morning and gave it a chance. A very smooth shave, hardly any blood. It still feels a little rough and strange compared to other razors but I think it's a keeper.