FATIP GRANDE (OPEN COMB)
I had to get one due to the general reviews and low enough price to take a punt.
FIT & FINISH
How the hell anyone can be proud to put something onto the market with such a poor finish (considering there are many others in the same price band and far better finished e,g. Parker) is beyond me. The fatip looks more like something a factory worker would pick out and throw in the recycle bin along the production line.
The handle is smooth enough in the hands but the eye can see areas all around it where it looks like the smoothing/finishing process is one area where improvement is needed.
The head, teeth and cap look reasonably OK to the eye as far as a finish goes but the prongs that secure the blade are a bloody joke! They are not attached to the cap with a good quality join which further adds to the problem of securing the blade in place. The only upside to this amount of blade movement is that, there is plenty of play to get the blade aligned which is likely to take a few attempts. The only way I can do it is to hold the blade itself at the ends with my fingers also covering the cap and baseplate, fiddle with these 3 as I tighten the handle with the other hand.
WEIGHT & BALANCE
The fatip grande is a small little unit, much smaller than I ever imagined and I believe it weighs 66g. It feels light in the hand all round with the balance point at the top of your grip just below the head. I tried to attach the fatip head onto a hefty parker handle but, it was not compatible, so had to use the fatip as it came in the box.
As I prefer hefty units, I did notice during the shave I was ensuring that I was actively keeping the razor at the correct angle.
Size comparison against other units is below;
Parker 68S > Fatip Grande > ATT SS H1 > Muhle R96
THE SHAVE
(For all testing and comparison reviews, I always use a new Astra SP blade and the same shaving cream, ensuring the only difference is the razor itself).
It took a couple of strokes to get the angle just so but, oddly it felt too smooth from the general aggressive reputation it has. It felt almost like it was doing nothing, despite me stretching the skin and applying a gentle pressure to shove it into the skin as well. Only with gentle pressure into the skin, could I get it to shave like any reasonable open comb should. As far as aggression goes, the Parker 68S feels more aggressive. I would class aggression as mild-moderate overall as it was fairly smooth in my hands.
For efficiency, it was pretty impressive despite my previous comment. The first pass was mowing down whiskers impressively nearly on par with the Muhle R41. The finish after the first pass was somewhere between the Parker 68S and Muhle R41 and therefore, highly efficient.
For me, an ‘efficient’ razor (regardless of aggression) should get me BBS and eliminate the shadow line on Asian skin with coarse hair on the second pass (XTG above the chin line and ATG under the chin) and only very few I have come across can achieve this. On the second pass, I was impressed further. The Fatip was giving a seriously good finish for something that feels quite smooth with almost no blade feel. The finished shave just beats the Parker 68S open comb (so better than an ATT R1 for example but, below that of the Muhle R96 and R41). The finish is BBS which has left me somewhat baffled at how the Fatip’s managed it (even around the chin) but the Muhle R96 and R41 seem to get the hairs out a bit deeper (albeit with a few extra strokes in the same direction).
There was one significant difference with the Fatip, the fact that it did what it could during each stroke and pass which resulted in absolutely no clean up needed eliminating that extra stroke here and there or, a bit of re-lather etc. This actually saved some noticeable time. It was clear that extra strokes with the Fatip did nothing provided the correct technique was used in the first place consistently from start to finish.
Despite me not liking the handle and thinking it could be prone to slip, I deliberately dunked the entire razor and my fingers in the bowl but, the fatip’s grande handle didn’t slip in wet fingers.
SUMMARY
Questionable build quality which will lead to inconsistency between units and shaves but, it offers a highly efficient shave in a mild-moderate manner. The lack of clean up/touch up strokes passes is a bonus. Whilst it is affordable in the world of razors, it should be better finished for its price.
Aggression : 5/10
Efficiency : 8/10
Build Quality : 2/10
Value For Money : 5/10
I had to get one due to the general reviews and low enough price to take a punt.
FIT & FINISH
How the hell anyone can be proud to put something onto the market with such a poor finish (considering there are many others in the same price band and far better finished e,g. Parker) is beyond me. The fatip looks more like something a factory worker would pick out and throw in the recycle bin along the production line.
The handle is smooth enough in the hands but the eye can see areas all around it where it looks like the smoothing/finishing process is one area where improvement is needed.
The head, teeth and cap look reasonably OK to the eye as far as a finish goes but the prongs that secure the blade are a bloody joke! They are not attached to the cap with a good quality join which further adds to the problem of securing the blade in place. The only upside to this amount of blade movement is that, there is plenty of play to get the blade aligned which is likely to take a few attempts. The only way I can do it is to hold the blade itself at the ends with my fingers also covering the cap and baseplate, fiddle with these 3 as I tighten the handle with the other hand.
WEIGHT & BALANCE
The fatip grande is a small little unit, much smaller than I ever imagined and I believe it weighs 66g. It feels light in the hand all round with the balance point at the top of your grip just below the head. I tried to attach the fatip head onto a hefty parker handle but, it was not compatible, so had to use the fatip as it came in the box.
As I prefer hefty units, I did notice during the shave I was ensuring that I was actively keeping the razor at the correct angle.
Size comparison against other units is below;
Parker 68S > Fatip Grande > ATT SS H1 > Muhle R96
THE SHAVE
(For all testing and comparison reviews, I always use a new Astra SP blade and the same shaving cream, ensuring the only difference is the razor itself).
It took a couple of strokes to get the angle just so but, oddly it felt too smooth from the general aggressive reputation it has. It felt almost like it was doing nothing, despite me stretching the skin and applying a gentle pressure to shove it into the skin as well. Only with gentle pressure into the skin, could I get it to shave like any reasonable open comb should. As far as aggression goes, the Parker 68S feels more aggressive. I would class aggression as mild-moderate overall as it was fairly smooth in my hands.
For efficiency, it was pretty impressive despite my previous comment. The first pass was mowing down whiskers impressively nearly on par with the Muhle R41. The finish after the first pass was somewhere between the Parker 68S and Muhle R41 and therefore, highly efficient.
For me, an ‘efficient’ razor (regardless of aggression) should get me BBS and eliminate the shadow line on Asian skin with coarse hair on the second pass (XTG above the chin line and ATG under the chin) and only very few I have come across can achieve this. On the second pass, I was impressed further. The Fatip was giving a seriously good finish for something that feels quite smooth with almost no blade feel. The finished shave just beats the Parker 68S open comb (so better than an ATT R1 for example but, below that of the Muhle R96 and R41). The finish is BBS which has left me somewhat baffled at how the Fatip’s managed it (even around the chin) but the Muhle R96 and R41 seem to get the hairs out a bit deeper (albeit with a few extra strokes in the same direction).
There was one significant difference with the Fatip, the fact that it did what it could during each stroke and pass which resulted in absolutely no clean up needed eliminating that extra stroke here and there or, a bit of re-lather etc. This actually saved some noticeable time. It was clear that extra strokes with the Fatip did nothing provided the correct technique was used in the first place consistently from start to finish.
Despite me not liking the handle and thinking it could be prone to slip, I deliberately dunked the entire razor and my fingers in the bowl but, the fatip’s grande handle didn’t slip in wet fingers.
SUMMARY
Questionable build quality which will lead to inconsistency between units and shaves but, it offers a highly efficient shave in a mild-moderate manner. The lack of clean up/touch up strokes passes is a bonus. Whilst it is affordable in the world of razors, it should be better finished for its price.
Aggression : 5/10
Efficiency : 8/10
Build Quality : 2/10
Value For Money : 5/10
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