Rex Konsul - eager for reviews!
- Thread starter Northstonehill
- Start date
Mailcall...
Just unboxed the Konsul...
Just unboxed the Konsul...
That's correct - normal.
Thank you so much. The first two shaves I did everything I could to even it out. Shaves were ok. Last night left it alone and got a wonderful shave.
Thanks for the confirmation.
Had the same question, and verified with Matt it was correct - nature of a slant.... Just line up the safety bars and shave normally!
After using the Ambassador as a daily driver for 3 years, it took a while to adjust to the Konsul. One month in and I'm happy to report that all of my early stage misgivings have disappeared. The Konsul is a smooth and comfortable shaving tool. It also seems to tame sharper blades.
Seems like i cant edit my older posts. I gotta admit i was too harsh in this post. If somebody wants to spend this kind of money, he/she is of course free to do so. If somebody likes the style, thats a personal taste.
Astra superior platinum. Only blades I use. Sharp but smooth, my skin likes them.
The inauguration shave with the Rex Konsul is in the books. I won't provide a detailed review prior to using this beauty a couple of times in the next weeks, however, the initial shave fulfilled my high expectation. Smoothness meets an "upper medium high" level of efficiency, that's the summary in short and exactly what I had hoped for. No technical flaws were apparent.
Overall, an excellent debut shave with Konsul (loaded with a Rapira Platinum Lux). BBS.
Have a great weekend, y'all!
I'm really starting to get very comfortable with this razor. Very nice...
any discounts on this razor?
I may be selling mine.
Don't know of any discounts.
I can't seem to find the right angle and blade combo. Maybe I have just been using my 34C as a daily driver for too long and love the way it shaves.
cool. if you decide to hit me up in a dm.
I recently sold mine. Just didn’t find it that smooth and even on setting six didn’t find it that efficient. I tried different blade combos and angles of the razor and slicker lather.
I found my executive shaving Outlaw was much smoother and much more efficient.
Konsul was a fantastic built razor but for me was not worth having in my collection as I got better shaves from other razors. Happy to know that the person who bought from me is getting good shaves with it.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
My 4th shave with the Konsul.
Not at all sure I like it, but I plan to continue the experiment so I don't hate it.
Love the Rudy Vey Shavemac DO1 two band, that's for sure. As they say, it's an acquired taste. Maybe the Konsul is, too.
Happy shaves,
Jim
Not at all sure I like it, but I plan to continue the experiment so I don't hate it.
Love the Rudy Vey Shavemac DO1 two band, that's for sure. As they say, it's an acquired taste. Maybe the Konsul is, too.
Happy shaves,
Jim
This is a cross posting with the Adjustable April thread.
Day 13. Colour me impressed. Today I had the best shave with the Konsul thus far (five shaves are in the books now). Two very effective passes (wtg/atg) paired with some minor touchups below my jaw line. I hardly could feel the blade on setting #4 whilst mowing away my 24 hours worth of growth. Wow, what a smooth and close shave it was, really remarkable.
I went with setting 4 for the whole shave (touchups and fool's pass on the lowest setting, which is approx. #1 in my case). Overall, a stunning shave. BBS galore, no irritation, no weepers.
Maybe now you wonder what made the difference today. It's not even pictured...
I loaded a fresh Feather blade
Happy shaves!
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As promised a couple of weeks ago, here are my initial thoughts on the Konsul.
■ TL,DR:
Colour me impressed. Overall, the Konsul is a highly enjoyable shaving tool. Looks classy, works flawlessly. Surprisingly efficient, but a smooth shaver on all settings.
Now here's the longer version... I have had a couple of shaves with the Konsul in the last few weeks, so here are my (still evolving) thoughts.
■ First impression?
To my humble eyes the Konsul is a looker, which also feels super solid in the hand. I couldn't detect any technical flaws since I have started shaving with this efficient tool. It appears REX did it right this time right from the start. Thumbs up!
■ Fit and finish?
Despite the machine marks on the underside of the baseplate (which might not match the expectation of every consumer buying such a premium priced razor,) the fit and finish of the Konsul is nothing but excellent. The circular/swirly machine marks on the underside of the baseplate didn't bother me, since the marks are rather symmetrical on my copy and can be detected only under certain angles of view. However, given the rather high end price point, I'd say one might expect a different post production treatment and I truly see why the treatment of the baseplate given might be a valid point of critisism. The good thing is: this issue remained the only "issue" I found with this razor. Everyone has to decide on their own if the marks are a pita for them - or not.
The gap of the safety bar is even / symmetrical on both sides, I couldn't detect any "smiling blade effect".
The knurling of the handle is one of the stars of the show, it's really grippy and an aesthetical pleasure to look at. It's definitely one of the most attractive handles I've put my hands on this far, both regarding aesthetical and tactile aspects.
Though it might be not as grippy as the benchmark knurling of the Ambassador, it definitely won't slip out of your hand easily. The handle of the Konsul can be turned easily in the hand but it won't slide up or down whilst doing so, this makes for a very high maneuverability whilst keeping control all the time. Weight-wise, the handle and head are outright balanced.
■ Ease of use?
Loading the blade was not an issue for me right from the start. Once the bottom knot has been locked in place the blade stays clamped down securely and remains chatter-free whilst shaving, that's excellent.
The adjustment mechanism (setting 1 to 6.5) rotates with a small amount of smooth tactile resistance, once you set the adjustment it keeps the choosen position without moving any further. Flawless performance, again.
■ The shaves?
All settings turned out to be very usable for my use case. Even on the lowest setting the level of efficiency didn't drop enough to make this setting useless for me. This point had been my major concern with this razor as the Konsul was reported to be the milder sibling of the Ambassador. Whilst this basically is the case with the Konsul in terms of blade feel, the Konsul turned out to be not too mild (for me). To put my preferences a bit into perspective: I basically prefer medium high to high efficient razors, I shave approx. 300 times per year. Furthermore, I have no issues with the Ambassador whatsoever (great shaver she is, too).
IMO the Konsul finds his place in the upper far end of the medium efficency group. FWIW I certainly could use it as a daily driver, but the Konsul will easily take care on a couple of days worth of growth, too. It's a very versatile shaver.
As per the lower settings: shaving on setting 1 - 1.5 felt effective and smooth atg (or in a full shave when the former shave took place less than 24 hours ago). Setting 1 makes shaving during the fool's pass (atg under the nose) easy and effortless. So, overall, for me the efficiency level of the Konsul gives no reasons to moan. The opposite is the case.
In my view, the Konsul neither is an aggressive razor nor does she provide an inconvenient level of blade feel.
I can see that someone who struggled with the Ambassador might like the shaves with the Konsul better, bladefeel wise. The Konsul feels very smooth and gentle on the lowest settings but still cuts effectively, the blade feel (mildly) kicks in at approx. setting 2.5/2.75. On higher settings (even if cranked up fully to 6.5) the blade feel still isn't meanicing and provides shaving comfort.
■ Konsul vs Ambassador?
I have compared the Konsul's settings with the Ambassador's settings to find a similar level of blade feel extensity. Here are my results:
Konsul approx. 3.75 ~ Ambassador approx. 2
Konsul approx 6.5 ~ Ambassador: approx 3.75.
But mind you, this is only a statement on the perhaps equivalent amount of blade feel with these two razors on given settings. Unfortunately, it won't tell you anything on the overall shaving experience you'll get with them. However, I feel confident enough to say even on these maybe comparable settings the Konsul provided the overall smoother shave (at least on the higher pair of settings mentioned) without being less effective.
These two razors just have a different personality. I'm not entirely sure as yet which one is the more efficient one.
The shaves with the Konsul remained smooth on all settings and that's a the key feature to have here. In terms of smoothness the Konsul is in the same ballpark as the Flexi, I'd say - with the Konsul being a bit more efficient.
■ Drag?
Some have mentioned drag. That's a wording which wouldn't have come to my mind whilst shaving with the Konsul. If at all, there was a very, very low level type of "suction feeling" between the safety bar and my skin (but this feeling is definitely less pronounced than the "suction feeling" one can get, say, with the Henson Shaving razor; the Konsul reminded me more of the shaving experience with my Blackbird SB is this aspect). Perhaps the better suited description is the Konsul glided "just a minor tad more slowly" over the skin than other razors, if this makes any sense to you.
Now, did this issue bother me? No, it didn't. The opposite is the case - I quite like this tactile feeling on the skin.
However, the already not very pronounced "suction feeling" was further weakened as I lowered the handle in parallel to my face (steep angle), which basically became my preferred angle of choice with the Konsul. On the lower end of the setting scale the feeling was rather hard to recognize. Overall, imo the Konsul is a smooth sailor all night long.
■ Sharp corners?
Someone mentioned sharp corners on the Konsul's baseplate. I didn't even recognize this point before this statement was made.
IMHO, one has to literally misuse (!) the shave angle of this razor to feel the edges on the baseplate. Maybe the situation is different for head shavers, however, it was absolutely not an issue whilst shaving my face. These edges were indescernable during my shaves. The edges on my ATT S2 look and feel rather similar, slightly pointy (if at all) if you press your finger on the edge (why would you do this?), but definitely not sharp or meanicing whilst shaving.
■ Blade sensivity?
I have the feeling the Konsul isn't picky when it comes to blade choices, however, just pick a fresh Feather and this thing will shine. The combo really performered.
So these are my initial thoughts...
Thanks for your interest. Kudos to you if you made your way through this wall of text (I'm sorry for any typos I missed).
Maybe I have missed other aspects being of interest for you. Feel free to address them.
Happy shaves!
■ TL,DR:
Colour me impressed. Overall, the Konsul is a highly enjoyable shaving tool. Looks classy, works flawlessly. Surprisingly efficient, but a smooth shaver on all settings.
Now here's the longer version... I have had a couple of shaves with the Konsul in the last few weeks, so here are my (still evolving) thoughts.
■ First impression?
To my humble eyes the Konsul is a looker, which also feels super solid in the hand. I couldn't detect any technical flaws since I have started shaving with this efficient tool. It appears REX did it right this time right from the start. Thumbs up!
■ Fit and finish?
Despite the machine marks on the underside of the baseplate (which might not match the expectation of every consumer buying such a premium priced razor,) the fit and finish of the Konsul is nothing but excellent. The circular/swirly machine marks on the underside of the baseplate didn't bother me, since the marks are rather symmetrical on my copy and can be detected only under certain angles of view. However, given the rather high end price point, I'd say one might expect a different post production treatment and I truly see why the treatment of the baseplate given might be a valid point of critisism. The good thing is: this issue remained the only "issue" I found with this razor. Everyone has to decide on their own if the marks are a pita for them - or not.
The gap of the safety bar is even / symmetrical on both sides, I couldn't detect any "smiling blade effect".
The knurling of the handle is one of the stars of the show, it's really grippy and an aesthetical pleasure to look at. It's definitely one of the most attractive handles I've put my hands on this far, both regarding aesthetical and tactile aspects.
Though it might be not as grippy as the benchmark knurling of the Ambassador, it definitely won't slip out of your hand easily. The handle of the Konsul can be turned easily in the hand but it won't slide up or down whilst doing so, this makes for a very high maneuverability whilst keeping control all the time. Weight-wise, the handle and head are outright balanced.
■ Ease of use?
Loading the blade was not an issue for me right from the start. Once the bottom knot has been locked in place the blade stays clamped down securely and remains chatter-free whilst shaving, that's excellent.
The adjustment mechanism (setting 1 to 6.5) rotates with a small amount of smooth tactile resistance, once you set the adjustment it keeps the choosen position without moving any further. Flawless performance, again.
■ The shaves?
All settings turned out to be very usable for my use case. Even on the lowest setting the level of efficiency didn't drop enough to make this setting useless for me. This point had been my major concern with this razor as the Konsul was reported to be the milder sibling of the Ambassador. Whilst this basically is the case with the Konsul in terms of blade feel, the Konsul turned out to be not too mild (for me). To put my preferences a bit into perspective: I basically prefer medium high to high efficient razors, I shave approx. 300 times per year. Furthermore, I have no issues with the Ambassador whatsoever (great shaver she is, too).
IMO the Konsul finds his place in the upper far end of the medium efficency group. FWIW I certainly could use it as a daily driver, but the Konsul will easily take care on a couple of days worth of growth, too. It's a very versatile shaver.
As per the lower settings: shaving on setting 1 - 1.5 felt effective and smooth atg (or in a full shave when the former shave took place less than 24 hours ago). Setting 1 makes shaving during the fool's pass (atg under the nose) easy and effortless. So, overall, for me the efficiency level of the Konsul gives no reasons to moan. The opposite is the case.
In my view, the Konsul neither is an aggressive razor nor does she provide an inconvenient level of blade feel.
I can see that someone who struggled with the Ambassador might like the shaves with the Konsul better, bladefeel wise. The Konsul feels very smooth and gentle on the lowest settings but still cuts effectively, the blade feel (mildly) kicks in at approx. setting 2.5/2.75. On higher settings (even if cranked up fully to 6.5) the blade feel still isn't meanicing and provides shaving comfort.
■ Konsul vs Ambassador?
I have compared the Konsul's settings with the Ambassador's settings to find a similar level of blade feel extensity. Here are my results:
Konsul approx. 3.75 ~ Ambassador approx. 2
Konsul approx 6.5 ~ Ambassador: approx 3.75.
But mind you, this is only a statement on the perhaps equivalent amount of blade feel with these two razors on given settings. Unfortunately, it won't tell you anything on the overall shaving experience you'll get with them. However, I feel confident enough to say even on these maybe comparable settings the Konsul provided the overall smoother shave (at least on the higher pair of settings mentioned) without being less effective.
These two razors just have a different personality. I'm not entirely sure as yet which one is the more efficient one.
The shaves with the Konsul remained smooth on all settings and that's a the key feature to have here. In terms of smoothness the Konsul is in the same ballpark as the Flexi, I'd say - with the Konsul being a bit more efficient.
■ Drag?
Some have mentioned drag. That's a wording which wouldn't have come to my mind whilst shaving with the Konsul. If at all, there was a very, very low level type of "suction feeling" between the safety bar and my skin (but this feeling is definitely less pronounced than the "suction feeling" one can get, say, with the Henson Shaving razor; the Konsul reminded me more of the shaving experience with my Blackbird SB is this aspect). Perhaps the better suited description is the Konsul glided "just a minor tad more slowly" over the skin than other razors, if this makes any sense to you.
Now, did this issue bother me? No, it didn't. The opposite is the case - I quite like this tactile feeling on the skin.
However, the already not very pronounced "suction feeling" was further weakened as I lowered the handle in parallel to my face (steep angle), which basically became my preferred angle of choice with the Konsul. On the lower end of the setting scale the feeling was rather hard to recognize. Overall, imo the Konsul is a smooth sailor all night long.
■ Sharp corners?
Someone mentioned sharp corners on the Konsul's baseplate. I didn't even recognize this point before this statement was made.
IMHO, one has to literally misuse (!) the shave angle of this razor to feel the edges on the baseplate. Maybe the situation is different for head shavers, however, it was absolutely not an issue whilst shaving my face. These edges were indescernable during my shaves. The edges on my ATT S2 look and feel rather similar, slightly pointy (if at all) if you press your finger on the edge (why would you do this?), but definitely not sharp or meanicing whilst shaving.
■ Blade sensivity?
I have the feeling the Konsul isn't picky when it comes to blade choices, however, just pick a fresh Feather and this thing will shine. The combo really performered.
So these are my initial thoughts...
Thanks for your interest. Kudos to you if you made your way through this wall of text (I'm sorry for any typos I missed)
.Maybe I have missed other aspects being of interest for you. Feel free to address them.
Happy shaves!
Last edited:
@JAHE Excellent and very helpful thoughts on the Konsul. Thank you.
I've owned the Ambassador since 2019 and it still impresses me and is in my list of top 3 razors, you can certainly feel the precision and craftsmanship when you shave with it.
I'm hoping to get the Rex Konsul shortly, as I've heard great things about it. I don't own a slant razor and I figured that the Konsul would make a great razor to get as I get on really well with the Ambassador.
Thanks again for the extremely helpful post with your thoughts
I've owned the Ambassador since 2019 and it still impresses me and is in my list of top 3 razors, you can certainly feel the precision and craftsmanship when you shave with it.
I'm hoping to get the Rex Konsul shortly, as I've heard great things about it. I don't own a slant razor and I figured that the Konsul would make a great razor to get as I get on really well with the Ambassador.
Thanks again for the extremely helpful post with your thoughts
I was talking with a forum member about my Konsul and he meantioned the Ambassadors suffered from a bent cap in the beginning.
Has anyone noticed this on their Konsul? Here is a picture of my top cap, which looks to have a bend to it.
Has anyone noticed this on their Konsul? Here is a picture of my top cap, which looks to have a bend to it.
Attachments
That's the first I've heard about the Ambassador with bent caps in the beginning. The only thing I heard with the Ambassadors in the beginning, was the adjustment dial could be easily accidentally altered during the shave. These were rectified with a different spring from what I can remember reading somewhere.
Looking at the top cap picture, it looks to be on a slanted angle, and I assume its normal for it to be like this, due to it been a slant razor.
