I will agree with the most recent post and say that it truly isn't a bad razor. The improvements over the Quattro are noticeable and Schick really spent some time on this bad boy. To keep the review as short but informative as possible, i'll basically review by pros and cons here.
Pros:
- Massive amount of lubrication in the gel strip.
- Lubrication strip is housed in a plastic casing which prevents the whole thing from being exposed at once and used up so quickly.
- Blades are sharp and pretty smooth with a relative lack of pulling or snagging, even on my thick facial hair.
- The new skin protector system with the bars on the blades does seem to really help smooth the skin out but also has a con to it (see below). I don't suspect though that this system was any better than the wires over the blades (such as on the Schick Protector (a GREAT razor) or Quattro).
- The handle is fantastic and is the first time in a while that Schick has released a good handle to go with good blades.
- The lube strip does last a long time, I'm still using the first cartridge after maybe 3 head shaves, 3 face shaves, and doing my arms and other stuff a couple times. It is putting out less than in the beginning but it's still pumping a little bit out.
Cons:
- Being that there is a massive lube strip, I found that it gunked and created a slimy sort of goo for the first several shaves (3 or 4). This was particularly annoying because it seemed to defeat the purpose of using a nice shave cream. I don't know if the strip contains a large amount of glycerin or what but when used with Glycerin shave cream (Art of Shaving and Fraser's, I used both) it was excessive, resulting in a need for additional passes. Using a cheaper product such as Gillette Shave Foam and the Hydro Gel was better but I still noticed goop. It also prevented all the hair from being shaved because of the goop. It rinsed off the skin with no issues and didn't seem to clog blades when pounded by a shower stream, however.
- As I mentioned I didn't get a complete shave...there was roughness in areas that other razors cleaned up. This is better for avoiding ingrown hairs and it did seem to help in that regard, but if I still have hair on my face in several places after a single pass with 3 blades, I find that slightly problematic. A little here and there is no problem but I felt that I had to do a little too much touch up after the first pass. This may have been both a function of the bars on the blades and of the excess lubrication release.
- The cartridge head seemed overly bulky. I didn't compare it next to a Fusion but I got the feeling that it's about the same and this is only a 3 blade razor. Methinks the 5 blade cartridge must be a platform and a half.
- Although the handle was great, it was a little on the heavy side, yet still required pressure on the razor to get a decent shave. DE and Injector shaving taught me that pressure is no good so I don't understand why something with so much weight still required pressure to maneuver well.
- Even with all the lube, the extra touch ups and passes left me with a little bit of irritation. That's never good.
Overall, I'll give it a 7.5/10. On a side note, the Hydro gel is horrible. I snagged a can to try and it's terrible. It has the same smell and tingle/burn as Edge which makes me think it's made exactly the same. It also doesn't protect my skin very well. I got a lot more irritation when using this gel.
Thanks
Regarding the Hydro Gel, would you same it's the same as Edge, or worse ?
