Philips HQ8894 Aquagenic 8000 Sensotec Men's Shaver Review

Overall Rating

The Philips HQ8894 Aquagenic 8000 Sensotec Men's shaver's only main good point is that it has an exceptionally long battery life, of genuinely around 100 minutes or perhaps 25 shaves, depending on how you shave. This also gets longer with each recharge if you run the unit right to the bottom before recharging, as the actual battery life is nearer 110 minutes than the 100 design spec. However, if the head spigots ever jam or stick, as they inevitably will due to poor design (see below), then this gives the microprocessor a headache and it loses all the stored information, resetting to the boot up 100 minutes life on first charge. The unit also looks very attractive, but this is not much customer consolation if it is not either robust or durable, and unable to stand up to even a few months wear.

Whenever you have to clean this unit properly by taking the heads and cutters apart, it is then the devils own job to ever get them reassembled properly (this was not the case on earlier Philishave models, or on other current models like the Coolskin series). The head unit then frequently refuses to close properly and/or the heads do not engage properly with the drive spigots, causing a screeching noise. Eventually the head spigots give up the ghost altogether one by one.

After 20 years of using Philishaves I have decided that all their more expensive models are an overpriced con designed to take away your cash, but with an expected lifetime of no more than the 2 years for which they are guaranteed, and often in fact the lifespan is much less.

All the alleged more clever shaving systems of the more expensive Philishave models are in fact marketing hype, and you will get just as good a shave on their latest 2 head battery powered model that costs £10. The key factor as to how good a shave you get from a Philishave model is how old the heat units and cutters are. Once they are over 6 months old shave quality deteriorates radically. And Philips only sells replacement heads and cutters at high prices, so on a battery model you are better off binning it and buying another one.

The Philishave shaving system gives a fantastic non-cutting shave to anyone with sensitive skin, but the shavers are not at all durable, so I would recommend buying the cheap battery powered units and throwing them away after 6 months, while using either cheap AA alkaline batteries at 32 for £8 from ToysRUs, or alternatively rechargeable batteries. Although as rechargeables have a shorter life between replacement, I personally wouldn't bother with the rechargeable battery method.

If you spend £200 on a Philishave you can expect to bin it in around 2 years time. Even if the far more flimsy head system doesn't fail on you, the wet environment to which the units are subjected reliably, ensures that their mains charging circuit packs up after two years. I have owned six or seven of the more expensive models, and I can speak from bitter but predictable experience!

Members' Comments onCapvermell's Review

• matonet on 30th Aug 2006

  I've used a Philips Philishave 905 every day for 15 years, and only now is it fading. No service, no blade change, same battery. Seems you're unlucky! Mat