Philips HQQ9190XL

I have trialed this shaver after returning my Braun 360 complete razor - it took to long to have a close shave. My first impressions were good. The unit comes well packaged and the unit looks good. People complain about the unit being plastic and cheap but the benefit of plastic is that it is lighter, so the unit is lighter in your hand in comparison to the braun. Now the braun wasn't heavy but this is light. The stand looks cool (I didn't get the jetwash station) it even has a little clock on it however if you are going to be picky it doesn't sit in the stand easily - the power prongs don't always line up but no real biggy! The power cable is blue, the stand is silver and the unit is black, orange and chrome, so if you are a colour fascist it may annoy your fashion police instincts! I personally am more worried about use than looks. The instructions said to charge the unit for an hour to charge it fully, the guy at the shop said charge it for 12 hours the first time, and the website says charge it for 8 the first time. I charged it for an hour like the instructions and it said it was full however, I found out later that it didn't have the reserve charge so do the 12 hour charge first. The biggest disappointment with charging the unit is you can't leave the charger plugged into the base and turned on - it's not good for the battery. So I overcame this by just putting it on to charge when rerquired over night or setting at timer. This is a little annoying however it has an extraordinary battery life - 80 - 90 minutes. So you have to charge this every two weeks so no major drama and gardly any power used. The display on the shaver is great it tells you how long you shaved for, how long you have left on the battery and it tells you when to clean it and replace the blades - it even beeps at you when necessary so it's very user friendly. OK lets get to business how does it shave - pretty good, very comfy on the skin and the shape of the Phillips is a more natural feel in your hand so shaving is comfy. However I have a thick beard and I shave every day so the closesness is very important to me - I am a clean shave natzi. It shaves close - almost as close as a hand razor but not close enough for me. It was nowhere near as close as the Braun was. And the sideburn trimmer was practically useless - I thought the trimmer on the braun was bad but this was pitiful. The noise this baby makes is almost silent - (for an electric razor) I first thought it wasn't working properly when I used it because it was so quiet. The razor cuts faster with the speed XL heads. It was 3-5 minutes faster than the Braun, but it still took me on average 8 minutes for a clean shave that could have been closer. The speed XL heads are self sharpening so that is a plus - it will cost less in time. However the unit itself is dearer than the braun. Cleaning the unit was easy just run it under the tap but the cleaning system on the Braun was awesome even with having to buy cleaning solution. I believe that the Phillips Jetclean System is not good from all accounts I have heard. But the travel pouch and travel lock function are both great. Overall a great shaver but it doesn't cut close enough for me, it takes too long to shave and the sideburn trimmer isn't good.