Panasonic Electric Razor for Men, Electric Shaver, ARC5 with Premium Automatic Cleaning and Charging Station, Wet Dry Shaver Men, Cordless Razor, with Pop-Up Trimmer ES-LV97-K, Black

Pros:- Closes shave I have ever had out of a electric razor.- Really fast and confortable.- Nice "cleaning mode". It's the easiest to clean razor I have ever owned.Cons:- Struggle with long beard. I had to "pre-trim" it.- Head is too big and struggle to reach under the nose.Overall, I'm happy with the purchase specially since I got it with a heavy discount during black friday.

TL;DR fantastic product, works as advertised, has every feature (and then some), powerful, fast, and best in class trimmer. Fogetabout the Braun. I had every intention of buying a Braun 9000 series shaver. I wanted the best. However, watching the reviews I saw that the trimmer on the Braun was rather muted (small and tight to the body of the shaver, thus not easy to use and most reviewers said so). I then came across the Panasonic ARC5, which is most often compared to the Braun 9000 series and compares favourably. In fact, I think they're quite close in design and features, but the Panasonic has a superior trimmer. I wanted a Braun, but my gut told me to go with the Panasonic because the trimmer issue would bug me. A few reviewers noted that the Panasonic had a louder buzz, with a more annoying pitch. The point of importance here is that YOU will not have both shavers and you cannot do a relative comparison. The real question is: is this thing too loud or annoying? Answer: No, of course not. It's a shaver. It buzzes. It's fine. Before this I always used a good Philips shaver, and my last one has been a faithful aid for too long. It was a real eye opener just how SHARP and FAST and POWERFUL this new shaver is. Yeesh. I've been using a DULL shaver for too long. That is, my blades may be a tad old. However, I have never experienced an electric shaver this sharp before. I've never come close to a burn or rash or a hair-pull. It works PERFECTLY. The "bobble-head" mode is a "subjective feature" - use it if you like it. However, you can turn it off and the razor is locked down to a brick-mode, if that is to your liking. I didn't like the "flexible head" mode at first, but I now prefer it - except for shaving under my node. Of course this is easy to clean - just snap off the foil and rinse everything under the tap BUT... it comes with a "cleaning box" which will automatically clean the shaver completely - you just drop the shaver into th e box and turn it on. It'll clean and dry and charge the shaver perfectly. It does seem to want to buzz and flush for a couple of hours but it DOES WORK. It appears to me to be a bit of overkill, but it's cute if you like that sort of thing. If you can buy the shaver without the cleaning box then I must admit here that I don't think that you need it. The shaver detects difficult areas in your beard and shifts gears and runs harder/louder. I don't notice any difference in feel, however. It cuts quickly and I am 100% satisfied with its performance. Oh, and the trimmer is very sharp and fast and works as I expect it too. I've long forgotten about a Braun shaver. The shaver has a travel mode lock - where you can't accidentally turn it on. It has a cleaning mode (which sounds different) which I use when rinsing under the tap. While the shaver advertises as working with water (in the shower) or gel, I've not bothered - most reviewers (on Youtube, etc.) think that's a gimmick. Perhaps it may aid in avoiding irritation but I get no irritation from this shaver. TL;DR fantastic product, works as advertised, has every feature (and then some), powerful, fast, and best in class trimmer. Fogetabout the Braun. PS. I'm reviewing this now because Amazon is pestering me. I've had it for a month or so. I have no idea how long the battery will last. Right now it is stinking powerful!

I was about to replace my old Braun with a new 9 Pro but grabbed this one when the Braun unexpectedly died as it was overnight Prime shipping. First pass I couldn’t feel anything so I thought it was a dud. Then I felt my mustache area — razor close finish. My neck area is always tricky, but if I move against the grain it shaves easily. With Braun shavers I often have to use pressure which causes redness, bumps, and even cuts. With the Arc5, as long as I let it glide without pressure I can get a super close dry shave in under 5 minutes.I should note, I didn’t need any “adjustment” period as this shaver worked A on day one. Charging isn’t an issue as it holds a long charge. My only issue was the flimsy vinyl case, but surprisingly it fit inside the more durable case I kept from a Philips Norelco S9000 that turned out to be worthless. This is probably the best foil shaver I have used. The design seemed a little more oversize, but it works really well.The one con is the sound. Sure, all shavers have a sound. The Arc5 though sounds like a piercing air strike. But I have gotten used to it.

Having used a Panasonic foil shaver for 10 years, I saw a great deal for the newest, fanciest Braun foil shaver @ Costco and jumped. I never felt it lived up to the hype or the reviews, but I used it for 6 years. It was adequate, but that’s it. New foils didn’t improve the performance. I finally decided to replace it with the newest Braun two weeks before Thanksgiving. Dumb, it was no better than the old one.Enter Amazon’s Black Friday sale, this high-end Panasonic shaver was significantly discounted enough for me to try it. Some of the reviews were very specific about its performance—they obviously were not fakes.The keys positives are:It’s a VERY smooth shave.It’s got a wide head so the shave is faster.It’s very light, battery life is excellent.The shave is closer, cleaner, faster than the newest, best Braun, (which I returned it in the nick of time).I honestly can’t think of a negative… The regular price is about $200. I paid $130. Had I known it was this far superior than the Braun, I’d have paid full price…