Panasonic ES8168S Men's Vortex Hydra Clean System with Convex Cutting System
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Customer Reviews of Panasonic ES8168S Men's Vortex Hydra Clean System with Convex Cutting System
Customer Review: Shaves the best out of the rest of electrics I've used
Summary: 4 Stars
In summary, this shaver shaves the best out of the shavers I have used. I will say that after shaving with different shavers, both foil and rotary, there is no one perfect shaver. Each has things you will like and dislike. I have used a Remington MS, Braun 8985 360 complete (owned for about a year), Panasonic ES8077s, Norelco 8894XL, and now recently, the Panasonic ES8168S.
I'll summarize each shaver's highlights and dislikes:
Remington triple foil - Least favorite shaver. Shaves very close, as close as the Panasonic. Great trimmer that actually works. Unfortunately, you pay for the close shave with major shave burn. It misses hairs and doesn't catch all, which requires use of the trimmer. Also, the model I had left hair clipping fall all over your shirt and counter. In addition, this model had poor build quality, as do the other remington's... Read Remington reviews, you will notice they typically are known for having quality issues.
Braun 8985 - This is my second favorite shaver, or tied (only time will tell). Positives are 1) very comfortable shave. 2) allows for pivot action or lock and actually shaves closer on locked position. You would use pivot for more sensitive areas like the neck. 3) The charge/clean and renew station. Oh boy, At first, or when I owned it, I liked it. But, I thought like others, maybe it was a rip off the fact that you had to buy their cleaners every other month. However, after not having one (like when using the Norelco), I missed it! The braun has the best Clean/Renew /Charging station than any of the shavers I have tried. It is quick, and it works! leaves the shaver clean lubricated and smelling good. It is very hygienic. 4) Build quality seems very good. Comes with a hard case. Very heavy to hold which gives the appearance of high quality... I like a heavy shaver as opposed to a cheap plastic one. Looks nice too. Negatives 1) Shave is not as close as Panasonic. 2) takes longer to shave than Panasonic (requires more work)
Panasonic ES8077S - 1) good close shave over all 2) excellent trimmer 3) clean/charge station convenient to clean shaver.... Negatives 1) leaves face raw maybe too close, gave me ingrowns 2) charge/clean station takes way too long to dry 3) looks and feels light and flimsy (made in china) made from cheap plastics.
Norelco 8894XL - 1) Most comfortable shave out of all the shavers tested 2) battery lasted over 100 minutes! long time 3) very informative polymer display tells you how long your shave session was, how many minutes left on the battery, when you need to clean, etc 4) Shaves hairs fairly quickly. I could get a good shave in 8 minutes or less. 5) The most quiet out of all the shavers.... Negatives 1) Shaved the least closest out of all the shavers tried... 5 oclock shadow guaranteed by 5 oclock. 2)Because of the rotary design, had problems shaving areas under sideburns on side of the face and upper lip (everyone has the same problem with norelcos) 3) trimmer sucked and virtually unusable. 4)Very very very difficult to clean. Tedious to clean . And no, to me cleaning is not rinsing hairs out under of the faucet. Im referring to actually disinfecting and ensuring all accumulated little tiny hairs out of the blades. This is hard to do with the Norelcos and requires taking out each seperate head, letting it sit in alcahol, etc.
Panasonic ES8168S - 1) shaves very close while still feeling gentle. Catches pretty much all the hairs as long as you shave against the direction of the growth. 2) Excellent trimmer that actually works 3) build quality seems very very good (made in Japan) and doesn't feel like cheap plastic (it actually has some weight to it). 3)clean/charge station not as good as Brauns but at least cleans out all the hairs and refreshes the shaver (lubricates). 4) can be used wet, though I haven't tried it.
.... Negatives if any 1) A little Loud compared to the other shavers. 2) clean/charge station takes too long to dry (2hrs), which may not be convenient to use late in the day if you leave it in bedroom.
To summarize, the Panasonic ES8168S shaves the best out of all of them.It also feels sturdy and seems to be made of good materials, not cheap plastic like the ES8077S. In addition, it has a good trimmer which actually works. However, I wish the clean/charge station was as good as the clean/renew station from Braun. And also, I wish I had the intuitive Polymer display function of the Norelco 8994, as well as the 100+ min battery hold time. In all, I am satisfied with my purchase and would recommend this shaver to anyone looking to purchase a new electric.
Although I prefer the aesthetic looks of the braun and the effectiveness and convenience of the cleaning station, the performance (as in the shave) of the Panasonic, not to mention the steal of a price you can get one of these nowadays, definitely puts the Panasonic, in my opinion, in the #1 spot for the most "Bang" for your buck in the Electric shavers category.
Customer Review: Good, but not great, newer Nanotech models shave better
Summary: 3 Stars
Pros: Close (but not Nanotec close) shave, Easy on skin, Well designed and built (made in Japan), Relatively quiet and low vibrating considering high motor speed, Cleaning system uses cheap and convenient cartridges, User replaceable battery, Good value
Cons: Lasts ridiculously short 35 minutes on a single charge, LCD is hard to see and shows remaining charge in 10% decrements only (no timer or remaining minutes like on Norelco)
Summary: If only it had Nanotec blades from newer ES8108S and ES8228S models. Or even better, if Norelco could shave this close while retaining all rotary advantages.
Contrary to some reviews this ES8168S model isn't similar in all important features to newer ES8222S and ES8109S models. It lacks uniquely sharp Nanotec blades which as I found make quite a lot of difference in shave closeness. In fact Panasonic parts numbers for blades are different.
I learned this the hard way when switching from my current Norelco SmartTouch XL which I love dearly for everything but quality and fast shave. I read one of the reviews here touting qualities of Nanotec blades. Reviewer had ES8222S model but was assuring that ES8168S is same. After a week of using the new shaver I grew a little disappointed. It was delivering comfortable shave with no burning that also was somewhat closer and faster than Norelco but not by much. I started to think that having to put up with awkward handling (typical of foil shavers compared to rotaries) and with truly miserable battery life (35 minutes charge vs 98 with Norelco) was not worth it.
Then I realized that I never saw highly touted "Nanotec blades" written anywhere on a box or in the user manual. Some light googling immediately revealed that compared to ES822S and ES8109S ES8168S is an older model that has all other buzzwords like Vortex but not Nanotec. I got curious and ordered ES8109S. It's cheaper and when you open the package it's clear why - flimsy, cheaper materials, tacky shiny plastic abound, laughable excuse of a travel pouch, much noisier and is made in China. ES8168S is better in every other respect except for main thing - it was enough just to have a single shave with ES8109S to realize that Nanotec blades are the real deal. I actually was amazed by the difference which after few more shaves became even more noticeable. It's the hands down closest and fastest shave (in both aspects approaching blades) I have ever experienced from electric. Amazingly this performance isn't at the expense of comfort like you feel your whole skin burning.
Otherwise ES8168S is a very good, well built and comfortable shaver. If you don't need best possible shave and can live with the closest next to best I would highly recommend it.
A little post-factum so you understand where I'm coming from when it comes to shaving. I switched from blades around 1o years ago and will never go back to this mess despite getting in general closer and faster shave than with electrics. During these 10 years I tried many shavers switching between foil brands (Pana Linears, Brauns, Remington) and various Norelco rotaries. For the last 4 years I settled on Norelcos - first James Bond model and now SmartTouchXL. Before Norelco I used Linear for a couple of years.
I love everything about Norelcos - luxurious feel on skin of a big easy gliding head, very hushed almost Lexus like sound, lack of vibration, substantial feel in the hand, good battery life, helpful LCD information, etc. When you shave with Norelco you feel like dignified gentelman while my recollections about Brauns and Linear were of the crude and kinda agricultural nature. Only two things are missing from Norelcos - close and fast shave.
I don't believe I have especially sensitive skin or tremendously thick or fast growing stable. Maybe I have a lot of face estate and some unusual growth patterns but no matter with what I shave it takes longer than average (I asked friends and coworkers) to get a decent shave and I have to go back and forth in different directions around certain spots (and not chin). Even with blades I had to do two passes with last one against the grain. With Norelcos morning shave became a 8 minute affair to get a half decent shave that will last you till maybe 5pm. That explains why I ventured again into Pansonic shavers.
Customer Review: Better than a blade . . . really.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my second electric shaver, having used a Braun perhaps eight or ten years ago. That shaver was OK, but not great; it would do in a pinch but hardly gave me what I'd call a close shave. Eventually I went back to a standard three-bladed razor, and the Braun has since disappeared in a drawer somewhere, largely forgotten and certainly not missed. It really wasn't worth its asking price, at least not to me.
However, since my skin is very sensitive, I've never been entirely happy with a blade, particularly on my neck. I have to shave every other day (or less) to avoid uncomfortable irritation, and I skip shaving on the weekends entirely just to give neck a break. I started looking around and doing some research on today's electric shavers, and ran across the new Panasonic wet/dry series. I also considered the rotary-type shavers, but wasn't quite sold on them for my particular needs. Based on the glowing reviews on this website and others, I decided to take the plunge and give the Panasonic a try. I've been using my Vortex ES8168S for about three weeks now.
End result: Maybe the best personal grooming purchase ever, no exaggeration. I just love this Panasonic shaver. It gives me a shave that is basically indistinguishable from a razor. Common convention says that you have to give your face a couple of weeks to adjust to an electric, but I didn't find that to be the case--I just charged it up and started using it. It works amazingly well, and WITHOUT IRRITATION. Zero. It's an absolute Godsend for my sensitive skin. Better yet, I can touch up any time without fear of the dreaded razor burn.
I really like the fact that you can use this shaver in the shower. I find that if I use a little soap or a very small amount of shaving cream, I get a razor-quality shave. No "almost" caveats here--it really is that good. Dry shaving is maybe a smidge less close, but the convenience far outweighs any difference in closeness; in fact, I usually touch up with it out of the shower since it's a bit easier to get those longer neck hairs using it dry. A full charge gives me a week's worth of shaving, and the LCD readout makes it simple to see how much you've got left.
Cleanup is easy. Just pop off the foil head and rinse. I use the "Hydra-Clean" system once a week to really give it a good deep cleaning, but don't think it's critical. There is no fresh, lemony scent like that of the Braun Complete system, but that's no big deal to me. The cleaning/charging base is quite convenient and seems to work very well.
I suppose the only thing I found that might merit some caution is while shaving around one's lips. I caught my lower lip in the center slots and boy, did it smart. However, this is pretty unusual and I chalk it up the fact that I can be kind of a klutz (or "disaster magnet" as my family calls me). I recommend that you don't stick your lips in it--or anything else you want to keep intact.
The ES8168S isn't cheap (but with some careful shopping, it can be had for under a hundred bucks), but in my estimation it's one of the few products I own that fully justify its price. It has a money-back guarantee, but I won't be returning mine unless it breaks. I recommend it without reservation.
Customer Review: The buzz on this razor
Summary: 5 Stars
OK, so I think one of the best things about Amazon are the reviews by actual users. Reading them is what really got me to buy this razor, even though in the back of my mind I thought the best reviewers were shills for Panasonic. THEY WERE NOT! Or, if they are, let me add my name to that list:
This is a fantastic razor. Period. I'm a relatively hairy guy. Not Robin Williams hairy, but still hirsute. The last time I used a foil razor, I cut myself and thought I'd never go back to foil - it'd be only rotary or blade for me! But after my Norelco rotary stopped shaving close, I thought I'd give it a try, thanks to the reviewers and the fact that I could get this razor totally wet or use it dry.
This machine is simply amazing. Like Japanese cars, it is designed to interact with humans perfectly. From the "click" of the plastic foil guard, to the floating foil over your chin, it all is so well designed it's a pleasure just to use. It feels perfect in my hand too - so much so, I would be happy to just carry it around the house all day.... As it is, whenever any of my male friends come over, I talk up this razor.
Yes, yes, it vibrates at something like the speed of light and its blades are at some angle that no other razor has, etc, etc. So what? Does it do what it says? Will I have to return it after the 30 day trial? Absolutely yes and more! and Heck NO!
I am so pleased with this machine that I am STILL amazed how it shaves my face. I prefer shaving dry, but it does wet too (a plus for me) and it is as if I had used a blade. This closeness is consistent. Panasonic advises that users give one's face time to adjust to this razor before they work together. I was hooked the first time it whisked my whiskers away.
Cons: you're supposed to use the little tub of razor-cleaning fluid in the included cleaning/charging base.
Pros: THE CLOSENESS OF THE SHAVE! You don't have to use the cleaning base - just press and hold the on button and it vibrates REALLY fast, squirt some liquid soap on it, and rinse. The battery lasts a long time. It's fun to use.
Would I buy it again? Without question.
Hope this helps you make a decision. Happy shaving!
Customer Review: Panasonic - Amazing Shave
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this razor based on good research and reading various numbers of reviews. Having owned two Norelco razors (with the circular-pivot blades), I was extremely skeptical about spending money to purchase another. After all, these electric shavers are not cheap. I purchased my first Norelco while in the military and I would always get in trouble for not shaving "properly". I then purchased a second Norelco a few years later with the notion that "maybe the newer models would work better". The second razor was a little better than my first, but it still left many hairs untouched. Now, almost ten years after purchasing my first shaver, I decided to give electric razors a third and final chance.
The Panasonic unit is constructed very well. One of the main reasons I chose the Panasonic unit was because it gave me the ability to "wet shave" (even allowing the use of shaving cream). The shaver is a bit loud (louder than both my Norelco shavers), but not loud enough to hurt your ears or disturb someone in the next room. It is better to shave after showering (or while showering), since our facial hairs are softest then. I applied a thin (it has to be thin for the razor to work properly) layer of shaving cream, crossed my fingers, turned on my shaver, and shaved away. The shaver glided effortlessly across my face without pulling or irritating. I splashed water on my face to clean it away after only shaving half of it. I was completely astonished at how well the shaver had performed. It shaved as close as my Mach III manual razor, but without the irritation. Cleaning the shaver was easy. You can choose to auto clean it with the supplied cleaning system, but I opted for the manual cleaning method (since purchasing the cleaning cartridges can get expensive). I cannot comment on durability or long term reliability because this review is based on my first use. Needless to say, I am very pleased with my purchase.