The price of the solo option is often very close, but check and see how much you can save before you buy the model with the stand. Panasonic lists their motor speed in “CPM,” which we assume to be two “cuts” per full revolution of the internal motor. The brand name Philishave was phased out in 2006 so shavers now bear only the Philips name.
The stand is a cool accessory if you want the shaver to loom over your bathroom countertop, but you can’t keep it in a drawer or cabinet. The refills are kind of annoying to deal with, and the cleaning process amplifies the normal buzzing sound of the shaver quite a bit. The way the thing starts and stops in cycles might even startle unsuspecting housemates early in the morning. Included in its beard styling package is a detachable trimmer head that comes with 5 trimmer comb guards. As well as a secondary detachable head accompanied by 4 sets of comb covers designed for maintaining different beard stubble lengths.
We cover what’s new and what’s next in beauty by working with the world’s leading authorities in dermatology, plastic surgery, cosmetics, skincare, haircare, and fragrance. Every story we publish has been thoroughly researched and vetted by our team of beauty editors and industry experts. The special cleaning formula is 10x more effective than water1, so you can keep your shaver hygienic. Daniel is a Canadian farm boy who grew up to be a nerd with a literature degree and too many hobbies to count. He emigrated from Canada to California in 2013, and now writes for Your Best Digs full-time.
This is a winning combination from Panasonic; it won’t be perfect for everyone, but it ticks all the right boxes for our team. One unique feature of the Panasonic razors is that they will leave some reserve power in the battery, rather than just running all the way until dead. If you’re not paying attention to the blinking warning light, this philips shaver will give you just enough reserve power to quickly finish your shave (and maybe one more shave after that) rather than just refusing to turn on. Ideally you should keep the shavers at around 80 percent of capacity for maximum battery life and definitely avoid running them down to empty, but modern Lithium Ion cells are pretty robust.
An electric shaver is considered the best alternative to wet-shaving if you want a closer shave multiple times per week. However, with my thick and overly curly beard, I found it very challenging to get a clean shave without multiple passes over the same area. That said, when tested on thin, straight beard hair, it did a very good job, delivering a close shave with much less effort. Its flexible shaving head allows its blades to freely navigate the contours of the face or to be locked into place for a more traditional shaving experience. All returns/exchanges require a Return Merchandise Authorization Number (RMA#).
Note that a blade and lather will pretty easily out-shave even the Panasonic – Arc 5, but it’s much closer than we thought it would be. We looked at “travel” razors, but so far as we can tell the only reason to buy them is if you absolutely cannot plug in your charger for a month. Even the power-hungry Panasonic Arc5 should give you at least two weeks of shaving on a charge, and the power adapters for our philips shaver winners are dual-voltage for international compatibility with a simple plug adapter. Andis is a brand better known to barbers than to most of us, and the Profoil shaver has a long history cleaning up fades and necklines in some of the best barbershops in the country. For $100 this might be a worthwhile upgrade in closeness over the 4500, but for closer to $200 street price we’re just not convinced.
Probably the biggest surprise in our testing was that the high-end cleaning stands weren’t saving time or effort. Braun’s Series 7 shaver performed well, and when the speed was cranked up all the way it matched the Panasonic for efficient and smooth cutting. Without the extra foils of the Arc5, though, it’s at a slight disadvantage for a speedy shave. In the end, if you philips razor find that a foil-type shaver just can’t get close to hairs that are growing in swirled growth patterns, you might be a good candidate for a rotary-type design. This gives a reasonably close shave, like the Series 7, but it struggles to clean up long stubble without tugging. When we put it against the less-expensive Panasonic Arc3, though, it just seems a bit sad.
In practice, we’re pretty sure we could get quicker shaves with the Arc5’s extra foils, and in testing it seemed to clean up a few spots of short micro-stubble left behind by the Arc3. Compared to the Braun – Series 7, we’d say this is an easy win for Panasonic in overall performance and even comfort. This type of shaver isn’t the best for most people, but if your hairs just aren’t picked up by a straight foil then a rotary system might get you the close shave you’ve been looking for. For travel, Panasonic only includes a cheap velour pouch, which is a bit of a let-down at this price point. Press the power button to turn it on, then hold down until the lock symbol appears, hold it down again to unlock. We think the swivel-ring lock on the older Panasonic models is a little bit easier to use, but none of the other brands included a lock to keep the razor from starting in your suitcase.