Braun Büffel Activator 8595
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- Input voltage: 100 - 240
- Hair Trimmer: With Hair Trimmer
- Features: With Self-Cleaning System With Hair Trimmer With Quick Charge
- Number of Heads: 1 Head
- Water Resistant: Dry Only
- Cutting System: Foil Head
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
An odd duck
Pros
Nice smooth shave, sometimes.
Cons
Noisy. Takes space (big plug). Smelly.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
For this much money I really expected better. Next time I'll try the top of the line of another brand, but I don't know if that would be an improvement!
The battery in my old Norelco went bad, so I picked up the Braun 8595 on impulse while shopping at BJ's. I've had it for 3 weeks now and am ready to report.
I really had no idea what to expect from this shaver other than a great shave. The box wasn't very helpful; I figured that by paying top dollar I'd get a top product. It's worked for other products. Now that I know what I have, I'm still not certain if I have the cream of the crop, or have been bamboozled out of some extra cash!
The shaving experience is much different than the Norelco, with its three rotary blades. The Braun is louder, sounding like a shaver at the barbershop, an insistent buzz. The cutting area on the head is smaller (or at least it seems smaller). I think it takes longer to shave than with the Norelco, and this may be part of the reason (fewer cutting blades). But the results are very good. In fact, sometimes I get my cheeks so close that they feel completely smooth; this is a closeness that I NEVER achieved with any other electric shaver. Did you notice I said "sometimes"? I can't reproduce the close shave every time, nor do I get it this close on my neck. I don't know why.
The instructions say to shave before showering because our beards and face will absorb moisture during the shower and swell slightly, making it more difficult to shave close. I've been doing this, but I have a second very important reason for doing so. The shaver has a self-cleaning feature. When you replace it into the base, it automatically detects how dirty it is and, with the press of a button, initiates a cleaning/charging cycle that takes from 30 to 90 minutes to complete. During the first few minutes of this cycle the shaver comes to life in the base, turning itself on and off at slow and fast speeds. Now, in my case, I am up before dawn and shaving in the dark so I don't disturb my sleeping spouse. Our water takes a long time to heat up in the shower, so I turn on the shower and shave. Then, while I'm taking my shower, the shaver is doing its noisy thing. So you see, I use the shower to mask the noise from the shaver and reduce interference to my wife! One morning I shaved without taking a shower and heard about it for the rest of the day!!
About that base. It's big! And the cord to the wall, with its built-in transformer, sticks straight out rather than hugging the wall. If you don't have a plug with about 8 inches clearance in front of it for the plug and base you are going to be annoyed with this.
Then there are the lights. When it's in its cleaning cycle there are three of them, two blue and one green. I swear that one of the blue ones pulsates. At night there's an eerie glow from the bathroom. If I forget to turn the clean/charge cycle off before retiring the pulsating blue light bothers my wife to the point that she gets up and closes the bathroom door! It doesn't hurt anything to leave the clean/charge cycle on from a technical viewpoint. But, yikes, if it's going to bother your spouse!?
One other thing. The cleaning cycle uses an alcohol solution that comes in a little tub you stick into the base. It costs about $6 for a package of two (I didn't see anything about this on the shaver box!); each tub is supposed to last a month. The fluid smells -- not unpleasant but definitely noticeable -- and I can smell it anywhere in the bathroom!
Hmmm. Looks like I said more negatives than positives. Will have to factor that into my rating!
I really had no idea what to expect from this shaver other than a great shave. The box wasn't very helpful; I figured that by paying top dollar I'd get a top product. It's worked for other products. Now that I know what I have, I'm still not certain if I have the cream of the crop, or have been bamboozled out of some extra cash!
The shaving experience is much different than the Norelco, with its three rotary blades. The Braun is louder, sounding like a shaver at the barbershop, an insistent buzz. The cutting area on the head is smaller (or at least it seems smaller). I think it takes longer to shave than with the Norelco, and this may be part of the reason (fewer cutting blades). But the results are very good. In fact, sometimes I get my cheeks so close that they feel completely smooth; this is a closeness that I NEVER achieved with any other electric shaver. Did you notice I said "sometimes"? I can't reproduce the close shave every time, nor do I get it this close on my neck. I don't know why.
The instructions say to shave before showering because our beards and face will absorb moisture during the shower and swell slightly, making it more difficult to shave close. I've been doing this, but I have a second very important reason for doing so. The shaver has a self-cleaning feature. When you replace it into the base, it automatically detects how dirty it is and, with the press of a button, initiates a cleaning/charging cycle that takes from 30 to 90 minutes to complete. During the first few minutes of this cycle the shaver comes to life in the base, turning itself on and off at slow and fast speeds. Now, in my case, I am up before dawn and shaving in the dark so I don't disturb my sleeping spouse. Our water takes a long time to heat up in the shower, so I turn on the shower and shave. Then, while I'm taking my shower, the shaver is doing its noisy thing. So you see, I use the shower to mask the noise from the shaver and reduce interference to my wife! One morning I shaved without taking a shower and heard about it for the rest of the day!!
About that base. It's big! And the cord to the wall, with its built-in transformer, sticks straight out rather than hugging the wall. If you don't have a plug with about 8 inches clearance in front of it for the plug and base you are going to be annoyed with this.
Then there are the lights. When it's in its cleaning cycle there are three of them, two blue and one green. I swear that one of the blue ones pulsates. At night there's an eerie glow from the bathroom. If I forget to turn the clean/charge cycle off before retiring the pulsating blue light bothers my wife to the point that she gets up and closes the bathroom door! It doesn't hurt anything to leave the clean/charge cycle on from a technical viewpoint. But, yikes, if it's going to bother your spouse!?
One other thing. The cleaning cycle uses an alcohol solution that comes in a little tub you stick into the base. It costs about $6 for a package of two (I didn't see anything about this on the shaver box!); each tub is supposed to last a month. The fluid smells -- not unpleasant but definitely noticeable -- and I can smell it anywhere in the bathroom!
Hmmm. Looks like I said more negatives than positives. Will have to factor that into my rating!
