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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Excellent toy, but you can shave for less.
Pros
Excellent entertainment item
Cons
Many of the features are unnecessary for the shaving; needs refills.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Very impressive as a gift; if all need is just a close shave, look elsewhere.
I already have Braun 6520 shaver, which I'm happy with, and which has very good feedback here on Epinions if you check it out; now I've got the latest model, 8595 Activator as a present. So naturally, I compared them.
While 6520 did not much more that just shaving, Activator goes much further. Besides shaving, it also:
- keeps the shaver clean. Braun recommends to submerge the shaver after each shave into the cleaning system, a separate device that comes with the shaver. This device is very smart: first, it analyzes how dirty the shaver is, and automatically selects the optimal cleaning mode (one of 3). Then it cleans the shaver, which is quite a performance: two motors, presumably in the shaver and in the cleaner, run periodically, there are many subtle noises, etc. The shortest cleaning cycle is 30 minutes. And finally, there's drying cycle.
Naturally, the cleaning is made with genuine Braun cleaning agent that can be purchased for only $9.99. This looks like not expensive, until you learn that the agent is nothing more than aromatized alcohol - $1 in local drugstore. One cleaning refill, according to Braun, should provide about 2 months of usage.
- reminds you to keep the shaver clean. The shaver has an LCD that, among other things, will remind you to clean it if you tend to forget;
- periodically maintains the battery by fully discharging it and then recharging. This must be useful for extending the battery's life;
- entertains with animations on the LCD - charging, using, testing (yes, there's testing after recharge), and, naturally, whole performance when cleaning.
But let's get to the main function: how well it shaves. According to Braun, "The new Activator shaving system has a revolutionary new Smart Foil with differently shaped holes that captures hair growing in any direction for a closer shave in fewer strokes, even in problem areas like the neck."
As I said, I compared Activator to my old trusty 6520. My conclusion: the revolutionary system has absolute zero effect on closeness of the shave, and negative effect on the speed. The old model shaved as close as the new one, and I spent about 30% less time than with the new model. Maybe with getting used to the new model, the shaving time would decrease, but definitely, I did not notice anything resembling the revolution of the process.
I shaved one cheek with the old shaver, another with the new one; the cheeks were alike when touched - immediately and on the next day; nobody was able to consistently correctly guess which cheek was shaven with which shaver.
A credit for the new shaver to be mentioned: in the package, I found a spare cutting head and foil pack.
Another positive feature that I noticed, though it's not advertised, is that when you shave, the razor has nice scent, apparently left by the cleaning liquid (alcohol plus aromatizers). This is probably the only real practical effect of the cleaning.
Conclusion: this shaver is an excellent item from the entertainment standpoint; a very impressive gift. As a shaver, it has useless features, some intended to generate constant revenue stream - naturally, I mean the cleaning refills. While everyone will agree that it's a good idea to keep the shaver clean, all it takes is 10 seconds to open the foil cap and clean the inside either by knocking, or with the brush. The desire to keep it sterile, and purchasing for that an expensive smart electronic device that needs refills, looks to me as sane as keeping sterile the hairbrush or steering wheel of the car.
==========
Update: there's also yet another "feature", that I discovered recently; it applies not only to this shaver, but to all Braun cordless shavers. The problem is that the rechargeable batteries in the shavers have only limited life. After certain time, they stop recharging, at which point it is still possible to use the shaver with the cord; however, more time, and the batteries die completely, and at that point it is not possible to use the shaver at all. The way it is engineered is such that the batteries can't be replaced, even though they are just regular rechargeable AA's; they are part of the circuit board, which has to be replaced as whole. How long will the batteries last? I sent an inquiry to Braun; their response: 5-7 years, depending on usage. I think, there are many people who expect an accessory that costs more than $100 to live longer than that; plus, making AA's so embedded that they can't be easily replaced does look like deliberate engineering solution on Brain's part - with obvious purposes.
While 6520 did not much more that just shaving, Activator goes much further. Besides shaving, it also:
- keeps the shaver clean. Braun recommends to submerge the shaver after each shave into the cleaning system, a separate device that comes with the shaver. This device is very smart: first, it analyzes how dirty the shaver is, and automatically selects the optimal cleaning mode (one of 3). Then it cleans the shaver, which is quite a performance: two motors, presumably in the shaver and in the cleaner, run periodically, there are many subtle noises, etc. The shortest cleaning cycle is 30 minutes. And finally, there's drying cycle.
Naturally, the cleaning is made with genuine Braun cleaning agent that can be purchased for only $9.99. This looks like not expensive, until you learn that the agent is nothing more than aromatized alcohol - $1 in local drugstore. One cleaning refill, according to Braun, should provide about 2 months of usage.
- reminds you to keep the shaver clean. The shaver has an LCD that, among other things, will remind you to clean it if you tend to forget;
- periodically maintains the battery by fully discharging it and then recharging. This must be useful for extending the battery's life;
- entertains with animations on the LCD - charging, using, testing (yes, there's testing after recharge), and, naturally, whole performance when cleaning.
But let's get to the main function: how well it shaves. According to Braun, "The new Activator shaving system has a revolutionary new Smart Foil with differently shaped holes that captures hair growing in any direction for a closer shave in fewer strokes, even in problem areas like the neck."
As I said, I compared Activator to my old trusty 6520. My conclusion: the revolutionary system has absolute zero effect on closeness of the shave, and negative effect on the speed. The old model shaved as close as the new one, and I spent about 30% less time than with the new model. Maybe with getting used to the new model, the shaving time would decrease, but definitely, I did not notice anything resembling the revolution of the process.
I shaved one cheek with the old shaver, another with the new one; the cheeks were alike when touched - immediately and on the next day; nobody was able to consistently correctly guess which cheek was shaven with which shaver.
A credit for the new shaver to be mentioned: in the package, I found a spare cutting head and foil pack.
Another positive feature that I noticed, though it's not advertised, is that when you shave, the razor has nice scent, apparently left by the cleaning liquid (alcohol plus aromatizers). This is probably the only real practical effect of the cleaning.
Conclusion: this shaver is an excellent item from the entertainment standpoint; a very impressive gift. As a shaver, it has useless features, some intended to generate constant revenue stream - naturally, I mean the cleaning refills. While everyone will agree that it's a good idea to keep the shaver clean, all it takes is 10 seconds to open the foil cap and clean the inside either by knocking, or with the brush. The desire to keep it sterile, and purchasing for that an expensive smart electronic device that needs refills, looks to me as sane as keeping sterile the hairbrush or steering wheel of the car.
==========
Update: there's also yet another "feature", that I discovered recently; it applies not only to this shaver, but to all Braun cordless shavers. The problem is that the rechargeable batteries in the shavers have only limited life. After certain time, they stop recharging, at which point it is still possible to use the shaver with the cord; however, more time, and the batteries die completely, and at that point it is not possible to use the shaver at all. The way it is engineered is such that the batteries can't be replaced, even though they are just regular rechargeable AA's; they are part of the circuit board, which has to be replaced as whole. How long will the batteries last? I sent an inquiry to Braun; their response: 5-7 years, depending on usage. I think, there are many people who expect an accessory that costs more than $100 to live longer than that; plus, making AA's so embedded that they can't be easily replaced does look like deliberate engineering solution on Brain's part - with obvious purposes.
