I got this gift as a birthday present. I guess I hinted enough to people around me that I needed a new shaver, so they bought me one. After reading the box, I thought to myself, "wow, this thing cleans itself!". I couldn't wait to try it out.
However, to my disappointment, it didn't clean right away. That's because it won't clean itself unless the "clean" button is flashing, which means it has to be used first. Actually, now that I've had it for a while, I'm still a bit confused because sometimes the clean button would flash the use after I had just cleaned it, and sometimes it would clean even though the clean button wasn't really flashing--but I hadn't cleaned it in a while. Maybe it has a memory module or something, but whatever it is, you can be sure that it will flash once every 3 uses. I guess I would have liked a button that would force the machine to clean regardless of how dirty it is, but I guess they’re trying to save you money so that you don’t push it every day and have to keep buying the refill cartridges. Overall, I like the self-cleaning because I'm a lazy bum, and with my last shaver, I cleaned it every three months, which was really bad for the shaver. With this self-cleaning module, I get a fresh-smelling, clean shaver every three days. One downside is that the thing is really loud when cleaning, since the shaver vibrates while the cleaning solution is passed through the shaver head.
In terms of shaving, the shaver does an excellent job, although you'd probably have to make a few passes at those tough spots under your chin and look in the mirror to see that you haven't left any strays untouched (I did that once and was so embarrassed to go to work, since there's this unshaven patch I did not catch!). I think my face got used to the shaver in about two weeks. Shaving usually takes me about 2-3 minutes. One other downside to this shaver is the trimmer. I don't think it works! The other guy said to hold it 90 degrees to get it to work, so I'll try doing that, but so far, it has been ineffective in making that crisp, clean, after-the-barbershop trim.
Some of you might be worried about the shaver being a gimmick for you to buy a lot of cleaning cartridges. Don't worry about that, because I think for about $8.95 (well at Wal-mart) I got two of the refills. One of those refills last me about three months, so it's not really a gimmick for you to buy the cartridges at all. But if you want to be pessimistic, you can think why you would want to pay $5 for a cartridge of alcohol when you can buy over-the-counter rubbing alcohol for $1 at Walgreen's. Well, it doesn't smell as nice though! I don't mind paying them the cartridges so that my shaver can be automatically cleaned!
