Norelco 8170XL Electric Shaver

Norelco 8170XL Electric Shaver

I've owed this for about 6 months now. Brought it at Costco for about $75 to replace my old Norelco Quandra 6885. This is the same model as the XLCC but without the cleaning stand.

The Norelco XL models are the newer ones with the additional cutting areas in the blades, which I hoped would give a closer shave. Also my old shaver was about 5 years old, so I wanted a new one. And with new blades costing about $30, it seemed to make sense to trade up to a new model.

This new model can be cleaned by running water through the heads, something that you weren't supposed to do with the older Norelco models - but that never stopped me and I didn't have any problem for doing this with the old model. The 8170XL unit is relatively easy to clean. You can use the included mini-brush and/or run it under water.

Th 8170XL is lighter in the hand than the 6885. It cuts smoother and does give a better shave than the 6885, at least when it is fully charged, probably due to the additional cutting area in the blades. The action is smoother than the 6885 and the blades roll across my face easily without pulling on the skin. I have yet to nick myself with this razor.

The 6885 had a digital countdown timer to when a recharge was necessary. The 8170XL has 5 LED lights. However, the 8170XL doesn't have the reserve battery capacity that the 6885 did. When the 6885 reached zero minutes of time, I still had about 15 minutes of shaving time remaining. The 8170XL has no reserve capacity at all. When you reach the last LED, you are literally at the end of the battery power and the shaver will stop suddenly when the power is used up. Also, the 8170XL's speed clearly begins to slow down by the time you are down to the 3rd LED and it gets progressively slower when only the 2nd and 1st LED's are lit. The shave quality also declines as speed decreases. I assume this is just one of those examples of a manufacturer cutting corners to save a few pennies. I've learned to recharge after 1 or 2 shaves when I am on the last LED.

The 8170XL did not come with any kind of stand, so I used the old stand from the 6885, which fits reasonably well. This is a bit strange since Norelco says that the unit should stand up so any water that entered the shaver during cleaning can run out.

I would rate this unit as just average, primarily due to the decline in shaving power as the unit discharges. If the power were better managed with more reserve, I would give this shaver a B rating.

----Updated Oct152006----
I removed the section about the power adaptor which I mixed up with another product. Sorry about that!

I also updated and rephrased the rest of the text a bit.