Everything you hate about beard trimming is solved!

I happily unwrapped this product from under the tree this year for Christmas and have done a little research as to which product to write my review under. The Philips T780 in the United States is identical to the Philips QT4045 in Canada and that is the product I have.

Last April I decided to grow a bit of a beard and within a few weeks realized I needed to maintain this beard if it was going to continue to look good. I set out to buy the cheapest beard trimmer on the market and now, eight months later, have graduated to something that takes the hassle and annoyance out of beard maintenance - the Philips T780/QT4045.

Out of the Box:
No assembly required. The trimmer comes with a cleaning brush and the power adapter for charging the battery. The unit does not come pre-charged and the manual says it will not run off the mains -- meaning if you're battery is dead and you need to trim quick, you're out of luck for up to 10 hours. The trimmer is extremely simple to use and seems well built at first glance. I will touch more in this later.

I would've liked to see more come out of the box. A carry or travel case would've been appreciated, but wasn't there.

Charging and Battery Life:
A full charge takes 10 hours on this product. This charge is supposed to last for 50 minutes of trimmer use. So far I haven't been able to compare as I've only actually used it for less than 5 minutes in 2 trims since Christmas.

A minor issue that I did notice in the manual it distinctly says that you cannot run the unit from the plug if you so desired. All it takes is a little planning ahead and my history with Philips battery life has been quite good so I'm not too worried about this.

Telescopic Comb Attachment:
One of my favourite features of this trimmer is the removable comb attachment. With a quick twist of the adjustment band, you can adjust the trimmer to have multiple lengths to trim to. I used to have to fuss with installing the comb attachments on my old trimmer and had trouble remembering which length to use. There is a small mechanical "ZOOM" display on the unit to show you what setting you are set to and the user manual outlines what lengths those are. I trim my beard to a "7". This is so simple to leave set and its there each time I need it.

The Vacuum - Does it work?!
The most exciting thing about this trimmer is the vacuum to ensure a quick easy shave or trim without the hassle of cleaning up the wash basin when you're done. On a scale of 1 to 10 - 10 being best, I'll give this trimmer a 9. The user manual 'guarantees' a clean wash basin after you're completed using the trimmer. While it is close, it isn't perfect. It does keep those pesky hairs from shooting all over your counter though, so really the only ones you need to worry about are the few hairs that fall directly into the sink. I used to shave for 3 minutes, and spend 5 minutes cleaning the sink. While it doesn't vacuum up every single hair, I now only spend about 10 seconds cleaning. JOB WELL DONE Philips!

Emptying the vacuum chamber is a very simple process as well.

Maintenance:
There is little or no maintenance to be done on the trimmer. While other trimmers will have you oiling the blades every few months, no oiling is necessary as part of Philips' 'steel wave technology'

Build Quality:
I've never known Philips to put out a poor quality product. This unit is no exception. The parts and switches etc all seem to be of high quality. One minor gripe is the seeming fragility of the comb attachment. It will be fine as long as not misused. Something to consider if you have children in the house. I would imagine that dropping the unit or other miscellaneous misuse will render the comb attachment useless.

Noise:
I was expecting a unit with a vacuum to be a little louder than it is. There is a distinctive hum to the units operation but overall it doesn't make any more noise than my old trimmer did so I am pleasantly surprised by this!