Norelco 8894 XL Spectra shaver Limited Edition, includes Automatic Charging stand with clock, 8894XL
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Norelco 8894 XL Spectra shaver Limited Edition, includes Automatic Charging stand with clock, 8894XL
Customer Review: Initial reactions
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been using this razor for a couple of weeks, have loged about 87 minutes and it is going strong. There is little doubt that it will romp through 100 minutes in style. It is pretty much what I had been led to expect. SPEED--The only thing slower than an old Norelco is 'stop'. The speed was significantly improved by the newer line, specifically the 5821XL. The Spectra is even faster, however psychologically, it seems like it could be lumbering along. Perhaps this is due to the razor being very quiet. It just seems a bit slower than my Grundig Avantgarde, but it isn't. Actually, it seems to get the job done about as quickly as my Panasonic Wet-Dry, which is faster than the wind.
CLOSENESS--It gives the illusion of not delivering a shave closer than the Grundig, but it does. In fact, my neck began feeling sensitive immediately due to the closeness (head pressure) of the shave. I completely acclimated after a week and this no longer is a problem. I probably should have put the razor on a more gentle setting but I just set it to N (normal...for the closest shave)and went about business. There is a 9 position setting that seems a bit over-hyped to me. I assume there are subtle differences, but after a short time, you will settle upon a setting and go from there. The wheel that sets this is almost impossible to read without a magnifying glass is not the most user-friendly thing I have seen, but in the long run is no big deal.
ERGONOMIC FEEL OF RAZOR--Excellent. The thumb naturally falls directly over the recessed electronic on-off switch.
DISPLAYS--Gives you elapsed time display of current minutes used as well as an overall display of remaining minutes is a very easy to read format. Occasionally a visual logo of a fosset appears that indicates when you should clean your razor under running water. This feature, called an 'Automatic Cleaning Indicator' seems to be hap-hazzard at best. There does not seem to be any correlation between amount of debris contained within the hair chamber and the display. Actually, just open the hair chamber (quick release button at the base of the head complex flips up the assembly) and give a quick blow after each shave and all returns to squeeky clean without having to resort to the Chineese water torture for the quick rinse off. Can't shave in wet, but cleaning is much quicker and easier to accomplish than for any other shaver I have owned, save for the Panasonic W/D.
PROTECTIVE COVER--Plastic, as per the industry. At best, they tend to .... This is not much better. Oh, it doesn't fall off all the time as does the Remmington Interceptor, but needs to be placed in a certain manner. There are 3 grippers on the cover. The slightly widest one goes to the back...that is, if you want a reasonable fit. I overcame this by puting a red mark on the obease one. Head covers are a big deal to me. That is what I like about the rather over-priced Grundig (built in and rolls into position).
TRIMMER--What can I say? It is a Norelco. You shave near your sideburns at your own risk. The good news however, is that the built in trimmer seems to get the job done better than most. The downside is that with other more conventional razors, we tend to do most of the dirty work during the shave proper, thus relegating the built in trimmer (worthless on so many makes) to a lesser usage.
RELIABILITY--Can't say after only a few weeks. Quien Sabe?, but if it is similar to other Norelco's, and I don't see why not, it should be very good. Certainly much better than the Panasonic line (especially lLinears)that sometimes die unpredictably. Once down for the count, they can't be repaired. If not under warranty, one is dead meat. The Spectra has a 2 year warranty coupled with a 60 day money-back guarantee (whatever that means...shipment costs, delays, etc.).
BOTTOM LINE--It seems well worth the money. I didn't give it a '5' because I don't view any razor as being worthy. I am still looking for my absolute favorite, the Eltron Universal to return to the market. Not as fast as some...a lousy trimmer, but man is it good to your face (provided you use the gold foil which has not been produced for many years). Not to be confused with the newer Eltrons, which are not even better (at least to me) than a Braun.
Addenda: It is now slightly over 1 month of usage. All is exactly as I found it initially. I have drained down to zero on the display on two separate occasions. Suggest you do that in order to properly condition the batteries. A full charge for me is aprox. 103 minutes. The shave is perhaps the most gentle of all my electric razors. Speed seems to be more than adequate.
Customer Review: GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS
Summary: 3 Stars
Follow up 7 WEEKS - OK, I like it better than at first. The trick listed later about running for two hours with the heads open to run the battery down, then full recharge seems to have worked. No further problems with battery, charge or life. Heads are still very, very nice. The washout feature is the best part of the whole deal. Excellent and comfortable shave, but very expensive and should have been better.FOLLOW-UP: 1 WEEK
My mistake - I guess the battery IS L-ion instead of Ni-Cd. Don't know where I thought I got the bad info. Oh well. Still, the point is even MORE important in that case; this system seems to be buggy. Surely somebody at Philips knows enough about battery tech to have helped the shaver division do better than this! If not, should have got a bit of help from Nokia. Out of all the cameras, camcorders, cell phones, Palms, computers etc. that I use that have L-ion batteries, this is the "shakiest." I'll post again to follow up on the "conditioning" cycle I tried. So far it seems to be working better.
FIRST REVIEW
I have used various Norelco rechargable triple header shavers for the last 30+ years. I have been impressed that each model I purchased has been an improvement over the previous one. Well, maybe that isn't the case this time. My last shaver was a 5885 XL that I have used more than three years. It was getting pretty "tired" and I was looking forward to an upgrade. Hmmm.
THE GOOD NEWS
SHAVING EXPERIENCE - this is the best shaving machine of any type I have every used. I can shave as close as diligent effort with a good blade razor. I think the little holes in the head along with the familiar slots make a big difference. You have to go slowly to get really close, but it is comfortable and does a great job. Top notch performance from the head system.
CLEANING- the ability to clean the razor under the faucet is a big plus. I open the head and rinse under hot tap water after every use, then leave the head open and let it air dry. I disassembled the heads once for more thorough cleaning. I expect once a month would be plenty often for this since you can do a quick, easy clean every day. This really is a nice feature, and I suspect it keeps the cutters working better, too.
NOT MADE IN CHINA!
THE BAD NEWS:
BATTERY!
I charged overnignt before first use. First few charges, I only got about 20 minutes shaving before the machine shut down. When applying a little extra cutting pressure, the shaver would unexpectedly stop, and the "minutes left" readout would go to zero. This happened several times. Plugging in may or may not get you any more shaving. Last time it did this, I recharged fully, then with the head open, let the motor run for about 2 hours until the battery was fairly well (I assume) discharged. Then, I fully recharged it. I hope this "conditions" the NiCd battery. So far it seems to be working better. Still, this is pretty sad for a shaver in this price range. For the money Norelco gets for this thing, it should have intelligent L-ion battery technology in it!
HANDLE ERGONOMICS
Not bad, but a step backwards from the 5885.
FANCY DISPLAY?
Who sold who a bill of goods on this deal? There is no more information than on pevious models; it is in a less usable format (minutes remaining instead of shaves remaining) and you have TO TURN THE SHAVER ON to see the current charge status. The stupid display is blank until you run the shaver. On previous LCD models, you could ALWAYS read the display. If Norelco REALLLY REALLY thinks they need to use this LED display, at least put a button on the shaver to turn on the display without having to run the shaver! This is dimbulb design of the first order.
CHARGING
Past models didn't need a "wall wart" charger. They directly plugged into a range of voltages etc. without any kind of wall transformer/power converter dealie. This was nice since all older Norelco cords worked and they were not special. The new "James Bond" shaver is a big step backwards since it now has a "wall wart." I expect there is actually a good reason for this; the wash out under the faucet feature probably requires low voltage to the shaver head rather than line voltage. If that is the case, it is worth the trade off, I guess. Still, the older system was more convenient.
SUMMARY/RECOMMENDATION:
Shaving heads are great. The rest of the machine is not Norelco's best effort. Buy the cheapest shaver that incorporates the Norelco SPECTRA heads and save your money on the "100" minute batteries and the lame readout.
Customer Review: Defective, but shaved fairly well
Summary: 3 Stars
I have fairly sensitive skin and have tried a variety of methods to shaving, none of which have been satisfactory. Among the multi-blade razors, I found the Schick Quattro to be the best. In combination with a fine shaving brush and soap, it worked pretty well. But it was too time consuming, and rather messy. For years, I'd been a Braun electric razor user and had been using the Braun Syncro for the past 2 years. But it was rather rough on my face, even after replacing the blades, loud, and cumbersome to clean. Then I discovered the Norelco Spectra line, which seemingly had all the features I'd been looking for. I'll just sum up what features mattered to me and how I rate them.1. Shaving Closeness: Good
Norelco recommends 3 weeks of exclusive use for your face the adjust to the shave. I'd been testing out an older Norelco Quadra razor I had, so though I only used the Spectra for a week, I think my face was adjusted fine. It did a fairly decent job, though I still had to stretch my chin area to get the closest shave. But for the upper lip area, I still can't figure out how to get it to shave as close as a foil shaver, like the Braun.
2. Comfort: Very Good
My old Norelco Quadra used to literally pull the hair and it would hurt! The Braun was abrasive and I'd often need to put on some lotion afterwards. But I thought the Spectra was very comfortable and did not irritate my sensitive skin. However, I could not tell much of a difference in the 7 "Comfort" settings, even when I went from the highest to the lowest setting in comparing this feature.
3. Ease of Cleaning: Excellent
Does it get any better than just rinsing the heads with water? The Braun system of cleaning is just plain inefficient and costly. Why keep a hideous cleaning stand around and pay for the cleaning solution, when you can just rinse with water?
4. Display: Excellent
Once you get past the wow factor of how nice the polymer LED looks, it's not much more than just a simple indicator of how long your battery will last. The other indicators I don't find as useful, though some might.
5. Noise: Excellent
Compared to the Braun, it's like shaving in stealth mode. I never realized that electric razors didn't all sound like gas lawn mowers.
6. Battery Life: Undeterminable
The major reason I decided to get "James Bond's Shaver Of Choice" over the less expensive model just below it, was that the 8894XL has 100 minute shaving time, as opposed to the 70 minute shaving time of the 8890XL. As it turns out, the unit I received is defective. I charged it as the manual suggests and after 4-5 charging cycles, I couldn't get the razor to operate for more than 6 minutes before dying.
My choice for electric razors is Norelco, easily. But I don't plan to replace my defective unit with another 8894XL. I don't find the differences between it and the 8890XL to be enough to justify the cost difference (only thirdy dolores on Amazon actually). But considering my 8894XL had charging issues, I don't feel like going through another return, if I get another defective one. As soon as I receive my credit, I will probably order the 8890XL.
Customer Review: Spectra is the one to get...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been delaying writing this review of the Spectra 8894xl as I really wanted to use it for a month or more before I commented on it. I'm happy to report that I'm loving it! The only real weakness is the long hair trimmer as it's marginal at best.I'm completely convinced that the Norelco rotary floating head system is far superior then the linear blade foil systems found on other razors like the Panasonic and Braun. I've owned them all. This is not to say they don't work well, but in my experience they are more biting and do a less then adequate job in the neck area. You can also get a circular rhythm with the rotary that you can't get with the linear. Some people complain there is less control with the Norelco, especially around the side burns. This is true, but I've found that once you get used to navigating the Norelco it becomes second nature.
One thing that threw me off before the purchase was a complaint I read about this razor having slots and holes on the foils heads. More specifically, the complaint was that it took a longer time to shave with the Spectra then it does with the Reflex action and Advantage. I can't comment on the Reflex action but I can comment on the Advantage as I own one. There is some truth to this! The difference is the Advantage has many more slots and more blades as compared to the Spectra. The Spectra has 9 blades per head for a total of 27 for the three heads. The claim is that this gives it a more open structure and allows for a sharper blade angle that lifts whiskers sooner and higher for a closer shave. The Advantage on the other hand has 15 blades per head for a total of 45 blades. That equates to more coverage - 60% to be exact. This combined with the fact the Advantage foil has all slots explains why you can plow through more whiskers in less time. However, this notwithstanding, the spectra may take a little longer to shave but the configuration gives a much closer shave. The stubble slots also do tend to take care of the shorter whiskers by catching them and allowing the blades to cut them.
Now a word on battery life and the LED; the battery life of 100 minutes is amazing, I've only had to charge the razor twice since I owned it. I'm a proponent of conditioning the battery by using the charge up until you really need to charge it. The LED is very cool as there is no more guessing about charge left and time used.
The nine settings on the Personal Comfort level setting is a nice touch, but I've been using the razor on the normal setting with great results. At first I did set it back a few notches which led to less irritation at first, but now that my face is used to it the N setting works well without irritation.
One other thing I've found that really improves the shave. Williams Lectric Shave Utlra Pre-Shave "GEL". This is non-greasy and much better then their oil based formula. It really, really makes a difference.
Customer Review: A Posh Work Horse
Summary: 4 Stars
The bottom line: a stylish, easy-to-clean shaver that delivers more than one month of close shave at one charge, with a price.
The good:
- Very close and quiet shave: This is compared to Braun Syncro and previous less expensive Philips shavers that I owned. That said, being an Asian with less facial hair than my Caucasian counterparts, I have probably made it easier for the shaver;
- Extremely long batter life: I charged once for one hour and after one month it is still going. Factory specified battery time with one charge is 100 minutes. That is, you can have 25 days of shaving with one charge, assuming your average shaving time is about 4 minutes. The shaver is also operable with cord, should you forget to charge it before depleting the battery and it is chargeable by the stand or by the cord;
- Rinse clean to save time: You can wash off the cut hair bits, spray some ethanol and then air dry. With my previous Braun, I normally spent 10 minutes brushing and cleaning (I do not like the Syncro auto clean function. It worked initially but as you clean your shaver a few more times before changing the solution, the shaver foil and blade could be cross contaminated and cause skin infections for sensitive skins. And the maintenance costs of buying the solutions each month irritate as well). Now the cleaning time is down to 5 minutes;
- Large backlit display: It clearly shows remaining battery time and shaving time as well as indications for cleaning, even in the dark;
- Stylish with lacquer finish: Its shape provides a nice grip but can prove to be a challenge when trying to lay it stable on a flat surface. The stand even comes with a quartz clock!
The bad:
- Water residuals can make the inside of the heads and blades appear rusty very quickly (but from the outside it is not noticeable and there has been no regress in cutting performance so far).
- 3 independent small blades are difficult to hold while cleaning and take longer to clean;
- The hair trimmer can only work in the pulling direction. If you try to push it as you normally do with a trimmer, it will close and stop!
- The shape of the stand with 2 supporting branches does not make it easy to cradle the shaver;
- Not sure what the sensitive level adjustment is for. I have sensitive skin but I still have to use the most insensitive level to cut. I imagine that the less sensitive levels probably would not cut as well.
- Pricey, but you will get all the bells and whistles.