Braun Series 5 (8985) Men's Shaver

Razor works fairly well. Its nice having the self cleaning option but it does not shave as close as a blade (of course what elect will.) Battery lasts a long time and it is quieter than the older versions.

This shaver looks great and cleans itself well, but it doesn't give a super close shave. I'm aware that electric shavers normally don't give a very close shave, but all the reviews and ads made this one out to be the messiah of all shavers so I expected more.

I have used manual razors all my life and thought I would give a good quality electric razor a shot. I haven't given an electric razor a try in about 8 years and figured they have improved by now. This electric razor reminds me of the experience I had a long time ago but worse. It's terrible at cutting hair and irritates my skin far worse then a manual razor. The instructions say to give your face 2 to 3 weeks to "get used to the razor"... omg. I am not gonna go to work with razor burn and stubble on my face for 3 weeks. Braun, your razor should adapt to my skin, not my skin adapt to your razor.

I have two shavers, an older Norelco 8160XL and a new Braun 8985. The Norelco provides a much closer shave and shaving time therefore shorter. The shaving head in the Braun is more flexible, which gives the Braun a slight edge on surfaces of your skin that are not even. However the Norelco is more sturdy and does not bend away when you try to shave an area. Thus on your cheeks and most of the neck the Norelco does a better job. I have to replace the Norelco's blades about every 12 months. The Braun states that blades should be replaced every 18 month, so this seems to give the Braun a slight edge.
The cleaning station is nice, but has one big disadvantage. If you put the shaver in the cleaning station it gets hot. So if you have to shave an area again because the shaver did a lousy job and you did not realize that, then you have to do it with a hot shaver.
Overall I am less then happy with the product. The shaver comes with a 60 day return policy. So keep the package and you can return the product to Braun.

I am 26 years old and I have been shaving primarily with Braun since I started shaving. I had Braun (model 6520), which I got for my 18th birthday, and it lasted me almost 8 years. Throughout the 8 years, I changed foil only once. The old model gave me a shave whose closeness was competitive to manual razors.

Finally I decided to get this new model. While it's not perfect, it comes very close to it. It gives a closer shave than my older model, provides a softer feel while shaving and does it faster. It still leaves room for improvement, such as providing a better shave in the neck area, but its performance is still much improved over older models.

I cannot say that I shaved with many good manual razors, like Mach III or others, the ones I did shave with, didn't actually provide a better shave than this electric model. Of course the big plus with electric is that it doesn't cut my skin like razors do. Moreover, it's faster and without any mess.

It should be noted that face should be dry prior to shaving, or else shave will not be nearly as close. All in all, it's a great product in terms of performance, reliability and comfort.