Panasonic ES8109S Vortex Wet/Dry Shaver with Nano Technology and HydraClean System

I bought this for my husband after reading extensive reviews on all shavers. He loves it and it looks nice sitting on the counter 24/7.

Replaced my Braun shaver w/ this unit and am very satisfied with the performance, battery life of the shaver and cleaning unit. This is the first shaver that I purchased with a cleaning unit so I can't compare it with others but for the most part it does what it should. I just wished it had a traveling case. Also be sure not to pour water in the cleaning unit. Overall I highly recommend this shaver and am planning on getting another one for my father for Christmas.

Here's the deal - I have probably the most unusual, odd, difficult, challenging, oily, dry, sensitive skin on earth & the hairs on my face to go with it. I hate it, but oh well, those are the facial cards I have been dealt. I hated shaving with blades because I would have razor burn and ingrown hairs galore. The last 4 years I was using the James Bond Norelco Spectra (wouldn't Bond have a shaver that also doubled as a flamethrower or something?) Anyway...it was okay, it did the job but my neck area was a warzone. This wasn't all much better than a razor in dealing with irritation, burn and ingrown hairs. I was due to buy replacement heads for $30 bucks a pop, and luckily for me I decided there must be a better electric out there by now. There is. and for a mere $75 with the coupons on Amazon, I'm soooo glad I found this badboy.
Yes, it's slightly louder than my Norelco. Annoying? a tad...but hardly an issue. It cuts WELL. A 13,000 RPM motor will make anything loud. But it works very good on my neck - which is CRITICAL for my weird hair & the cleaning is perfect. Panasonic very well could be the most underrated electronic brand ever - I tip my cap to you, Pana. Braun wants $215+ for an inferior shaver? Ummm yeah...NO. The Norelco is far overpriced also for the mediocre job it does. The shavers do look nice, but as we all know, when it comes to shavers, looks plays only a small role. It's all about performance. And the Panasonic certainly does that - performs. For $75 (use the Panasonic and Bill me later coupons)...or even with the $115 MRP price drop - this is well worth it. I love it.

I bought this shaver a week ago and love it. I have a very tough, fast-growing (and increasingly grey) beard and this shaver does an excellent job. It is a replacement for a Braun 8585, which performed well, but was not as good as this one.

As for the noise, this shaver is actually quieter than most electrics I've owned. I don't understand all of the negative comments about the noise at all. It has a higher pitch than my previous shavers, but that is not a problem. An electric shaver is going to make some noise, period.

The cleaning mode works very well, and again it is quieter than any other self-cleaning shaver I've owned. The cartridges are less expensive than the Braun, as well (about 11 bucks with the subscribe-and-save program with Amazon), and they are less messy.

The shape of this shaver is very different from the Brauns, but it took only a day or two to get used to it.

My only real complaint is about the owner's manual. It was obviously translated by someone who's first language was definitely not English. I'm an engineer by trade, and I can make neither heads nor tails of the chart that explains the cleaning/drying/charging cycles. I just drop the shaver in the cleaner, press the selector button to get the right lights to come on, and I let it do its thing.

Overall, I highly recommend this shaver. Panasonic is a great brand, and I expect a long life from this one.

My Facial Background: I have very sensitive skin, I've never been able to shave more than once a week due to skin irritation because I would get those water pimples that would make the area painful if I shaved against the grain with a razor or by using those electric razors from the 90's. Luckily I never suffered from Razor burn or Ingrowns. Due to that I learned to shave never going against the grain with a razor and that has let me shave my face twice a week problem free, if I shaved more than twice... skin irritation.

Then I recieved this bad boy as a Father's day gift and now after a couple of months usage I have to say I'm pretty impressed; electric razors have come a long way. I won't say this is a miracle razor, because it isn't, but it allows me to shave my face against the grain for a much closer shave than I was getting with my razor with the grain. That now allows for a smoother feeling and I look better til my next shave. I also have noticed that I can shave my face more frequently as well, every other day bringing it to 3 times a week instead of the 2 before hand. Altho I will admit that I also use Neutrogena after shave lotion which helps out greatly.

What I mean by no miracle razor, is that if you have sensitive skin, it isn't going to cure it. It has allowed me an extra shave a week and my face feeling smoother than my previous method, but I still can not shave every single day because I will get irritated. I'm not knocking the razor, it's awesome, just making sure you are realistic in your expectations.

The benefits this electric has provided me has made me retire my razor permanently. I defintely recommend giving this razor a try, especially if you tried electrics in the past and thought they were garbage, times have changed my friends!