Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This review comes after about a year and a half of regular use. Granted, my thoughts and $3.00 will get you a cup of coffee, but here are my impressions. First, with this shaver, Phillips redesigned their vacuum trimmer. The one I had previously I was very happy with. The hair was collected in a separate chamber. Once you were done, you opened a little door over the garbage can and dumped the hair into the garbage. The only reason I replaced it is, after years of use, the plastic catch which kept the door closed wore down, and I eventually had to use a rubber band to keep it closed. By the time I decided to replace it, they had discontinued that model, and replaced it with this one. This model does what it's supposed to do fairly well, that is, shaves your face hair and collects "most" of the hair into a chamber. However, I was surprised at the redesign. They relocated the collection chamber so that it is now at the top of the unit. Unfortunately, the chamber shares space with the bottom portion of the clipper unit, where it connects with a rotor that drives the clipping action. Over a period of time, hair collects around and in the moving parts. The brushes they supply you don't give you the reach to clean the chamber down to the bottom, thus you always have moving parts covered in hair. When I first got the unit, there was some lubricant where the two parts (bottom of clipper and the driving shaft) met, and the hair was attracted to the lubricant like flies on honey. Eventually, the lubricant wore away. Cleaning over all has always been a pain, compared to the old design. To clean this new unit, you have to remove the clippers, tap the clippers against the side of the garbage can to clean them, then tap the shaver against the side of the can, to do the same. In addition to the questionable design, there is a plastic head which slides down over the clippers and locks into place. This "length adjuster" then slides up and down in incremental clicks, via a dial at the bottom, and allows you to adjust the length of the cut. Both the clipper head, and the plastic adjustment head that fits over the clippers, use flimsy plastic arms to lock into place on the top of the shaver. Not too long ago, one of the plastic arms on the clipper head broke off, making it difficult to remove the clippers so you can clean the hair chamber. I am now forced to remove the plastic head and the clippers (which now stick together) as a unit, whenever I want to just use the clippers for close shaving. I have reached the point where I now dread having to trim my beard with this unit. Its a task getting the plastic head off because of the broken arm, and the two pieces are stuck together until I lift them both out as a unit. Doing so is awkward and, even when being careful, often results in getting hair all over the place. I'm now shopping around for another replacement, but it won't be one of these shavers. To the folks at Phillips, your older design, with the separate chamber, was much better than the new design. Why you thought it was a good idea to have moving parts covered in hair particles, baffles me. The plastic arms on the clipper and length adjuster, are so flimsy, its a miracle they didn't break long before now. I would suggest your designers go back to the drawing board, and come up with a better, and sturdier design.