Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a former Norelco user. I shaved with this brand for 20 + years, but got tired of replacing batteries every 2 years (old tech nickel cad batteries). I have used Braun for the past 10 years with good results and never had to replace a battery. 9 months ago I got a Braun Series 9. Not thrilled, so I decided to try the Norelco S9000 Prestige. The Braun provided a good (not great) shave, but more irritation than the Series 7. I was excited to go back to a rotary shaver and a Norelco. The S9000 arrived and immediately I was impressed with the workmanship, feel, and apparent quality. Great little machine. Very quiet and smooth. Just one problem. On my face it is simply a lousy shaver. No matter how many circular movements, no matter how many times I went over the same area, no matter how long it just didn't cut closely or comfortably. I could get a very fast shave, but not close. If I tried to get close I just ended up with a face that felt as if it had been dragged across the sidewalk. Gel, pre-shave, dry, no matter. The final day I shaved with it I took 2 minutes on my face and neck, then spent three full minutes just on my upper lip. Never mind that if not careful it would grab the leading edge of my lip, but in 3 full minutes of shaving that small area I still could not get close. I looked after shaving that I had the classic 5 o'clock shadow. I know you're supposed to try for 21 days, but there is no way I would have made it that far. Each day I felt worse than the day before. As a comparison I purchased a Panasonic Arc5 and it was sooooooo much nicer and closer on the very first shave. Shaving my upper lip dry with the Arc5 was far more comfortable and closer that the Norelco with shaving gel. I honestly believe that a more inexpensive Norelco shaver with the old lift-and-cut cutters would be a better shaver. The trimmer worked well, but changing heads didn't feel great and I wonder about the durability. As far as value, $280 for a shaver that doesn't even come with a cleaning/charging station or even a charging stand is absurd. Needless markup and very dissapointing. I really wanted to like this shaver. I am returning it tomorrow.