Review of Braun Activator 8585
Score: 95
Sub-Section: Miscellaneous
Date: Jul 2, 2006
I recently purchased the Braun Activator and I must say, this surpasses every expectation I had. I have never been a fan of electric razors. I have had several, and none of them every gave a close shave. In fact, they the closest thing they could do to a close shave, was to rip the hair out. Ouch. I was always left with redness and irritation. It took a while to do and always produced poor results. It got to the point where I would just use the sideburn/beard trimmer to trim my entire face, then using an actual razor. Then I got the Braun Activator. My face was never the same.
For starters, the Activator doesn't use the three circles that you rub on your face. I don't know what the shaving methods are called, but I it's not that one. Instead, it uses an adjustable, wide, rounded head, which can tilts to ensure that it is always perpendicular to your face. It also features a sideburn/beard trimmer which works as most do. Now, this may sound like 100 other electric razors that are on the market, but I assure you, this is 10x better.
The first time I used the Activator I hadn't shaved in a while and the hair was kind of long. Before I used the tilting head part, I used the sideburn trimmer to trim it down lower. I wanted it to cut the hairs, not rip them out. This took only a minute or so and got it to a much more workable length. I then turn the sideburn trimmer off and used the other part. What happened next, I could't believe.
I ran it over every inch of my face and this thing practically gave me a clean shave. I have never experienced such a clean and smooth shave with anything but a razor. The Activator, however, lived up to it's price tag and reputation. If I rubbed my face, I could tell that the hair was longer than it is after a razor, but not much at all. The appearance was that of a clean shave. My face seemed a little red afterward, but that went away quickly and after using it more and more, the redness was far less prominant.
One of the nice things about the Braun Activator, besides it's amazingly clean shave, is it's clean system. The charging unit has a built in automatic cleaning system which tells you if the razon needs to be cleaned or nowt. How it does this, I have no idea. Anyway, the process is simple, but takes a little while to complete. When you purchase the Activator, you are given one container of cleaning solution. Depending on how often you shave and how often you clean it, it will very. The unit will tell you when you need to replace. I have't timed the cleaning process, but I vaugely remember reading in the manual that it make take 1 hour. This isn't abig deal though because you simply do it once you are done with it. It will be charing and being cleaned at the same time. It said not to interupt the process, though I doubt you ever will have to. If you need to shave several times a day, then... Well, I don't know what, but that's definatelly not normal.
The battery life seemed good and took quite a while to run out. If you set it back in the charger when you are done, and have the charger plugged in, you should never be in that situation. The cord seemed a little short when using the razon while plugged into the wall, but perhaps my plug is just further than normal.
My only complaint about the Activator is the power cord. It's a circular/curled cord, and it really isnt very long. What makes it worse is that the head of the plug is kind of big and heavy. This, along with the rather short, stiff cord, can cause the plug to fall out. This might just be a loose socket that I have in my house, but either way, the power cord just doesn't cut it.
In any case, the Braun Activator proved to be an amazing product. The price was rather steep at $139.99, but it lived up to and surpassed it. If you don't think there is a different between a $29.99 electric razon and a $139.99 one, think again. The different is astonishing. If you do some browsing online, you may even find it cheap. I think they had it on special at Target a couple weeks after I bought mine, for only $79.99. May have been a price mistake, but I'm sure you can find it someplace for less than what I paid.
Unfortunately, I won't be using mine any time soon, as I have misplaced the power cable and can't charge it. Took the damn thing to Europe with me and now I don't know where it went.
UPDATE: Since writing this review, there is a new model available, the 8595. Judging by the difference on the Braun website, the only difference is an "Interactive LCD Panel" and it is a different color. Click here to see a chart of the differences between the two models.
To visit the official website at Braun.com.