Philips Nivea Coolskin HS8020 Moisturizing Rotary Shaving System (Personal Care)

Good, not great, electric shaver I don't normally use an electric shaver but seeing as they can speed up a pretty tiresome job every morning I thought I'd go back to them. The Philips Nivea shaver does have some very nice plus points. For one it's not that expensive, shavers coming in at £100 or near it were far too much for my budget. Secondly the contour shaped heads work better at not irritating. This one also has a unique design for moisturising the face and is waterproof (something I wished my previous one was, after it broke). However for it's plus points it does have a few bad ones. It has a habit of missing hairs. I have, on occasion, had to use my Gillette just to get a totally clean shave. Sadly this happens more with longer facial hair. It also needs almost constant moisturising so it doesn't drag, which is very annoying as it uses up the refill very quickly. For the money though, and for when I use it (travelling when needing a fast shave) it does the trick to fair degree. I would recommend that if you're after a good shaver to use all the time then this possibly isn't the best. For those that want something to use on a business trip or on vacation then this is perfect.

Not the best I bought this shaver after my previous Philishave died. I should have known better. I seem to have very quick growing hair. I can shave in the morning, and by that evening I can shave again. This shaver (and the previous model I had) both had a problem with this. I often get missed hairs, especially around my jawline and Adam's apple. The head on this style of shaver seem unable to trim correctly in such areas, for all the fact that they're flexible. Couple this with missed/quickly growing hairs, and I find that I often need to wet shave to clean up, which negates the point of using this shaver in the first instance. If I shave twice a day, it's pretty good. But who wants to do that? Good points: 1] The shaving cream supplied does tend to take the burn out of shaving. 2] The shaver itself is nice and light, and easily cleaned under a running tap. I find it best to add a little liquid soap to give it a through clean. Bad points: 1] It's not obvious when the shaver needs charging/is fully charged. As soon as the shaver is put onto the charger, the LED glows green. Does this mean it's charged? Is it still charging? I have no idea. A flashing LED while charging would have been a lot more helpful. 2] The heads can't cope very well at all with longer hairs. If one is missed, that's it. It will never get picked up again, no matter how many times you scrub at it. 3] The open design means that hair ends up down your front and on the floor. There's nothing to stop it going everywhere. 4] The slim design makes it slightly awkward to grip. I don't have especially big hands, but I do feel sometimes like I'm holding a pencil. 5] You really need to push the shaver against your face. I find angling the heads away from my skin, so they're not completely touching it, helps a bit. All told, I wouldn't buy another one.

10/10 This is the best electric razor I've owned. Used in the shower it gives an exceptional shave - well recommended!

Adequate shaver with weaknesses First of all, this shaver takes a little getting used to but my skin settled down after about 10 days. I get a pretty close shave having learnt to not push it too hard and just relax. Now the weaknesses: 1) 12 months anticipated In-built redundancy on shaver head - HS85 2) Gel cartridge redundancy of 6 months 3) Nivea gel expensive With 1 above starting at > GBP25, I suspect the annual costs for running this shaver stands at about GBP30-40 if you follow Philips's guidelines. Don't be fooled by the advertisers into thinking you are buying 3 HS85 units, as they often use the three head fact to con. Added to which: 4) The shaver is cheaply built IMO and will not survive a fall from sink height onto a hard tiled surface. What's annoying is the consumerist philosophy which ignores sustainability. I wouldn't mind paying for the annual extras if the unit was built solidly in the first place. Philips don't seem to care that this unit is of poor build quality. 5) Cheap and nasty charger which relies on the weight of the shaver to sit properly on a shelf. Overall, nice shaver for my bristles and skin characteristics, but way too many flaws and expensive to run over the year. BIC throwaways might be less satisfying, but certainly much, much cheaper

Very good... for an electric shaver First things first. This is not as close as a wet shave. It isn't far off, but if you want to shave as close as possible this isn't it. I have been using this just about every day for a month now. I have been wet shaving for 10 years and was pretty fed up with it. Generally only shaved one day in two as I couldn't be bothered. I had a Braun foil electric razor which cut very close but left me very red and actually cut me around difficult areas. I wondered if the moisturiser was just a gimmick but I think it significantly increases the pleasure of shaving. (Yes I now enjoy shaving!) I would definitely go for this feature again. The free 28ml moisturiser has lasted me about 5 weeks. Pros It is quiet It cuts close enough to keep me and the girlfriend happy I'm now happy to shave every day Battery lasts me 8-9 days Very small Cons It drags without moisturiser (or shaving foam or gel) It leaves the occasional stray hair (only 1-2 per 2 shaves - worse if hair is longer) Not as close as wet shave Need the stand to charge it so would need to take that on longer trips Takes about the same amount of time as a wet shave