Customer Reviews

Philips Norelco 1059X Arcitec Men's Electric Shaver, White

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Goldbox offer (half price) suckered me into buying this model, despite recently having happily switched away from Norelco to the Braun 360 Complete. One of the advantages of the Braun was the much better handling of longer whiskers as the occasional 1-week-slump generates. Hoping that the hype of the new shaving heads resolved this issue, I eagerly tried out the Arcitec. It's still completely overwhelmed and no competition for the Braun at all. For the daily shave, the Arcitec 1059X is quite able to provide a reasonable shave.

The design may be the main reason to get this model as the shape and the cool display are likely to grace every bathroom. It's modernistic, yet understated. Yes, this is one of the best looking shavers on the market! The shaving head is fairly flexible and adapts to contours well, As with any dry shaver I tried so far, it won't match a wet blade, but it's not bad either. In fact, with restricting the whiskers to a one or two day length, the results are fairly comparable to the Braun 360 which so far yielded the best results for me. Then again, past that point, the Braun is a clear winner loosing only to a wet blade (again).

Handling of the Arcitec is reasonable and style concerns certainly overrode function, but still to a subtle degree that's acceptable albeit not perfect. Battery life is excellent and the charging stand has actual suction cups to make it easier to keep the base planted on the counter top. There is also a travel case included which doubles as a charging cradle. (The power supply plugs into the case and contacts allow the razor to be charged when plugged in.)

Overall mostly a cool design and quite functional for the daily chore. However, if you're less diligent with your shaving schedule it's hopelessly overwhelmed with the longer (and thicker) whiskers. The lift'n'cut feature is standard for Norelco and reasonably effective. However, it also irritates the skin a bit more.

First the good news...

This razor is much better than the reflex action. It is almost as good as a real blade but still not quite. I believe it may be the only head design that good on
the market which is why I rated it 5 stars.

Now the not so good news...

I bought it as a gold box special. If you pay full price you may need a second job
for the privilege of shaving! It feels mucho cheesey when compared with the older
razors. The design is attractive and flashy but it is over designed to the point
that it is actually less convenient to use. My example would be that you must open
each head individually to clean it and I wonder how many times this can be done before one of the heads breaks off.

My advice is to keep and eye out for a deal or wait until your old reliable shaver
fails and then bite the bullet. I am use to Norelco gouging me on the price of the
heads but now they are gouging on the price of the razor as well. When buying remember it is the type of head the razor uses that matters. The flashy crap just gives them an excuse to further increase their profit margin.

I've lusted after this thing since it appeared on the market a couple of years ago. Amazon's recent Gold Box deal on it made further sales resistance futile. Wish I could get all enthusiastic about scoring a great piece of shaver technology at a great price, but sadly, the only great thing there was, was the price. Oh, it's competent enough. The three-track cutter heads make short work of a day or two's worth of beard, but for some reason when the little guys get longer than that, you're faced with quite a lot of work to mow 'em all down. Then there's the wide strip of real estate that surrounds each cutter that makes those buggers under your nose nearly unreachable without a serious attack on them while your nose suffers the collateral damage. Now all that would be enough to take off a star or two, but there are a couple of other things that Norelco has really hosed on this thing. First is the recharging operation. For crying out loud, just give me a cord to plug in the shaver and into the wall!! No. That's too simple for Norelco. They seem to have this inordinate fascination with stands and holders. There are two and you have to use one to charge the thing. They're big, obnoxious, and take up a lot of drawer or counter real estate. The "travel holder" is GIGANTIC and looks like a sex toy from the planet Zork. No one in their right mind would EVER pack this thing in a suitcase! What were they thinking? Then there's the cleaning. Opening each of the three fragile thin plastic head holders is irritating, difficult, and dirty since it's impossible to do without clippings coating your fingers. I'll be amazed if I don't break at least one of them within a year. The capacity to hold clippings is VERY small too. If you wait too long, with too much to mow, they're going to fill up and stop cutting. Even tapping the thing to dislodge the clippings is tricky since at least one of the doors will close and the contents will fall back into the cutter. The trimmer is difficult to deploy with the small recessed slide "switch" and its versatility is severely compromised by the cutter looming just over it. The head cover is fussy to install. No simple snap-on like the older models, this has to slide, and you have to get it aligned just so or you risk dragging something hard over the sensitive cutter surface.

On the plus side, it DOES take care of those difficult concave facial surfaces pretty well. The LiOn power seems to run forever without slowing down. It is light and reasonably easy to handle with its new form factor.

I am very unhappy with this razor. It looks great and like it would hug your face and give you a close shave. This is not true. I find it very difficult to get a complete shave, there are always hairs left. I had a norelco prior to this one and LOVED it. The old one was quieter and gave me a great shave, but not the Arcitec, lousy shave! I had intended to return it to Norelco under their 30 day guarantee, but forgot and missed the deadline. If you want a close shave buy something other than this

My wife bought me this Philips Norelco 1059X shaver last Christmas after complaining about my so called self cleaning Remington R1000 shaver. I can tell you that I always had issues getting the R1000 to shave under my nose well. I also had to still clean out the shaving head even with the fluid running through the R1000. The cheap China made pump motor died on the R1000 and Remington sent me a new shaver which turned into another piece of junk. When I first used this Norelco 1059X it got those missing hairs under my nose and after 5 months of using this, it still shaves very close as it flexes to the contour of your face very well. It's very comfortable to hold and handle while shaving. Cleaning this is one of the best things about it. You just flip up the 3 hinged shaving heads and rinse under the faucet. It's extremely clean and ready for the next use. Even an indicator shows up above the digital battery life indicator to remind you to wash it out which by the way only takes 10 seconds if that. I've used Norelco since I was old enough to shave as my Dad handed me his used one when I was 14. That was 40 years ago. Why I bought that Remington is beyond me.

Now here's the best story I can tell you about this shaver. I took a trip to the Philippines back in March. Out of habit, I packed the power cord and shaver as I always did with the old one. I left without the charging stand (my unit came with two types). Yep I was dumb for doing that I thought but the stored energy on this thing allowed me to shave every day I was there without a charge the entire 22 days I was gone. And it still had a charge for another day or two after I returned from that trip. I'm telling you this has to be the world's best Electric Shaver and it was purchased right here at Amazon.

I have found very few electric shavers that compare with a blade but this one is as close as I have found. It is also very easy to clean and comes with a stand up charger as well as a charging case. It is also very nice that Amazon had it on one of their one day specials so I also got a good deal on the price! Overall, I give the shaver an A-.

My experience so far is that this razor has many great attributes EXCEPT power. It takes me twice as long to complete a shave. Maybe the motor is smaller due to the compact size of the razor. I don't recommend this product.

user type: shave daily, fairly tough beard, especially in the neck area. Also shave head daily.

the good: easy to rinse clean, good accessories (travel charger/box is very convenient); the three heads can reach corners better because they are not laying on a flat plane but are "caved in" (but this can also be a problem, see below); very good "on-sale" price on Amazon;

the medium: shaves fairly well, but nothing better than the more traditional three-head Norelco series, actually, now with the three independent heads, you have to push a bit harder to make them run flat on your face. Charges seem to last a good while, several shaves, including head shaves.

the bad: this razor runs very slow, the noise it makes gives you a feeling of struggle, even when fully charged. (Actually, may be I have a defective unit?)

Overall it works, but the price is too high for what it actually does. My older R***-brand, corded, 3-head razor shaves just as well.

Every 3 - 4 years or so, I buy a new electric razor, hoping that the technology will have improved enough to give me a good shave without irritation. I still haven't found one that will get all of the hairs below my jawline. My beard is less coarse than most and a tad sparse, which makes irritation a problem. I think it would be a great razor for someone with a coarser and denser beard than mine.

The Arcitec 1059 gives a good, comfortable shave with minimal irritation. My previous electric was a Panasonic ES8068 and I have compared the two side-by-side. The results are very similar - a good, clean shave everywhere except below the jaw, although the Norelco does a slightly better job there than the Panasonic. The Norelco is also less irritating than the Panasonic. Nonetheless, I guess I am a bit disappointed that Norelco's brand new design doesn't solve the problem that seems to plague just about everybody - getting a clean shave below the jaw..

So yes, it's a very, very nice razor (not perfect), does a good job, is comfortable and I recommend it.

Great razor. Cuts very close, and the heads do move freely to deal with curves in my face. However, the side-burn trimmer is very narrow, which makes it difficult to cut the side-burn evenly. Also, since the side-burn trimmer is not at the same level as the shaving blades, the shaving blades obscure your view making it even more difficult to cut your side-burns evenly.