Customer Reviews

Philips Norelco 8160XLCC SpeedXL Jet Clean Men's Shaving Set

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Just purchased and have been using this shaver for one week. I was caused to change shavers when a Braun 7500 series died just beyond the warranty period. The new Norelco is beyond my expectations and is much better than my prior Braun. The Noelco is the quitest shaver I have ever used in over thirty years of shaving. It is also produces the cleanest shave I have ever received with few facial areas that you need to go back a second time to shave. Perhaps the only fault I can find with the shaver is that once you have used the automatic cleaner one must remember to either unplug the cleaner base or move the shaver (disconnect the point of contact between the base and the shaver)otherwise the shaver base goes from cleaning mode to charge mode. Otherwise a great shaver and Amazon with its rebate offer makes the shaver a great deal.

The shave I get with this is fine, but be warned: The Norelco SpeedXL series has a built in blade life. Once Norelco thinks you need to change the blades (and they tend to think you should spend the $36 more often than you will want), the shaver disables itself.

The way it does this is that it turns on the "change blade" warning LED. And this LED uses so much power that it drains the batteries in just over one day. Worse yet, the shaver will not operate unless the battery is charged, so this results in a dead shaver until you replace the blades.

Way to go Norelco. I used to be a big fan.

What I like is what all Norelco's have...it's the triple circles that increases the surface area to cut with. That alone, in theory, makes it waay better than the other brands. But all Norelcos are about the same. I don't feel any difference from my old Norelco. It's a solid razor, but you don't need to spend all that money to get the same affect. The razor Jet Clean is luxury. If you rinse it on occassion, it will clean it too

I've been using this for four years now. Don't do as they say, do as I say and you'll be as happy as I am with it.

Don't charge/clean it every day. If you want your battery to last, do what I do! Only clean it in the Jet Clean when your battery level is at the bottom bar. Tap out cuttings once in the middle of the cycle and once just before cleaning. In fact, run it under the sink before you clean it. Your cleaning solution will last a very long time and you'll only need to clean the solution tray once when you change the fluid. The nice thing about the tank is you can pull it out to check it. When it's about empty, clean the tray and refill the tank. I've only used 6 bottles of cleaning fluid in 4 years.

The cleaning solution also lubricates the blades and it works! After two years, I bought new blades and there was NO DIFFERENCE to the old ones I replaced just because of their age. I wasted my money, the Jet Clean lubrication works that good, even only using it between full battery charges.

Also, after four years, my battery life is still around two weeks. You won't get this type of battery life if you charge this thing in the cleaner every day. Obviously, don't EVER just leave this thing in the charger as it will ruin the batteries. Besides, the blades won't dry out there anyway.

Also, don't, and I repeat DON'T EVER get the cleaner/ charger circuitry wet. If you do, give it two days to dry out before you plug it in again or the cleaner will be quite erratic in it's operation and could quite possibly burn out.

I've had four Norelco razors in my lifetime and this is BY FAR the best! When the new models came out, I actually saw no need to upgrade. For me? That's saying something!

Good luck folks, Danny

Have been using Norelco's for years. This is my 4th and by far the best. I only used my electric when I traveled. Since picking up the 8160, I use it every day home and away. It is simply a great razor giving me the best shave of any electric shaver I have used.

My only complaint is with the cleaner. If you store it in the cleaner, it will still be wet when you go to use the razor in the morning. It is best to remove it from the cleaner at the end of the cycle and store it in the medicine cabinet. No biggie but a better design is needed.

I have had this razor for over a year now and it has worked pretty good. As expected, I had to replace the blades after about a year. The cleaning/charging station was another story. It never worked right and is just a piece of junk. It might charge ok most of the time, but the buttons never worked when it was time to start the cleaning cycle. I just pour some of the cleaning solution in a shallow dish and run the razor in it for a few seconds. I wish I had saved some money by not getting it with the cleaning station.

All in all this is a very good razor, it gives me a good shave, the charge lasts a long time and it's very easy to clean. Like all electric razors, in my case, it does not shave my neck area very well and I have to just "neaten" the area with a regular blade. I have yet to find an electric razor that can do this however so I can't fault this model too much. In general it gives a clean, close shave and I am enjoying it very much. I love the fact that you can just rinse it under the sink to clean it and the battery indicator is a nice feature that most lower priced models don't have.

I've been using this razor for about 2 years now. I really like this razor compared to the last "entry level" norelco I used to have. This one has much more rounded edges on the blade guuards and the pivoting and motion of the heads is much lighter and smoother. This gives a better experience when using.

I will say, I have to go over areas twice - once to cut them down, then again to get the smoothest shave. I can still feel stubble when done, but it's comparable to any other results I've gotten with an electric razor. So in a nutshell, the shave itself isn't all that much better or faster than lower models, but it's more comfortable.

Other advantages are the fact that you can rinse the razor clean - that's a big plus for me. Also, you can use it corded or cordless. It's much quieter than lower models and the power seems to remain more constant over the life of the charge vs. cheaper ones seem to get significantly slower at a half charge. The LED lets you see when you're running low, which is needed b/c as I said, the noise and power is fairly constant up until the last 1 or 2 lights of the charge meter.

My biggest dissapointment was the jetclean system. It takes a very long time to cycle and is twice to 3x as noisy as using the shaver itself. Since I get ready before my wife, I usually didn't run it so it wouldn't wake her up. About 1.5 years into use, the charging pins that connect to the power cord corroded and pulled out of the unit making the jetclean useless. Also, you're supposed to empty the used liquid weekly. So if you don't use it every day, you're either keeping the shavings in the solution longer than reccomended or you're throwing away a lot of solution.

I will say the reservoir is easy to clean and use, and is perfectly matched to the bottle of solution. It was easy to use without making a mess. The other reason I didn't clean it every day was that if left in the jetclean device, I found the razor was still wet with solution the next morning. It was also recommended to rinse the razor with water after using jetclean, which to me defeated part of the purpose of cleaning with an an-ionic solution to help prevent mineral buildup on the razor.

My recco is to buy the razor but skip the jetclean. Just rinse with water instead and then leave it open to dry.

The jet clean shaving system included in the package with this shaver is oversold. The structure if the shaver head is such that it can be easily cleaned with warm water immediately after use, so there appears to be no additional cleaning required. The shaver is quite similar to earlier models of the same type, so very little difference in the quality of the shave has been noted. Placing the battery charging hardware in a plug-in module so that only low voltage is present on the shaver cord is a safety improvement.

I have been using various shavers for over 40 years. I have tried most of the major brands. In the past, I preferred the Remington because it is powerful and fast. But the Remington irritates my skin. The Braun is less powerful and less irritating, but still irritating. I had previously used the Norelco Rotary, perhaps 15 years ago, but it was too slow and not close enough. However, although most shavers remain pretty much the same over the years, this Norelco is a giant step improved above prior models. It shaves faster, and is much easier to clean. The old Norelco was difficult to clean. This shaver can be cleaned very well just with hot water. However, I use soap as the lubricant. (If you use oily stuff, marketed as various pre-shaves, which basically puts a film of oil on your face, there will be a tendency for the gunk to accumulate under the blades. I recommend just using ordinary soap.) This new model of Norelco has larger blades, and better shape, allowing for a closer and faster shave. Also, it is much quieter than the back and forth models. Think of the inefficiency of ramming the blades of an ordinary shaver back and forth. The rotary energy here more efficiently and quietly goes to shaving the beard. As I have aged, my beard has become less dense. If you have a tough beard, and a thick beard, you may prefer an alternative. However, if you want a close shave, from a quiet mechanism, which is relatively easy to clean, I recommend this Norelco. You may not need the well designed cleaning bay, and may prefer just the shaver and charger. I hardly use the cleaning system because just hot water works so well, using soap as a lubricant. Interesting, the brochure recommends just a clean, dry face. I have found that soap works better. Anyway, I would recommend this shaver as one of the best available. And the long trial period suggests the manufacturer's own confidence in its product.