Customer Reviews

Philips Norelco T980 Turbo Vacuum Trimmer

5 star:		(359)
4 star:		(240)
3 star:		(56)
2 star:		(44)
1 star:		(40)

 

 

Length:: 5:27 Mins

I only review products that I use, enjoy, and want to advocate for; the T980 is one of these. It's got a great design, from the curve of the device body, to the ease and access of the On/Off controls, and swap-able blade heads. Its height-adjustable, spring-loaded trimmer guide is the best yet.

After a lot of comparison shopping and using various products over the last ten years, I finally decided to purchase the Norelco T980. I am delighted with my purchase and it exceeded my expectations in every way.

This unit is light, easy to operate, rechargeable and has precision blades that cut evenly. The extra attachment for fine detail works well and I don't get cut using it. The vacuum attachment works well even when it's not on Turbo and I personally think it's very quiet. It's unrealistic to think a mechanical device in this price range won't make any noise at all. If that's your expectation, you might want to use scissors. However, this product gets the job done much quicker and the sound is not annoying and unlikely to wake up someone else on the normal setting.

The flexible blade housing pivots smoothly and covered the contours of my face very well with an even cut at several different lengths. While it's difficult to get close to the nose because of the larger size of this unit, I don't see that as a big deal because with the smaller precision tool you can do this quite easily with a mustache comb if you are not much for completely manual operations. This little bit of extra work probably took me under 30 seconds.

Overall, the design of this unit is well thought out and it is quite attractive. The holding space for clippings is pretty big and unless you have a thick beard, you probably won't have to change it until after several uses. The battery also lasts about 30 minutes on Turbo and you can use the plug-in adapter after that if it runs out.

I don't see any drawbacks at all with this product. I'm completely delighted with my purchase and the value that I received for my investment.

I wonder if all these reviews are pertaining to this particular model, some reviews dont sound like my unit. I find no real problem with mine. Nothing is perfect. It is a bit bigger than my old small Wahl, but it has more features that require that. The vacumn works great, which alone makes my purchase of it worthwhile to me; in the past the sink always had a lot of nasty looking hairs all over it. Ive never had mine switch length setting on me, as some people describe, I dont see how it could. I think the adjustable length feature is really great, it accomodates about 'any' length beard, and eliminates all the extra little clip-on guides you have to keep track of. I gave up on trying to take the top off but it doesnt matter as there really is no need. I find no problem with excess noise, or with the turbo setting. Im very happy with mine. Also, this amazon price of $39.95 is $20 less than on the Norelco website, plus you get free shipping.

I owned another Norelco beard trimmer with a vacuum in it ... until my wife broke it by knocking it off the shelf. But now I'm glad she did. On the old one, the vacuum was fairly useless because just as much hair ended up in the sink and all over the blade as in the catcher bin. Maybe more.

But the T980 Turbo (and don't all guys love stuff with "Turbo" in the description?) does the job. Yes, I know it has two settings: Turbo on and Turbo off. But I see no reason to use it with Turbo off because then it's just like the old underpowered version. But with Turbo on it collects nearly all those little hairs. (Some get away, but many fewer.)

Some people say that the Turbo is too loud, which is why they offer an option I suppose, but in our house the bathroom is far enough away and well-insulated enough that no one can hear it running full blast.

One caveat: It's better to trim the beard dry not wet. Remember to trim it before you get in the shower because when the hair is wet the vacuum still has trouble collecting the hairs, even on Turbo. Plus showering washes any remaining trimmings away. Yes, this may be self-evident to some of you, but I hadn't thought of it before. Keep in mind I'm doing this before morning coffee.

So no more little hairs all over my daughter after daddy kisses and snuggles her. I like the T980 trimmer.

I also wonder if some of the negative reviews are for this particular model (Philips Norelco T980 for $39.99 @ Amazon).

-Does not feel cheap at all.

-Settings click into place. They will change if you push it to the point where you think you would break it if you pushed any harder. I dont see why anyone would need to push it that hard. I had to test it after reading some of the reviews.

-Turbo does not seem too loud at all.

-Vacuum works very well.

The trimmer works pretty well. It trims my beard and moustache adequately and to the length I want, but not on first pass. Most of the trimmings make it into the collection chamber, but not all of them. I would say about twenty percent of the trimmings end up in the sink not the collection chamber.

This is a replacement for me for a T990 Norelco trimmer, with a dead battery. I now have to disassemble that trimmer to get at and remove the dead battery for recycling. That is a problem with this trimmer too: it has a rechargeable but not replaceable battery. When the battery no longer takes a charge, as with my old trimmer, the trimmer will not run even when the cord is plugged in. I would prefer a trimmer that is corded, with no battery, or with a replaceable rechargeable battery. What Norelco has done is created a trimmer with built in obsolescence. When the battery is dead, the trimmer is done for. And batteries are not environmentally friendly.

I have owned two previous "accu-vac" models. The vacuum always seemed kinda useless, mostly hype.

Well.....the "turbo" mode on this puppy REALLY vuccums! If you can tolerate the noise that the turbo mode produces, I would recommend using turbo mode at all times. If noise is a concern, like in early morning, the standard mode does an ok job too.

The price is right on this thing, and it LOOKS sweet.

95% mess free. Very Nice!

I was a little concerned after reading a few of the negative reviews. Nonetheless, I decided to go with this trimmer, it had a lot more positive reviews than negative and it was the most expensive trimmer on amazon at the time and I was looking for a high quality trimmer.

After a few uses I quickly realized why some of the negative reviews said the trimmer didn't trim. I recall one guy saying he was pressing super hard but it didn't trim any hair. So here's the scoop, the plastic guard/head if improperly seated on the top of the trimmer stands 1/2 - 1 inch higher than it should. Thus on virtually any setting, the trimmer part isn't touching your face. This is not a big deal, properly seating the guard on the device is pretty simple.

For me the battery on the trimmer has lasted about 25-35 trims of the my full beard. I don't use the turbo vacuum feature as I heard that it runs the batteries out quicker and it doesn't seem like it's needed anyway. I keep my beard pretty short and the vacuum under normal power does the job.

The device has 10 length settings and an extra trimming pieces to do clean-up type work. It doesn't make that much noise (when the turbo button is not on) and it is a very light device. I think the overall size of the device is "just right". It's feels comfortable using it and it's not overly large which would make for awkward use.

The only suggestion I'd have for Norelco is to beef up the friction on the length adjuster. While using the device a few times the length setting moved to a lower setting unintentionally.

All in all I am extremely satisfied with this trimmer. For not a lot of $ I feel like I bought the best trimmer that was available on the market.

I don't understand how you can not see what you are shaving due to the blue guard. I have zero trouble. I don't understand how you can reset your level by pressing it agains your skin. During my test, I applied 12 pounds of pressure without ever resetting or reverting to a lower level thusly chewing up my facial hair.

If it is too loud, you are too picky. This is a fine trimmer with no serious draw backs. Some people are just too eager to complain and be negative.

Don't bother with the negative feeback. Buy this product. It will serve you very well...unless you are a finicky turd.

I owned the Norelco T870 for about 3 years. Recently it stopped working. I always considered the T870 a good trimmer, but its vacuum was not very efficient -- it would get 50-75% of the trimmed whiskers, while the rest ended up in the sink. I just got the T980 yesterday, and have used it only once -- so that this with a grain of salt -- but the vacuum on this model looks like 99%+ effective on the "turbo" setting. Everything else about this model seems to have been upgraded as well -- sharper blades, better appearance -- overall the quality seems better. If it continues to perform like this and lasts as long as the T870 did, I will consider this a terrific purchase.