PanasonicElectric Razor for Men, Electric Shaver, ARC5 with Premium Automatic Cleaning and Charging Station, Wet Dry Shaver Men, Cordless Razor, with Pop-Up Trimmer ES-LV97-K, Black

After buying products from Amazon for almost 30 years, I hardly ever write reviews. This might be just my third review ever. However, this Panasonic electric razor is SO good I had to write a review.With my old electric razor, I usually had to take a regular old hand razor and clean up spots that the electric razor missed. That is not necessary with this Panasonic razor. It shaves as close as a blade, and it misses nothing. The battery charge indicator is a nice feature, and as the manual says, a full charge will last for two weeks if you use the razor every day for a 3 minute shave. And, believe me, 3 minutes is all you'll need. This razor is well worth the price.

Closest electric shave I've ever had, and I'm 70 yrs old! I have not yet tried a wet or lathered shave with this electric razor, nevertheless I am amazed at how close this comes to a blade shave. Despite its "bulky" shave head you can get a clean, close shave, even under your nose. The shaver is quiet, comfortable and easy to clean.

I bought this after 14 years with a Braun 900 series. The Braun was good razor, but they have gotten even more pricey, the cleaning solutions and replacement heads/blades made the cost of ownership for an old model ridiculous. I had heard lots of negatives (and positives) about the new Braun 900 pro+. Now that it was time to replace, I decided to try the cost-effective route-- hence the Panasonic.To be clear-- the Panasonic (3 weeks of use now) shaves fine-- but not nearly as well as the Braun at its best. It feels cheaper. It is MUCH quieter, but takes twice as long to get a good shave, and even then it is not quite as close. Also, if I miss a day of shaving, the Panasonic struggles with a 2 day beard. The trimmer is better (Braun trimmer has always been terrible). There is no charging stand or cleaning base. However, it cost less than 1/3 of the cost of the 900+-- so I could conceivably buy a new one every 18 months, and between the cost of the Braun cleaning solution and replacement heads, still come out ahead for many years to come. And, the Panasonic cleans up nicely with just the sink every other day.Finally, I don't know if this will be my long term solution. If Braun ever fixes its on/off switch issues, and lowers the cost of month to month and yearly maintenance-- I may go back. For now, I will contend with the added time to shave and the lack of a stand. More to add in 6 months!

So for historical context, I've owned 2 Panasonic ES LA93-K's over about the last 10 years. Before that I owned an old Braun. I've always used electric shavers. I did a lot of research before buying the 93's and they were a top rated shaver. The only problem I had with them was the battery would die and not charge. Last one lasted 4 1/2 years. They were always like shaving with a Lexus - high quality shavers. Before I bought the last one I tried the venerable Braun Series 7 7865 and the then newest iteration of Norelco. Neither one was as good as my first 93 so I bought another 93. I always liked them but I can't say I was happy with battery life. Shaves were always close the first 6 months to maybe even a year, but the blades do dull and it took longer and more work to get a close shave. Also, they got progressively louder as they aged to the point where it was very annoying. But they worked. This time out I decided to revisit the world of shaver reviews just to see if there were any new improved entries. I have to heartily recommend shavercheck.com. A really excellent site! I sort of was hoping that either Braun or Norelco had something that had lept ahead of the pack. Yes - there were improvements for certain, but their newest shavers, sometimes costing a small fortune, had their detractors and failings. Again - the shavers that were standing out were the Panasonics. Panasonic has not been standing still. My Arc 4 had evolved to an Arc 5 and an Arc 6. New smaller faster motors. New head designs. New blades. New charging stands. As always - mostly good to great reviews with a few disgruntled owners. On balance it looked like a no brainer to get another Panasonic. So I bought the Arc 5 ES-LV97-K. This shaver comes highly recommended by Ovidiu on shavercheck.com. He is very practical, saying that you're not going to sacrifice much to the very expensive Arc 6. You'll still get a very close shave that is not a problem for sensitive skin. So after a month here is what I've experienced. The 97 has some definite design and engineering improvements over the old 93's. The motor IS faster. There are more blades that cut more efficiently. The whole shaver is lighter but very substantial. The head is smaller and swivels in 6 directions. I call it the "bobblehead" because it works so well. It still cleans extremely easy under the faucet or the charger/cleaning stand. BTW, you can wash it manually and just dry in the stand - unlike the new Braun series 9 where you HAVE to run the cleaning cycle using their cartridges, etc., every time you charge the shaver in the stand. This new shaver is A LOT quieter than the old 93's. It shaves smooth as silk and is a real pleasure to use. My old shavers I had to grind away at my face forever to get a decent shave. The secret with this 97 is let it do its own work. Not too much pressure. Be patient and go slowly. Let it catch and mow down the whiskers. Keep the blades clean (I now clean it manually every 2 days) - it really makes a difference. Keep the foil as flat against the face as possible and of course try to go against the grain (you'll hear it cutting). Avoid side to side movement which isn't allowing the blades to cut efficiently. I follow Ovidiu's advice and lock the head for round radius's like jaw etc. That works better too. Then unlock for best bobblehead effect. So....am I impressed? You bet! This is really a big step up. I'm still getting baby close shaves in one half the time - yea! My only question now is how sharp will the blades be after 3-6 months? (replacement blades never seem as sharp as OEM). And will the battery live longer than 4 1/2 years? Bottom line - I'm super happy with this shaver - and for the price of $171 - what a good deal!

I've had this for a month after an older Panasonic finally bit the dust after about 6-7 years. It is a bit pricey, but does a great job and the charging/cleaning stand is great. It seems to have plenty of power. This is my third or fourth Panasonic and I've been pretty happy with all of them. Everything eventually wears out after daily use. This one looks like it will last a good while.