Braun Series 9 Electric Shaver + Clean and Renew Cleaning Cartridges Bundle: with 5 Shaving Elements, Clean & Charge Station & Leather Case, 9385cc, Graphite Razor + 5+1 Cartridge Pack, Lemon Fresh

The Braun Series 9 is good, very good in fact. So, why did I return it?? I’ll try and sun it up in this review.I’ll break it down in to cost, design, closeness of shave, comfort, noise, cleaning and cost of blade replacement.1. Cost-this is by far and away the most expensive shaver I have purchased. For me, it’s simply not worth it. More on this later!2. Design-It’s designed well and has a similar look to a lot of foil shavers. Problem is, it doesn’t look as slick as the new Series 7. Now don’t get confused as Braun have new and old Series which are still called the same number (i.e. Series 7,8,9 etc)! I might be biased as I’ve always been a Philishave user but the design isn’t as good as those in my opinion. The biggest fail in terms of design is the integrated trimmer. It just trim!!3. Closeness of shave-Unbelievable closeness but does take a few passes to get a close shave on difficult areas like neck etc. better than most I’ve tried though.4. Comfort-very comfortable. I have what I ‘think’ is fairly sensitive skin but not overly so. This shaver did not irritate at all wet or dry. I did use shave oil sometimes though.5.Noise-Wow! It’s loud so if you’re used to rotary shavers, especially my experience with Philips, you will definitely notice the difference in noise. Also, the cleaning station is noisy too (as it lowers the shaver to clean the heads, that is inevitable I know!!). If a quiet shave is of importance to you-avoid any Braun!6. Cleaning station is good but doesn’t do as good a job as my previous Philips ones. The fan which dries the foils takes ages and I mean ages and then they’re still not always dry. Not a big issue as you can leave it to drain during the day and air dry. I think that the new Philips cleaning method is superior.7. Cost of blade replacement-expensive but so are any of them to be honest. To get the best shave you need to relaxed then every 18 months which is sooner than the Philips models but the variables are obvious, courseness of beard etc etc which will affect this.I said I’d go back to cost, so here goes. I originally tried the new Philips Series 9000. So many bells and whistles and an app, lights etc. all useless really! The main issue was the shave quality was really poor. I couldn’t believe it to be honest and was very disappointed after shelling out for a shaver which was the most expensive I’d ever bought…at that time! Thinking the performance of the top of the range shaver was so bad, I tried the Braun thinking it might be time for a switch to a foil shaver. The extra cost was softened by Amazon ability to pay in instalments! However, as you can probably tell from the above, for the extortionate cost, it’s simply not worth it. I now have the Philips IQ Series 7000 which was half the cost of the Braun Series 9 and performs far better than the Philips Series 9000 and equally as well as the Braun Series 9.I am used to the Philips shavers it has to be said, and perhaps that’s what I’m comfortable with and perhaps I’m more ‘brand loyaI’ than I think however, being as objective as possible I have to say it boiled down to performance versus cost and this shaver just didn’t make sense for me. Hope this gives some help to others looking at parting ways with a fair amount of money for a good shave!

I purchased the Braun Series 9 9385cc electric shaver to replace my aging Philips PhiliShave 5000 and I'm really glad that I did. The Philips shavers tend to have the 3 circular shaving heads in a triangular arrangement which is supposed to offer 'the best shave' but from my own experience they are terrible at shaving the hairs on your neck. I've found I've had to go over those hairs several times with the Philips which ends up irritating the skin and making it red, or eventually having to resort to a wet shave razor which defeats the point of using an electric one!The Braun Series 9 9385cc was on offer so I decided to go for it. Even on offer it's still a big investment but I have been frustrated with the Philips models so decided to see how Braun compares. This is the top of the range model with a graphite finish and cleaning station but it looks like it's available in Black or Silver, with slightly different model numbers.I'm really impressed with the quality of the shave. It's very comfortable to hold and feels well made. It shaves very close and only needs 1 - 2 passes for most areas. It's even really good at shaving the hairs on my neck which the Philips models fail to cut. I found this irritates my skin far less than the Philips and Remington shavers I've used before so that's a real benefit for me. It is quite a loud shaver, certainly when compared to anything else I've used. The blades in the head oscillate at very high speed so this makes a fair amount of noise which actually reminds me of an electric sander!I found the side burn trimmer is not as good as other shavers I've used in the past and requires several passes to achieve the same effect but it does work. I didn't really buy the shaver for that function but at this price point it would have been nice to have something a bit more effective.The cleaning station is actually pretty big and probably something that won't fit it most people's bathroom cabinets. After using the shaver I run it under the tap until no more shavings come out and then clean it in the station every other use. To clean it in the station you insert it head facing down with the power button facing towards you and then press the cleaning button. Cleaning actually takes quite a while, initially the shaver will turn on and of for a few seconds over a few minutes whilst the cleaning fluid being pushed through it and then a fan comes on to dry it out. The drying fan is quite loud and runs for like 40 minutes. After cleaning the shaver head smells like lemon sherbet sweets!It uses replaceable cleaning cartridges which contains liquid that smells of lemon mixed with something like Iso Propyl Alcohol. Braun suggest that you should clean the shaver in the station after every use (of course they would!) and that you should replace the cartridges after 1 month. I've decided not to keep the cleaning station in the bathroom due to its size and only plug it in to the mains to charge and clean the shaver on every other use. However, I think constantly unplugging the shaving station resets its counter for how old the cartridge is so you need to remember to change it at some point. Battery life seems really impressive and hasn't even gone down 1 LED but then it gets charged every other use.The cleaning fluid seems to be recycled through the shaver on each clean so the fluid ends up getting a little more manky with each use. The Iso Propyl Alcohol smell fades over time too, presumably because it evaporates. Cartridges can be bought on Amazon and I got a good deal on the 5 pack which should last a while. You can probably get away with not using the cleaning station or cartridges at all and just manually cleaning the shaver head but you could probably buy a cheaper model without the cleaning station instead. Apparently the cleaning solution lubricates the blades and prolongs their life but I can't comment on that this early on!Pros:- Close shave- Doesn't irritate the skin as much as other manufacturers- Cuts the curly hairs on the neck- Feels well made and high quality- Cleaning stationNeutral:- Side burn trimmer works but could be betterCons:- Expensive- Noisy when shaving and cleaning- Cleaning cartridges aren't cheap and are an ongoing cost

I gave up on electric razors decades ago and started wet shaving at first with twin-bladed razors and then with the Gillette Mach 3, which has always been excellent. I was ill very recently and found that in the aftermath I was unable to stand at the sink and wet shave reliably, so I decided to treat myself to this electric razor again, based largely on recommendations in the feedback on how close it is to wet shaving.It’s close, very close, but still not equal to three-blade razor. It’s fine for my purposes and I am continuing to use it. I think that one factor in my experience is that I’m not a youngster anymore and so my facial skin is not as tight as it used to be. For this razor to be really effective and shave very close, you have to have very tight skin or be able to pull the skin very tight for the blades to get close enough to the stubble.Overall I’m happy with it, and it’s very good for travelling, as long as you don’t want to transport the cleaning station with you. But a couple of weeks without the fancy cleaning kit is fine.

From a series 3, series 5 and 8 the series 9 is a good upgrade. Quiet in operation and smoother. The head is slightly larger than the series 8 but the cutting surface still the same size. Although more expensive it’s a good buy.