WAHL X003A0VYET Wahl Professional 5 Star Magic Clip (Open Box)

I am a long-time practitioner of cutting my own hair at home with clippers. I have been doing it for about 25 years since high school. Not only does it save money, it's also kind of relaxing and there's a certain satisfaction in DIYing it. This is not to take away from folks who do this for a living; these people are skillful enough to take a new client (who isn't themself) and give them a flattering haircut on the first attempt. My self-haircut has evolved to a fade that transitions up to something a little longer on top. Usually I go for a #1 on the back and sides and a #6 on top, but sometimes I'll vary it. I use a hand mirror in conjunction with the bathroom mirror to be able to see the back while I'm working. The Magic Clips were an upgrade from wired Wahl USA Color Pro Clippers. The Color Pros still work and I still keep them around as a backup. They do a decent job and have been reliable, but the Magic Clips definitely feel a bit more professional. The build quality feels higher overall. The cable is thicker. The motor is noticeably more powerful and the blade also seems more effective. I am a white guy with finer hair - with very cheap clippers I used in the past, the blade would kind of just pass over hair without cutting so that a lot of passes were needed. The Color Pros were a huge improvement, and the Magic Clips are even better. I adjusted the Color Pros by zero-gapping the blades and applying loc-tite to the lever screw so that the lever wouldn't slide out of place too easily; these adjustments were not needed for the Magic Clips, if I recall correctly. Reviewers have mentioned that the staggered teeth of the Magic Clips assist with fades. They also mention that the Wahl Legends can get better results but require more skill. This is what helped me to settle on the Magic Clips over the Legends. Professional barbers tend to use a flick-out technique to fade, but I find this impossible to do on myself so I use a much simpler technique. I think the staggered tooth blade helps to still get a good result with this. The Magic Clips came with most of the guides I used with the Color Pros, except excludes some of the odd numbered ones like #7. They also came with a few extras like clipper oil and a little brush to clean hair out of the blades. They didn't come with a carrying case, so I purchased a dopp bag (ASIN: B09WCTHMBF, medium) to serve this function. If you regularly cut hair at home and have been frustrated by performance of your clippers, it might be worth treating yourself and stepping up to the Magic Clips.