Braun braun 9465cc Braun Electric Razor silver (Open Box)

I have had electric shavers from Braun, “Company N,” and “Company R.” In fact, until the subject of this review, I had owned only one Braun shaver, a Series 7 that lasted for sixteen years – until I dropped it onto a concrete floor from a considerable height, and it still worked even then, albeit taped together. In this state it nevertheless gave a closer shave than the others, and so it made sense to replace it with another Braun. And here we are. The Braun Series 9 Pro is available in a bewildering range of SKUs. This one (9974cc) is a notch below the top of the line, as it does not have the separate beard-trimming attachment…because I don’t have a beard. But it does have the charging/cleaning station (the “SmartCare Center”), and it does have the “PowerCase,” which I call the “charging casket,” which allows many days’ away-from-home charging without any electrical connection. So, what’s it like to live with one of these things? I’ve had this one for several months, and I held back on writing this review until I had run through seven refill cleaning cartridges; this is important, because it’s an ongoing cost. Here’s the lifestyle, and the cost breakdown. Now, I know that some owners try to stretch the life of a cartridge – the chief consumable – by cleaning only infrequently, but I vote the other way: I typically clean/charge the shaver after every use (if not on the road), so my usage rate and cost numbers here are conservative. As of this writing, I’ve had the shaver for just shy of seven months and have recorded the rate at which I’m replacing the cleaning cartridges. How long does a cartridge last? In my use, the first cartridge went 19 shaves (I assume this was a break-in period), while the other six managed 22 or 23 shaves each, with an average of 22.8. Call it 23. As I write, a pack of six cartridges costs 32 dollars; therefore, we might say that those six cartridges would give 6x23=138 shaves, for a cost of 23.2 cents per shave, which is effectively 23.2 cents per day in my use of the cleaning cartridges. But to be complete, we must add in the cost of replacement shaver heads; these should be replaced annually, or even, as it says on the package, every 18 months, but I have long been in the habit of replacing them twice a year, in June and December. Currently, a Series 9 shaver head costs 70 dollars. Dividing that by half a year’s 182.5 days gives an additional 38.4 cents per shave, for a total of 61.6 cents per shave. But as I say, most users will probably replace the shaver head only annually, and many will try to stretch the cleaning cartridges. To this last point, I should warn that going two or more shaves between cleanings will cause the clean/charge station to kick into a “higher gear” at the next use, running a longer cycle and using more fluid, because it will sense the need for additional cleaning time. When used daily in 24-hour cycles, the shortest cleaning cycle is triggered – i.e., only one of the three “Cleaning Program” lights is lit. In some instances (weekends), I have delayed the next shave for an additional half-day, and in those cases, two lights have lit, and the cleaner runs for a longer time. In one instance only – after several days away, using the “casket” for charging – were all three lights and the longest cleaning cycle triggered. And it was long indeed. What this means is that cleaning the shaver every *other* day probably won’t make the cartridge last twice as long, because each cleaning will use more fluid. One reaches a point of diminishing returns. Me, I’d rather have a clean shaver head every day. There are other places in life where one might better save a few pennies. I can say further that this Series 9 machine is a bit more “thirsty” than my long-lived Series 7 Braun. That one would reliably go 25-27 cleanings per cartridge. (Observer: “You must be an engineer.” Me: “What gave it away?”) On the favorable side, the new Braun is much more quiet than the old one, both in use up near one’s ears and in the charger during the cleaning cycle. I can’t say that the old one caused me permanent hearing loss, but I did wonder from time to time. This new one is a mere hummer by comparison. The product descriptions for the many Braun SKUs are liberally supplied with photos, so I have added only three here. The first shows what comes in the kit, including the documentation. (But I neglected to include a cleaning cartridge in the pic; rest assured, it includes your first one.) The second picture shows the shaver in the “charging casket.” I used this on a road trip, and it has far more re-charging capacity than I needed over those several days. The third photo shows the proprietary power chord/DC adapter. The kit includes just one of these. In normal use it will be plugged into the cleaning/charging station; or it can charge the shaver directly; or it can charge the road-trip “casket” before and after a journey. Pick any one at a given time. About the documentation: You get a booklet for the shaver and another for the charging station, plus the separate cartoon strip which tells you not to put a wet-used shaver into the charging station; dry it first. (I have tried wet-shaving and find no advantage but much extra cleanup time, so I don’t care about this). The booklets both rely mainly on pictorials, with a minimum of text…except for the Safety Warnings which nobody reads; these gripping details are provided in English, French, and Spanish. That’s the world we live in, I suppose. Hey, where does all this come from? Turns out this product is a Citizen of the World. The shaver itself, and the Series 9 replacement heads (“94M”) are made in Germany; the clean/charge base station is made in Hungary; the on-the-road charging casket is made in China; and the cleaning cartridges are made in…Ireland? Well, I’ll be darned. User tip: After each shave, you can extend the life of your cleaning cartridge by simply popping off the shaver head and blowing out the whiskers and skin shards from it and from the shaver head mount. That’s probably 90% of what’s left after a shave. Takes only seconds.