Braun Series 3 390cc shaver review

11 November 2008 12:00 GMT / By Chris Hall

Braun has long been a force in shavers. The 390cc sits at the top of the Series 3 line of shavers, offering a flexible twin foil type arrangement and a host of features, without reaching to the extremes of the Series 5 and Series 7 models. But can it get the basics right? In our quest to grow the perfect mo for Movember, we put it to the test.

When you think of shavers, Braun springs straight to mind. The cc in the title refers to Braun’s Clean&Renew system, which we’ll some back to later. From a design point of view, the 390cc oozes manliness, crafted in black and silver with rubberised grips making it comfortable in the hand.

Cutting is handled by the twin foil arrangement, which sandwiches a central cutter, which Braun claims allows three progress cuts in one stroke, thereby reducing the number of passes of the shaver and lessening the chance of irritation on the skin. We found that on short stubble, in a daily shave it worked very well, giving a comfortable and reasonably close shave without irritation.

The flexible head means that it will follow the major contours of your face, however the two foils are also spring mounted, so help to follow those lines even closer. The result is a smooth an easy shave over the jawline, whilst still being able to cope with the curves around the chin and lips.

Where the 390cc begins to struggle is around the neck, especially if you have slightly longer growth. We found that in some areas it couldn’t lift the hair to cut it, particularly around the Adam’s apple. To get to these tricky areas you need to start pushing harder and pulling the skin tighter, which ultimately leads to greater irritation.

On the back of the shaver is a trimmer for longer hair, activated by sliding it up, and useful for trimmer the edges of a moustache or sideburns.

Returning to the Clean&Renew system, the 390cc benefits from the inclusion of this cleaning method. The cleaning unit takes a cartridge in the bottom containing the alcohol solution. To clean the shaver, all you have to do is slot the head into the unit, and press down the button on the top. This locks in the shaver and starts the cleaning process.

Cleaning takes about 5 minutes, but is then followed by a 4-hour drying time, before you can use your shaver again. A yellow LED on the shaver itself indicates when you should run through the cleaning process. The cleaner connects to the normal shaver power lead, so whilst the unit is in the cleaning base it is also charging, making it convenient for storing, charging and cleaning whilst at home.

On your travels you’ll benefit from the included travel case which is rather chunky but allows the power lead and shaver to be kept together. An additional brush is included for cleaning and the shaver can also be run under the tap.

Verdict

Although the 390cc suggest it takes several weeks to get used to using the shaver, we found it was mostly comfortable from the word go, accepting those minor problems around the neck area. As a package, the 390cc includes everything and the Clean&Renew feature, whilst perhaps questionable in value, does at least provide a good storage option so long as you have space on your bathroom shelf.

The original retail price of £130 does sound a little expensive, but seeing as you can find this model discounted for 50% less, it is certainly one to consider.

Why not grow a mo for Movember? Help raise money and awareness for The Prostate Cancer Charity here in the UK.

Currently around 30,000 men a year are diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and around 10,000 men a year die from the disease. That's over 1 every hour.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Braun
Price as reviewed: £129.99
The good: Comfortable shave, cleaning unit keeps things fresh
The bad: Struggles with tricky neck area
Quick verdict: A comfortable shave with plenty of features on offer. Whether the cleaning system is of any value is questionable, however, it does keep things fresh
Score