Panasonic ES-RW30 shaver review
Clean shave?
- Reviewer
- Duncan Geere
- Review Date
- 30 November 2009
- Manufacturer
- Panasonic
- Price as reviewed
- £40
- Latest price
- compare
Full Review
Now that the end of Movember is upon us, you're going to need to get rid of that moustache. Panasonic has brought out the ES-RW30 Men's Rechargeable Electric Shaver, and we put it to work on our chin to find out whether it's up to the challenge of erasing your mo from existence. Panasonic is pitching this shaver as suitable for both wet and dry shaves. It has dual blades, a pop-up trimmer, pivoting head and charges via a stand that it can also sit on when you're not using it. The stand is a neat way of allowing it to always be fully-charged - alleviating the problem of the blades slowing painfully when the battery runs down. Dry performance was good - the shave was relatively close (for an electric shaver) and exceptionally smooth, however there was a bit of post-shave irritation. On the wet side, when used with shaving gel, things weren't so impressive - we found the blades missed quite a few hairs, though the aforementioned irritation was notably absent. The pivoting head works well, following the contours of your chin, though we found it was a little resistant to movement - you had to press a little too hard than was comfortable to get it to pivot correctly. That might just have been as it was new however - it could loosen up over time. The pop-up trimmer is effective and chops longer hairs without them getting caught and painfully pulled. It did get in the way of seeing what was going on however. When attempting precision work on 'tache trimming, it obscured the view of the hairline, which was a small annoyance. Similarly effective is the foil which pops off with the push of a button for cleaning purposes - a brush is provided in the package for that reason too, though plenty of space under the blades mean you can get a couple of shaves in before cleaning becomes a necessity. The shaver has a claimed battery life of 21 minutes of shaving, with a full recharge taking 8 hours. We found that the lifespan was a little shorter than that in practice, but not a whole lot. You'll be able to take it on holiday and not run out of juice as long as you don't spend 10 minutes shaving every single day.
Verdict
At just £40, the ES-RW30 is a great first shaver, and a handy spare to keep around or take on holiday. Trims weren't perfect, but acceptable for those who don't need to have a pristine chin every single morning. If you want that, you're probably better off with a traditional razor anyway.
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