5 November 2006 8:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles
The saying goes that “If you haven’t experimented with facial hair before you are 30, then the likelihood is that you won’t ever.” Lets face it chaps, we’ve all been there, gone on holiday, had a lazy weekend and then looked in the mirror and thought - hmmm, I wonder what it would look like. For the most part the wife or girlfriend won’t let you get past that prickly stage and it’s off within a flash, but for some, the experience becomes one that stays that little bit longer.
But then you’ve got the next problem, the unruly facial growth of hair on your face, Philips with its Philishave range is hoping to step into the breach with its TurboVac HQT863, an adjustable beard trimmer that has a built in sucker to literately suck those cut hairs away from your face once you’ve whizzed over it with the trimmer.
The model is a revamp on the classic clipper system found in most barber shops for beard trimming or giving you a number 2 all over, but rather than come with multiple clips that you are likely to lose in a couple of days the TurboVac opts for a swivel system that simple moves the guard further away from the clippers depending on the setting you choose. Choosing the length of your beard depends on the man and here you can opt for one of nine settings to either give you that two-day stubble look or for the full-length desert island look.
Cutting this much hair off your face is where the TurboVac comes into its own and the sucking capability is very strong, in our tests (we wore a white shirt especially) we had no hair on our shirt after a beard trim. Like a Dyson the hair is collected in a small bucket and emptying it afterwards is very simple.
The downside? It is very noisy, and considering the size against other shavers on the market slightly on the larger side, however Philishave would probably counter both of these with the need for more powerful clippers and the need to cut longer, thicker hair, rather than a bit of stubble.
Verdict
For the man with a beard, this is a very good way of keeping it under control wherever you are. I had my go of growing a beard back in January this year and one of the reasons why I shaved it off in the end was its unruliness and the inability to keep it under control when out on press trips or away for the weekend. Had I had this unit, the story probably would have been a completely different one, and in fact the tempation to attempt to grow another has started to tinker in the back of my mind
Score
Review Recap
- Made by
- Philips
- Price as reviewed
- £30
- The good
- Vacuum cleaner sucks up the hairs, adjustable lengths for cut
- The bad
- Bit on the large side, noisy
- Quick verdict
- A good beard trimmer that is even making us thing about growing one
- Score
-
Recommended articles
Gadgets, Styling products, Philips

Acer CloudMobile Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone set for MWC launch 4.3-inch award winner
Best iPhone utilities apps Resistance is futilities?
BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 For the fast lane
iPad 3 leaked pictures suggest improved battery and better camera Case images aplenty
Best iPhone productivity apps Speedy
Samsung Galaxy S III: Review of rumours, features, pictures and specs Thinner, faster, better
New HTC Ice Cream Sandwich device pictures leak Another one for the rumour pile...
LG Miracle picture and details leak Update: More pictures from the wild
iPad 3 launch event first week of March According to AllThingsD
Nokia 700 Sleek and desirable Nokia
HTC dates Ice Cream Sandwich update, Sensation models get it first End of March
Google home entertainment device detailed WSJ solves device mystery
Google Drive coming to take on Dropbox and iCloud G-Drive set to land
Tesla Model X SUV goes back to the future DeLorean lookalike announced
Apple iTV: Review of rumours, features, pictures and specs iT'S coming
Panasonic Lumix GX1 review
The one?
Sony PlayStation Vita review
Curriculum Vita
Nokia Lumia 710 review
WP7 on a budget
GoPro HD Hero2 review
Amazing things come in small packages
HTC Explorer review
A phone for people who make calls
BlackBerry Torch 9810 review
Middle of the road
Sony Alpha A65 review
Affordable SLT. But is it a DSLR-beater?
Fiat 500 TwinAir Plus review
Two-cylinder beast
BlackBerry Bold 9790 review
To boldly go where we've already been before
Motorola MotoACTV review
Just add exercise
Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition review
Mini Xoom
Sennheiser IE80 review
Tune that bass
Kingston Wi-Drive review
Expand your storage
BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 review
For the fast lane
Huawei Ideos X3 review
Cheap but imperfect