This post is brought to you in part by Philips Malaysia. TEG’s Alexander Lim tried the Philips S5420 AquaTouch cordless shaver recently. Here are his thoughts…

A close, comfortable shave is one of the subtle rewards of the gentleman’s daily morning ritual. For fans of electric shavers, it’s hard to get a smoother and more effortless shave than that provided by the Philips S5420 AquaTouch cordless shaver.

Building on the classic rotary shaver design that’s been favoured for decades, the S5420 really takes it to the next level.

Philips’ MultiPrecision blade system is coupled with “floating” rounded-profile heads to glide easily over the contours of your face, neck, and jaw line, and the blade system actually lifts the hair before cutting it, ensuring a comfortable shave free of nicks and cuts every time.

According to Philips, the multiple, independently rotating shaving heads are designed to naturally follow your facial hair over the various contours of your face. Moving the shaver in a circular motion enables you to capture those hairs that grow in different directions, even in hard to reach places for impressive shaving results. Incorporating Philips’ Aquatec wet seal protection, the AquaTouch S5420 is completely waterproof, too, so the shaver can be used dry or wet – even in the shower.

The test run

We were keen to put the shaver through its paces, so we ordered a unit for a hands-on test. The sleek shaver is compact, very comfortable to hold, and has a nice weight in the hand. It’s ergonomically flawless and provides a satisfying grip and perfect angle for shaving, whether you’re right- or left-handed.

The shaver charges from empty in about an hour, and this provides enough juice for 45 minutes of shaving, which the packaging says is good for about 15 shaves.

In actual practice, my shaves took longer than five minutes, but perhaps over time, that would decrease. Even so, there was ample reserve charge to provide a solid week of careful morning shaving and periodic touch-ups.

Adapting to any new shaver or razor takes time, often up to two or three weeks. That was definitely the case with the AquaTouch shaver. I’ve never used a rotary shaver before, so this took some acclimation. However, once I had gotten used to the technique, and my skin to the shaver, the results were very good indeed.

Typically, I shave in the shower and use a brush and shave soap to lather up, so I initially used that method with the new Philips shaver, but found with experience that the dry shave was almost as close, too – quite a surprise. And for quick touch-ups before evening dinners or events, this shaver was particularly well-suited, giving me a fresh look with no “five o’clock shadow” in sight.

The verdict

The AquaTouch shaver was surprisingly quiet, considerably more so than other electric shavers I’ve used. True to its advertising, the shaver yielded absolutely no nicks or cuts, nor any chafing. It is a truly comfortable, precision shave. An intuitive LED display illuminates symbols indicating charging, low battery, cleaning reminder, replace shaving head reminder, and a travel lock indicator.

The entire shaving head assembly, which should be replaced every two years, pops directly off the unit with no problem. This allows the use of other attachments, such as the included SmartClick precision trimmer, which is perfect for maintaining a neat, even cut on your sideburns, or – should you have one – trimming your moustache.

Overall – build quality, convenience, ease of use, and performance – the AquaTouch S5420 wet and dry shaver lives up to its promises and certainly exceeded my expectations. Did it make me a rotary shaver convert? It just might have – another two weeks and I may have a hard time going back to my old shaver!

The Philips AquaTouch S5420 comes with a two-year limited warranty and is available at selected fine electronics retailers throughout Malaysia.

Find out more: www.philips.com.my/aquatouch

Buy now: www.blipmy.com/AquaTouch