Shaving can be the most painful thing you do every day and even sometimes twice a day. So the thought of test-driving the new Panasonic ES-ST25KS Triple Blade Linear Milano Shaver rechargeable cordless shaver that could potentially ease the pain of that daily annoyance, certainly piqued my interest.

At 1st glance, it looks like something that came out of a Star Trek movie. Its black body has a sleek Italian design and chrome trim that would look nicely at home in a captain’s ready room, along with its upright stand (included).

Stubble Sensor Technology

It features an ultra fast magnetic linear motor that moves side-to-side at 13,000 cpm (cuts per minute) so your stubble won’t know what hit it. It also has a long a 3-blade system that’s angled at 30 degrees (many others are 45-90) that’s configured with round shaped outer foils to maximize cutting efficiency.

And as not all hair grows out from your face at the same pace, the ES-ST25KS has an automatic stubble sensor that you can toggle on and off which adjusts to different thickness of stubble, so it’s not as hard on your skin. Even better, the unit will not pinch your skin even when its lithium-ion battery starts to run low. When it does, you can be fully recharged in an hour, which will give you about 45 minutes of shaving time.

Use Wet or Dry

At first you might be apprehensive to get it this unit wet, but you’ll be happy to know that you can use it dry or wet; in fact you can take it into the shower with you, if that’s your thing.

It is recommended that the buyer read the manual that comes with it. When you turn it on, it defaults into shaving sensor mode – the sensor indicator glows blue, which you won't notice if you have it gripped in your hand. Push the power button again and it goes back into normal mode, so the blades will keep a uniform movement regardless as to the thickness of your stubble.

I tested shaving daily both wet and dry as well as both wet and dry after a four and five day growth. I was amazed as to how well it worked particularly dry on the longer growth – and it was only after that time that I experienced a minimal amount of pinch. It did seem to struggle somewhat, as I expected, in giving me a full clean shave after Day 5 where an obvious beard was present. It faired better in that heavy-duty test than most I’ve used in the past and better dry than wet.  The other thing for me was that although the curved arc blades did fit nicely on the neck and under the jawline, due to the nature of my lumberjack face, I was not able to have a perfect clean shave without a little final cleaning up with a straight blade.

Again, to be fair, this model did perform under the jawline better than any others I’ve experienced over the years, so for the most part, a decent job.

The trimmer also worked extremely well for sideburns, ear and nose hair although it performed best when dry.

To clean it, all you have to do is run it under water. You could use a little hand soap if necessary.