Electric Shaver advice wanted

Rather than add this to the coffee maker thread, I thought I'd start a razor thread. Of course, by the end of the day people will probably be talking about coffee makers here.

I have an old Remington shaver that has given outstanding service for more than 6 years. It still works as well as it ever did, and I was impressed with Remington's customer service. I bought it used on eBay, the battery was poor (two or three shaves and that was it) and when I emailed Remington to see if there was anything I could do, they told me to send it in and they'd fix it for free, which they did. Apparently the new battery was either a different technology or greatly improved in some other way, because after 6 years the shaver will still give two to three weeks service between recharges.

The shaver hasn't changed in 6 years, but my beard has. As I've gotten older (I'll be 66 years old in a few months) my beard has become more coarse, that is, in some places on my neck and on my cheeks the individual hairs are now too thick to go through the cutting screen. I have to flip open the sideburn trimmer and mow those areas with that.

I am too lazy to forgo the speed, simplicity, comfort and economy of an electric razor, so some fancy multi-bladed Gillette-type razor is not an option for me.

Do any of you have ideas I might explore?

tanstaafl.

Is your Remington an oscillating or rotary type?
I think the rotary type has larger gaps for the whiskers than the oscillator types, but I don't have anything but unfounded impressions to base that upon.

I've had my Norelco rotary for (gosh!) more than thirty years. It's not my primary method of mowing my face, but was for a year or two in the past. The motor is a bit sluggish these days, but it still does the job when I don't take the time to shave wet.

I can't use electric razors. They leave my skin raw, yet, somehow, fail to actually cut my beard.

That said, it looks like Braun has a different foil cut that might work for you, especially in the higher-end models.

I'm happy with my Braun Series 7 electric. No electric gets as close as a blade, but it gets way closer than any other electric I've owned (I've owned an older, similar Braun model, as well as a Remington and a couple of Norelco rotary jobs.) With the exception of the Norelco rotaries, which all sucked, the other foil shavers could get pretty close if I kept at it, but they would take many more passes to get close enough, which led to a lot more irritation. The Series 7 still requires a few passes around the neck area, but can basically take care of everything else with one or two smooth, steady passes, which means my face isn't as red and it doesn't take nearly as long.

The one drawback is that the cleaning refills are expensive and wasteful (non-recyclable plastic), so I'm going to start refilling them with Everclear (190 proof grain alcohol) to avoid the expense/waste once the ones I have run out.

I don't know for sure that there's anything tangibly better about the Series 7 than the other lower-end models, but I got a really good deal on the Series 7, so I went for it.

I should have noted in my post that the ultimate, closest shave in the world is not one of my priorities. I'm just looking for something that will chop off the stubble in one or two passes without having to go to extremes.

I'll look into the Brauns... but recent customer reviews on Amazon don't look too promising for the newest models. People are saying that the older Brauns were better.

tanstaafl.

It's the oscillating type. I have had Norelco rotary shavers, and have found that the oscillating ones seem to do better for me.

tanstaafl.

Funny you should mention that, as your nearest peer (Age wise) on this thread, my beard acquires more body at about the same rate as my hair loses it, although I still have a full head.
If it helps, I can't speak for new Braun shavers, but, as mentioned in another thread, I've recently purchased a mains only, series 1 Braun, which, for a habitual wet shaver, is the nearest I've got to a decent electric shave.