ARC5 Electric Razor for Men with Pop-Up Trimmer, Wet/Dry 5-Blade Electric Shaver with Intelligent Shave Sensor and Multi-Flex Pivoting Head, ES-LV65-S (Silver)

TL;DR: fantastic razor for those with sensitivity issues (irritation). My beard is very curly, there's no consistent grain pattern, but it also grows fast. When it grows out even a bit, it gets quite itchy. After doing some research, one thing I had never tried was a foil based electric razor. I have tried every other manner of razor/shaving: traditional multi-blade razors, which work but leave my face irritated (especially on the neck). A friend who was a barber insisted a straight razor would be the ticket, but when he got halfway through he admitted that "there's no consistent grain to shave against" and apologized. My face hurt for a week. I used a Merkur, with about the same results as a multi-blade razor and once, a roommate let me use his Norelco for a week. The "lift and cut" razor hurt my face as well. So I had settled on a Wahl beard trimmer sans guard, which I had to use twice a day to prevent the hair from irritating me. Realizing that my grandfather (now passed), only used foil razors and that I take after him (hair wise), perhaps this was the ticket. Well, I should have tried this sooner. It does not get as close as a blade (on my face, more on that in a moment), but that's perfect for me. I no longer have to use a trimmer twice a day and the ARC5 gets the neck done with a few passes (not one, let's be real). As an added bonus, as a cyclist, I've not had hair on my legs since Obama was first elected. That hair, is light, straight and easy enough to shave every other day in the shower with a blade... but the ARC5 gets close enough to keep it near razor smooth without all that rigamarole. Add the easy USB-C charging, decent battery life, and very easy cleaning (as others have said, soap and water over the blades), plus the great form factor (it's so small), and this is one of the best things I've purchased in a long time. If you, like me, struggle with other razors due to irritation but have to keep your self cleaned up because of wild beard hair... well, I can't recommend it enough.

I shave my head completely to the baby skin point so this review will be from that perspective. First let me start by saying DON’T buy those gimmicky rotary razors with 5+ heads that make all sort of claims about ease of use and closeness of shave. I’ve tried them all - Remington, Pitbull Skull Shaver, Freebird - and they are all garbage. They take forever, do a terrible job, and always leave patches you have to clean up, and dang are they pricey for such a poor product. They suck, period. This razor is the real deal. I have extremely sensitive skin so using clippers or cartridge razors always left red blotchy spots on my head for days due to the irritation and took forever to get the close shave and look I wanted. That caused me to wait weeks to shave my head, letting it grow out to shave less frequently and save my skin. I wore hats and beanies way more frequently than I wanted to cover the growth, then the irritation. That’s a thing of the past with this bad boy. I use this every day, every other day, or every 2nd/3rd day depending on my schedule and I can keep the fresh shaved bald look with zero irritation in a matter of 2-3 minutes. And the shave is the closest I’ve ever had from an electric razor, it’s practically at blade shave level. I don’t use shave product and I go directly against the grain, however you can use product with this razor. As a note, this thing *can* handle slightly longer hair but it takes a while to get through it and it isn’t where this thing shines. If you shave your head, the best way to use this is to use clippers or a blade to shave your head once, then use this as your maintenance razor to easily keep your look. It’s super easy to clean!! Just a few drops of dish soap, a little water, and turn it on until the soap lathers through the blades. Rinse and you’re done!! This is comparable and, in my opinion, superior to Braun’s offerings with a slightly higher initial cost. This is offset by the fact that you don’t have to constantly buy cleaning cartridges for it like Braun requires. Pros: -Extremely close shave, very close to a blade -Long battery life -Great on sensitive skin, leaves no irritation marks -Easy to clean -Ridiculously fast shave if used as a head maintenance razor -Can be used with or without shave oil/cream -Excellent razor for my fellow bald kings Cons: -Not as great on longer hair -Slightly higher up front cost but offset by ease of cleaning -Not mentioned/discussed nearly enough in forums where men are doing the razor hunt This razor took my head shaving to a whole new level and is worth every penny. If you’re on the fence and this review resonates with your needs, take the plunge, you won’t regret it! *Update* - Almost a year later and this thing is still my favorite razor I’ve ever owned for head shaves. I’m in the process of filming a quick video to show how quick and effective this really is. I would add that getting a good Tea Tree face wash to use on your head, as well as a snail mucin moisturizer to rub on after shaving is excellent. For the Tea Tree I recommend Aromatica’s Tea Tree wash, and for the moisturizer I recommend Cosrx or Mizon’s snail cream.

TLDR: I am very, very pleased with this shaver and would buy it again. It is not perfect. About me: I have owned and used many electric shavers. Have always disliked electric shavers and prefer using a razor. However, I no longer have the desire to deal with lathering, shaving, and then cleaning up all that mess every single day. So I'd been using a Panasonic double foil electric shaver that I did not particularly like, until it abruptly died, and I bought this one to replace it. My beard is thick/dense, and I could shave twice a day (would if I needed to put my best self forward in the evening). Pros: Best shave I have ever gotten from an electric shaver. Also the fastest shaves I have ever had an electric shaver - less than 3 minutes to a "socially acceptable" shave, and if taking my time, 6 minutes gets to a "damn fine" shave. No need to go back and forth over the same spot 30 times before it has done anything noticeable. If shaving daily, one pass is all I need. Obviously, it can not get as close as a razor, but it's not far off, either. The pop-up trimmer is very effective, and great for getting the spots that the head can't reach. Also, cleaning it is super easy. Cons: Someone else mentioned and I agree - this thing is LOUD. Wow. Coming from other shavers, this thing is higher-pitched and sure seems higher decibel. Also, it is not particularly gentle on the skin (sometimes less comfortable than using a razor). And the trimmer is not comfortable at all on the skin. Also, the head is HUGE - you will need the trimmer to clean up spots the head won't reach. Advice: Get it and accept its quirks. Also, if you don't have them already, get a block of alum and some aftershave to soothe your skin after using it. Your face will appreciate it. Use a light touch while shaving. Also, just go for "socially acceptable" for the first few shaves - unless you like feeling chewed up. Panasonic says use it for 30 days before judging. I have done so, and I have to admit it has been worth the money.

My perspective on this is coming from someone who used to have a Braun 9 series, gave up on it, and switched first to a safety razor, and then to straight razor. I've been using a straight to shave for about 7 years. I made the full switch to bald about two years ago and have really struggled to find a good solution to head shaving/trimming. A full shave with a Gillette Mach 5 was a bit irritating but using the Norelco One Blade took forever. I wasn't excited about foil after my Braun experience but I decided to try this due to the reviews saying it was fast and close enough. The goods - it IS fast and close enough. As long as I shave face/head every other day, this is less than a 10 minute job and it's really close. It's not BBS like my straight but it is completely acceptable. Neck is good too. No irritation for me as I shave with a light touch and don't worry about a tiny bit of stubble being left somewhere. My face is ~3-4 minutes and my head is about 5 minutes for a very good shave. I'm beyond happy with the speed and closeness of shaving my head with this. Took me from a 30 minutes process of lather, two passes of face, and trim and shave of head to a 10 minute process. Can't complain about that. The little trimmer works well enough on the weird little hairs that are hard to reach in the skin fold above the ear. Might be able to use it a little to trim around beard but it's not going to cut a line The OK's - if you let the hair get much longer than 2 days the razor will really struggle. You might get to the third day but I think you'll be pushing it. So if you're a daily or every other day shaver for face/head this is amazing Not-so-great - I have a goatee, no mustache, and you're just not gonna be able to do lines with this. I wet around my beard, use blade-slip, and cut my lines with the straight razor. This is not a big deal, it's about 1 minutes of time but just so you know. Overall, I give this a 9 out of 10. Charges fast, holds a charge, shaves fast and close with no irritation. I'm happy to add this to my toolbox. I can't imagine why someone would pay 2X as much to get the compact 'head' version of this. There are no problems moving this around my head and getting all the angles. I'm expecting a Japanese built shaver to hold up for the long term and I thought the price was very fair for what I got.

I NEVER write reviews but really had to for this. Strap in. I used to be in the military and couldn’t have facial hair. Then I left and immediately grew a beard. I had that for almost ten years. Then I joined the fire department and couldn’t have a beard (I’m just rocking a mustache instead). When I’ve needed to shave, I’ve taken it REALLY seriously. I’ve used straight i.e. cutthroat razors, I’ve used safety razors, I’ve had badger brushes and shaving creams. You name it, I’ve tried it. I REALLY wanted a straight razor shave to be unbelievably close and awesome. Don’t get me wrong, using one of those feels badass but it was never incredibly close. Anyway, here I am, a couple of months in on a mustache-only regime and due to time and travel (hand baggage only), I thought an electric shaver might be a good idea (despite thinking it absolute sacrilege to go this route). I looked up all the reviews and just about every single one said Braun series 7 or 9. I suspect that Braun have put down some serious marketing cash but I won’t slate them because I haven’t used them. Then I looked at Which? magazine (a U.K. review magazine, which is a paid for subscription and therefore more impartial). Anyway, they recommended a Panasonic that’s a few years old. This one was new and cheaper, so I went with this. Dear reader, I’m devastated to tell you that despite my hours and hours of time, a lot of energy, and cash to get an amazing wet shave, this shaver blows it all out of the water. It’s incredibly quick and genuinely the closest shave I’ve ever had. It’s really annoying. I feel like a total sell-out but it really is that good. A couple of notes: 1. Yes, you will get the occasional hair that refuses to get cut but I found that with wet shaving and eventually they all succumb but it might be on the next shave. 2. I didn’t get the cleaning station. This seems like a blatant up-sell. I got myself a tiny brush and will just use that and the occasional dab of mineral oil. In my experience, these sorts of ‘automatic’ cleaning devices rarely work well. 3. Personal experiences may vary. I have pretty thick hair and get 5 o’clock shadow. My first shave was about 3 days growth and I felt no snagging. 4. I’ve found (perhaps unsurprisingly) that you get a better shave from the middle of the foils, so in tricky places - like around the ear lobe and mustache - you have to get stuck in a bit closer than feels comfortable to get it all. Don’t worry, it won’t hoover up your cookie duster or Van Gogh you. Simply amazing. Honestly, I was shocked. Give it a try (and tell no-one). Update: I’m a few more days in and still amazed on the daily. Battery power is great and yesterday I was pushed for time and ended up shaving in the car; can’t do that with a wet razor. Update - 15 months later: Still happy with the razor but wondered when I should look at changing the blades/foils. General advice seems to be 12-18 months and I’m right in the middle of that bracket. I shave most days and have fairly thick stubble, so figured it’s about time. The new blade and foil set is around $85, so I wanted to be sure. I kept the old set just in case and gave the new ones a go. Unreal. Like a new razor. So close and so fast. It’s annoying to lay out that kind of money but it comes out at about $5.60 a month, so really not that bad. If you’re around the 12-18 month point and aren’t sure, go for it. Oh, and clean your razor daily with a little brush, wash it in water once a week and use mineral oil to keep it lubricated. It’ll extend the life for sure.

After using a Norelco rotary type shaver for over four decades, I decided to switch to this foil type one. I have been using it for three months now, and by that I will give my review. The pros with it is that is provides a very close shave, which in many ways seems better than the rotary that I had been using. I find it easy to shave with, and switching from one electric shaver to this one, I did not experience any razor burn. The foil is easy to remove, so I just take it off and rinse the blades and foil after every shave. It holds a charge without needing to be plugged back in, with daily 2 minute shaving for about for just over a month before needing recharging. Overall I am pleased with it. The cons: First, the amount of power left in the shaver is shown in percent power left on the battery. However, it is not linear -- you see it move by ten percent increments only as it drains. That is, you will not see 95% or 75% on the unit, but it will hold the same percent until it drops to 90, then 80, etc. That's not a big deal, but just the same, you may think it has more battery life left than what you see. Next, I have found that it does not do a good job on little hairs that can lay down. The edge foils are just too fine to grab onto those types of hairs. There is a large comb for that, but in the design, it's in the middle of shaver foils, making it impossible to get a flat hair along the side of the sideburn or moustache. I've not found any remedy except to use some scissors first. Overall, I am happy with this shaver and I am pleased with how it works, even with having used the rotary type for most of my life. As for the "ultrasonic" cleaning feature that it has, I really have not found that useful. Just rinse the foil and blades in water and they are back to clean again.

I bought an electric razor because the contours of my face and texture of my facial hair has changed and found that a safety razor was missing spots and irritating my skin. I first looked at Braun, but gravitated to Panasonic because it was roughly half the price and had solid reviews. Upon receiving the shaver I was pleased with it. It takes a bit of getting used to, and takes a bit longer than a traditional razor, but it’s far less irritating and produces a clean shave. So far, a happy customer. I take exceptional care of the tools and appliances I own. I usually own things long after the warranty expires and beyond what would be considered a typical lifespan. I was meticulous in cleaning the razor and following the instructions for maintenance. One morning I noticed the razor was not giving the same level of shave. The experience took much longer than usual. When I got home I was in my bathroom and noticed something on the floor. Two small, thin pieces of metal. I could not for the life of me figure out what they were, or where they had come from. When I had a similar shaving experience the next couple of days I took a good look at the Braun razor. That is when I figured out where the two pieces of metal had come from. They are part of the razor head cover. How they fell out is anyone’s guess. The center of the razor was not shaving my face because the blades fell out. Still under warranty I began my attempt to contact Panasonic Customer Support. This is where my frustration lies and why the razor only gets 3 stars. First off, durability. Secondly, Panasonic’s customer support does not exist. All the numbers online are not in service. When you do finally get someone they transfer you to a department that handles laptops, or something else which doesn’t apply to this product. I was transferred to line for hearing aids covered by Medicare. After wasting hours I abandoned all hour of finding resolution over the phone. I switched to their online customer support. More frustration. The links lead you all over, but not to anywhere you can create a ticket. Chat was even worse, resulting in the chat being dropped, or directed to another dead end. A friend at work finally asked me the cost of replacement blades. I told her &50. She suggested that it was worth the $50 to end the aggravation and that I just buy the replacements and move on. Ultimately that’s exactly what I was forced to do. My sense is that that’s Panasonic’s game plan as well. Sad. Large company. They do not stand behind what they sell. I will not revisit. You will also have to replace the blades every 6 months.

I have a moderate beard, kinda Goldilocks sorta thing, not too thick of heavy, but it grows in nice and full if I let it. Being retired, I tend toward maybe mowing it down 2-3 times a week with a cheap cordless hair trimmer before resorting to a multi-blade manual shave in the shower. Been shaving for over 50 years, beginning with my grandfather's old WWII Safety Razor that he took to war. I too took it into the service with me, where daily close shaves were a necessity (I was an Instructor, so ya had to look sharp) and being late was never an option, so after tiring of the blood-letting of too many quick shaves, along with way too many cold water shaves in the field, I finally saw the light and migrated to the multi-blade madness. First two, then three, four, five, ten twelve, who knows now, but I got off of the train at three, and I was always (or more importantly, my wife) more than satisfied with the shower shave results. Typically my face would stay smooth to the discerning touch (again, da wife) for the whole day, and it looked good enough to play for most of a second day at work, but needed work if I had any hopes of something more than Letterman. My Pops had used an old Remington foil head for the last twenty or so years of his life, and I tried it a couple of times back when I first started shaving. Let's just say the old Safety Razor that he gave me was a whole lot kinder, so I never tried again until sometime in my early 50's when one of my kids gave me a Rotary shaver for Xmas. I was always very busy, running my own construction business, and she thought it would be perfect for those mornings when I ran late and wanted to try and shave as I drove to work. Yeah, not really a solution. Aside from the rampant irritation, I'd end up looking like some institutional escapee with patches of missed beard here here and everywhere, so again, back to the manual path I returned. Then, on a selfish whim the other day (kids are all grown and gone, successful and independent, so they no longer need our financial support) I finally decided to treat myself and try the electric path again. Did the usual sifting through too many fake ad review & test sites, read pages and pages of Amazon reviews, and asked everybody I knew who used one, before narrowing it down to the foil type, and from there either Panasonic or Braun. The fact that neither had a user replaceable battery made the prospects of spending for their latest and greatest models seem insane, so I decided upon the Panasonic ARC 5, vs. the 6. In the end, after all of my research the reason I didn't go with the Braun had nothing to do with their razor, but rather that I had a bunch of Panasonic solar Panels that have been great, and an old Braun hair clipper that was trash, so there ya go marketing departments, target that. Finally, to the razor. Charged it overnight, even though it already showed a full charge out of the box, then read the directions telling me not to bother. I used the pop-up trimmer instead of my usual old hair clippers w/o a guard to mow down about a four day growth and then went with a very, very light touch (recalling my past face shredding experiences with other electrics past). In short, the only issues I had were in trying to finish shaving around the silly ass grin that I couldn't seem to wipe off of my stupid face. There were a couple of spots that I went over twice, and it of course didn't get as close as my hot shower manual shave, but this was completely dry, no gel or lotion, which is certainly not how I use the manual. Even stroking my face against my beard grain it feels like my old manual shave would by early afternoon. This was amazing, and I mean not one nic, grab or pull. Holy cow I should'a done his years ago! Since I shaved dry I just blew it out when done, and after close inspection, hat was all that it needed to clear the spent bristles, but I followed the included directions along with a few drops of Dawn dish soap after the second shave. I realize that it's all novel and new, but I don't think I've looked forward to shaving this much since I was 14. Extremely glad I didn't waste money on a cleaning/charging station (I mean it's just too easy and simple to do without). I think the whole two step first shave might have taken all of three minutes, but my second was barely a minute with similarly great results. Quite honestly, I cannot even begin to imagine how much better a shave either the top of the line Braun, or the ARC 6 could possibly give, unless it snuck into bed with me and did so while I slept. We'll see how long the honeymoon (as well as the blades and battery) lasts, and I will follow up here, but so far I could not possibly be happier with my less than $150 purchase.

Excellent product ! I have used Philipses and Brauns but none of them can be compared with this ! Today I did my first shave, dry and result was wonderful ! Not only it did a job just like a good razor, the time taken by it was much less. Very much plased and satisfied from this product.

I just bought this after trying a Phillips that didn't even compare to the one I've had for over 15 years. This is a great shaver and I would say is as close as a blade without the hassle. Very happy with the purchase.

Overall excellent product. However one may note the following: 1) Getting the product in UAE was a challenge since the Supplier had cancelled my Order, and upon raising complaints and by placing the Order again, Amazon team did follow-up with the vendor to make them deliver the product. 2) Packet did not contain Oil or the Brush however the Shaver is made in JAPAN, ( and the charger is made in china which is fine) After using the shaver for few times following are my comments: 1) Charging last for 3-4 shaves for me. Shaver is able to give smooth shaving provided the hair length is small. Shaver does an excellent job on sensitive areas like upper lip mustache area. Lower chin and the sides, shaving require multiple try, still not getting a perfect result. 2) Charger connector is proprietary even though it is 5V charger. Panasonic should have used the Type-C charging pin that make our life easy on charging.

Been using this for about a month now. This a definitely a high end shaver with the build quality, and results you can expect from a high end Panasonic model. It works well wet or dry and with/without shave cream. The design is perfect for traveling and the battery lasts me about 20 shaves/charge. It also has a natural feeling case that is easy to grip with a solid feel in your hand. I think the only flaw in my opinion is that the power button is on the bottom (and rather small in size) so I need two hands to turn it on. A larger power button on the side of the device would be better for one handed operation. I suppose this is the compromise for the small travel size.

uso o barbeador a seco, pois acho muito mais prático. O barbeador é tão suave, que a gente nem sente o corte dos pelos.