Panasonic 5-blade wet/dry shaver review

Over the last few days I’ve had the opportunity to test out the Panasonic 5-Blade Wet/Dry Shaver and see how it performs. I got to do three separate shaves with about two days between each, so I have a pretty good idea of it’s level of quality. If you’re in the market for a new electric shaver and would like to get the details of this linear blade model, then just keep on reading. I’ll tell you all about its various features and specs, let you know how it worked in testing, and ultimately let you know whether or not I consider it a worthy purchase. Read on!

But before you get too far into the written review, why not check out my brief video overview of the Panasonic 5-Blade Shaver. In it you’ll see the shaver up close, see it in action, hear a summary of its features and benefits, and get my overall thoughts on its quality.

Panasonic 5-blade wet/dry shaver features & specs

The Panasonic 5-blade wet/dry shaver has a good bit going for it. Among its key features are a high-speed 14,000cpm linear motor that drives 5 x 30-degree nano-polished arc blades. This system is designed for reliability, efficiency, and an incredibly close shave. Other features of this shaver include its Multi-Flex shaving head that allows it to conform to the shape of your face and neck, a pop-up trimmer that’s great for precision shaping of places like your side burns, and a fully waterproof design that allows you to use it for either a wet shave or a dry one—whichever you prefer. It also features a fully cordless design (it uses a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery for that), and its charge status indicator will quickly tell you whether or not that battery is charged and ready to go. The Panasonic 5-Blade features durable ABS construction for strength and a longer life, and its intelligent shaving sensor automatically adjusts the motor to account for the density of your beard so as to achieve the best possible results with every shave.

Also included in the box is a protective cap that goes over the shaver’s blades, a zip-up travel case, a small brush for cleaning it up, and a very small bottle of beard oil. Of course, there’s also the charging adapter. This shaver just plugs into a standard wall outlet to charge, but it’s entirely wire free when in use.

Testing & use of the Panasonic 5-blade wet/dry shaver

Although the Panasonic 5-blade wet/dry shaver is designed for either wet or dry use, I prefer a dry shave most of the time, and this shaver was certainly up to the job.

While the vast majority of shavers I have either tried, owned, or tested in the past have been of the rotary blade variety, this model’s liner blade design worked just as well as any rotary shaver, and I didn’t end up getting a single cut over the course of 3 shaves. I have to admit, not having much experience with liner electric blades, I was concerned about this (I thought it might be a hair puller), but the Panasonic did a fine job both in terms of how close of a shave I got and in preventing injury of any kind.

The closeness of the shave was actually better than my current rotary shaver—although in that shaver’s defence, it is getting somewhat old and has never had the blades sharpened or replaced. Still, I was very impressed with how close of a shave I got from the Panasonic 5-Blade.

It was almost as good as using a razor blade, which helped to buy me an extra day between shaves all week. While in recent times I’ve had to shave pretty much every day (or at least every one and a half days), the closeness of the Panasonic shave meant it was more like 2-2.5 days before I had significant enough growth to require another round. I really appreciate this as I am not a huge fan of shaving—and even less so in the current climate of mostly staying at home. My policy is, ‘nobody is going to see me anyway, so why can’t I look like Grizzly Adams?’

I also found the Panasonic to be faster than my rotary shaver, and it’s certainly faster than lathering up for an old-fashioned razor blade shave. Of course, you can always lather up to shave with this, but that’s a bit too messy for my liking. When it comes to shaving, I want something that’s fast, effective, and won’t chop up my face. The Panasonic 5-blade met all of these criteria.

I didn’t really have much occasion to use the pop-up trimmer, but I still gave it a try just to see how it would work. It worked exactly as expected, and there really isn’t much more to say about it than that. I don’t tend to do my side burns every shave anyway. I consider that more of a haircut sort of project.

Final thoughts

So, the ultimate question is, should you buy the Panasonic 5-blade wet/dry shaver? In my opinion, if you need a new shaver and like linear blade models, then this may well be the shaver for you.

In my experience, it provides a close shave without causing injury, and to me those are really the two most important things. Of course, it also feels like a well made and high quality product, has a number of additional features that you may find useful, and comes from a reputable brand. In my brief time testing it, I was extremely pleased with how it performed. I have no complaints about it whatsoever. It might just be time to get rid of my old rotary shaver.

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