Panasonic ES-LS9A Men's Electric Shaver - 6-Blade Wet & Dry Shaving System with Cleaning & Charging Station - Perfect for Travel, Home & Office Use

I’ve years of experience with top of the range electric shavers - Panasonic, Braun and Philips, I’ve had the latest Braun Series 9 iteration and the latest Philips Prestige.When choosing foil or rotary in this price bracket you’re essentially choosing between a closer shave (foil) that takes longer than shaving by rotary and risks missing awkward longer hairs like those on the neck; or a slightly less close shave with a rotary but which is quicker and gets the awkward hairs first time.The Panasonic foil shaves noticeably closer than its Braun rival (and certainly closer than the Philips rotary.) It also has no irritation where the Braun can sometimes cause that when going for a close shave. Its capturing of awkward hairs is about twice as good as the Braun rival requiring only minimal deployment of the trimmer, if any. It’s just a superior shave to the Braun and is as close to a wet blade shave as I’ve experienced.In terms of cleaning, here Panasonic also wins. The current Philips cleaning iteration is the worst in the premium market. Either a Prestige model comes with no cleaning station at all (as they supplied it with a QI charging pad instead) which is silly for a top of the range shaver, or their new iteration of a cleaning pod, which is awful. The Philips pod is just a plastic container where the cleaning power is just the shaver itself going upside down and turning on. With no power to the pod there is no indication of when the liquid runs out or needs changing. Very bad,The Braun has its stalwart clean and charge station. This is very good, but the bulky plastic cartridges are over priced and run out quickly. Panasonic’s cleaning station is an improvement on Braun. It cleans better and has a long drying cycle. It has clear low indications. You use a sachet of chemical which you empty into the station and mix with water. A cheaper and less environmentally impactful proposition to the Braun.In terms of looks an aesthetics, that’s a personal choice. The Panasonic may look to some like it has an over sized head, but the hold and feel of the shaver is very good and feels more elegant in the hand than the Braun. It’s supplied with a nice case, plastic cap for the foil and cleaning brush.I surprised myself after about 7 Brauns and 4 Philips over the years that this beats both on pretty much all categories and I wouldn’t go back.