Review: Panasonic Multishape is a Surprisingly Functional Grooming Kit

The brand new Panasonic Multishape goals to pack your entire male grooming wants collectively into one useful package, and, for probably the most half, it succeeds. Centered round a single battery-operated base/deal with (selection of Li-ion or Ni-MH), you possibly can pop on attachments for shaving, trimming (beard, physique, or nostril), and even a sonic toothbrush. Whereas nobody element is kind of best-in-class, they’re all fairly good and, taken collectively as a bundle, make a compelling argument for changing your present grooming gear.

Multishape package choices

Panasonic provides each pre-packaged Multishape kits and the choice to create your personal package with any mixture of accessible attachments. On the coronary heart of any of those kits is the Multishape’s battery-powered base/deal with. Panasonic provides two flavors of the bottom – Li-ion ($60) and Ni-MH ($50). Provided that small worth distinction, there’s actually no cause to not go together with the Li-ion model. It provides practically double the working time (90 minutes of trimmer use versus 50 minutes for the Ni-MH), a 3-minute fast cost, a low-battery warning indicator, and a rubberized anti-slip coating. (The Ni-MH deal with doesn’t help fast cost). Each handles are waterproof and may be absolutely charged in an hour. Sadly, neither deal with has a remaining cost indicator, forcing you to both make sure that the unit is absolutely charged earlier than you journey or take the wire with you.

For attachments, you have got the choice of:

• 3-blade shaver head ($35)
• beard & hair trimmer head with two combs ($35)
• physique, hair, and beard trimmer with 4 combs ($40)
• electrical toothbrush head ($35)
• Nostril and ear trimmer ($20)
• Dopp package “free reward” for orders over $100

All the attachments pop on or off with the press of a button positioned on the again of the bottom.

There are three kits out there beginning at $135. One package, oddly, is priced greater than shopping for the items individually. And the opposite two will prevent $15 – they each embody a nostril/ear trimmer, so the maths solely works if this attachment is vital to you. If not, you’re higher off shopping for individually.

Panasonic despatched me the Ultimate All-in-One Kit ($170) for testing, which incorporates the Li-ion base, 3-blade shaver head, nostril trimmer, and toothbrush with two brush heads. This package normally contains the Dopp luggage, however the luggage weren’t out there after they despatched me the package. 

Efficiency

Panasonic has been making a number of the prime grooming merchandise available on the market for years. Their Arc5 was our choose for the best men’s shaver, and the Arc3 was our favorite shaver under $100, so my expectations had been excessive for the shaver within the Multishape package. Alternatively, I wasn’t positive whether or not that efficiency would play out on this new package type or whether or not Panasonic had taken any shortcuts to hit the $35 attachment worth level. Nonetheless, after a few months of testing towards different shavers, together with Panasonic’s new flagship Arc6, I got here away suitably impressed. The three-blade Multishape shaver delivered a really clear shave with no irritation, even with a couple of days of working-from-home stubble to cope with. Maybe not surprisingly, the foil and blades on the Multishape seem equivalent to these on the Arc3. Even side-by-side towards the Arc6, it was arduous to tell apart a big distinction; and for shaving round a beard, I truly favor the smaller head on the Multishape.

The beard & hair trimmers, true to their Panasonic pedigree, additionally work nice. The smaller 1-inch trimmer has lengthy and quick combs, providing 39 slicing lengths in half-millimeter increments from zero to 20mm. The broader 1.5-inch trimmer has 4 combs and might deal with lengths as much as 30mm. The settings are straightforward to regulate and lock securely in place (although I might have favored extra distinction within the numbering – is there a cause why Panasonic selected gentle gray ink as a substitute of white to print on a darkish grey physique?). With loads of energy coming from the bottom, the trimmer powered by way of my beard rapidly and evenly.

The one letdown in my testing was with the toothbrush. Conceptually, I get Panasonic’s need to crash the Oral-B/Sonicare electrical toothbrush get together and the profitable substitute head enterprise that comes with it, however the Multishape toothbrush isn’t absolutely as much as the job. Cleansing efficiency could be very arduous to measure objectively, although the toothbrush appeared roughly on par with the Oral B and Sonicare fashions I’ve used. And that’s a giant plus. Nonetheless, the top of the toothbrush is just not in alignment together with your pure grip of the bottom deal with (a flat facet on the again makes for a centered grip, whereas the top is about 30 levels off-axis) and by no means felt intuitive when brushing. And the toothbrush head, itself, would often pop off throughout use.

On the flip facet, the Multishape base provides way more battery energy than my Oral-B or Sonicare models, which are inclined to die in a short time. That turns into an actual ache when touring, and I haven’t remembered (or bothered) to deliver the charging base. So, whereas the Multishape works effectively as an alternative to journey, I wouldn’t advocate it as your day-to-day brush.

I couldn’t adequately take a look at the nostril/ear trimmer as a result of and don’t know anybody with sufficient extraneous hair to wish one. Nonetheless, different Panasonic nose trimmers have obtained tens of 1000’s of fantastic opinions on Amazon, and I might anticipate this one to carry out equally.

Cleansing & Upkeep

The Panasonic Multishape is a moist/dry shaver, so it’s straightforward to wash within the sink with a fast rinse-off. The shaver head additionally comes aside for deeper cleansing of the blades and foil. When the blades must be changed, the Multishape makes use of the same blades and foils because the Arc3, so discovering components ought to by no means be a problem.

The toothbrush heads are solely out there on Panasonic’s dedicated Multishape site for $26 for a pack of 4. While you add within the $10 in transport fees (and you may’t get them anyplace with free transport or choose up in-store), the worth is barely greater than what you’ll pay for Philips Sonicare or Oral-B.

The underside line

The Multishape system stunned me with each its comfort and efficiency. As a bearded man who usually makes use of each a shaver and a trimmer, having each options built-in into one base unit was handy and supplied admirable grooming outcomes. The truth is, it has changed my older shaving gadgets for each day use. And since you possibly can construct your personal package, the Multishape allows you to choose the appropriate attachment combine for you and add to it later, as desired. The shape issue is ideal for longer journeys, the place you want numerous gadgets and wish to decrease suitcase litter. I want I used to be as impressed by the toothbrush – it’s positively not the promoting level for going with the Multishape, nevertheless it serves a goal when touring.

Should you’re trying to improve your grooming package or in search of a present for one of many guys in your life, the Multishape deserves severe consideration. The Panasonic Multishape is at present out there solely by way of Panasonicmultishape.com.

[Image credit: Josh Kirschner/Techlicious]

Josh Kirschner is the co-founder of Techlicious and has been protecting client tech for greater than a decade. Josh began his first firm whereas nonetheless in school, a client electronics retailer targeted on college students. His writing has been featured in At present.com, NBC Information and Time.