Philips Norelco G480 All-in-One Premium Grooming Kit

This little trimmer is fantastic. I have been using it on a bi-weekly/weekly basis for the last 7 years to trim my head, beard and chest/stomach. I have very thick hair and it grows incredibly fast, but I like it short. So I have definitely put this trimmer through its paces. Even after 7 years of battery cycles I can easily get an hour or more of use out of it. That's amazing. I only really use the main trimmer (silver) with the beard attachment for everything. I then touch up tight places with the precision attachment. The nose hair trimmer works well and I never had it pull hair. If you have it pulling hair, you either have very long hair, you don’t clean your attachments or your trimmer isn’t charged enough. I take the main trimmer head apart after every use and brush it out with the supplied brushes and oil the blades. Sometimes, if I waited too long between trimmings, I will have to clean out the attachment mid trimming. The mechanism is pretty simple and easy to maintain. However, there is a decent amount of plastic that worries me every time I clean it. On occasion I will put some white lithium grease on the moving parts for the main trimmer. The blades are held together with a magnet which makes it easy to remove hair. A lot of hair does get jammed up between the metal blade and the plastic housing, but tweezers help there. I have noticed the last couple years that the clippers get jammed up easier and I assume it is due to the dulling blades. I can’t really be upset that I am dulling the blades of a $24 trimmer after 7 years of heavy use. I highly recommend this model.

Short term review, will update in a couple months.First impressions regarding performance:I purchased this trimmer as a beard trimmer and did not think I would use most of the accessories. However, I'm pleased the unit came with a compact precision trimmer and adjustable guard, as I find this better suited to beard trimming than the larger standard beard/hair default (silver) blade. I was not expecting the mini shaving foil to be very useful, but once again I was pleasantly surprised to find it extremely good at shaving a buffer zone around my beard (I use a norelco radial style razor and it's difficult to be precise). I don't think the nose/ear or micro trimmer blade will see much use. The units power and speed are fine (much better than the trimmer feature on my norelco razor); note: this is not for clipping an entire head of hair. I am quite pleased with the purchase thus far.To clear up a couple misconceptions other reviewers have stated:1) This unit is powered by a NiMH cell (far superior to NiCad as others have stated). No it's not lithium, but it is a step in the right direction.2) The trimmer does indeed charge while in its stand, just as long as you find the hole/bracket for the dc terminal and insert it accordingly.Major pros:- 5 reasonable quality trimming heads (good designs, sharp blades), 3 easily adjustable locking guards- Respectable build quality of the trimmer itself, the heads leave a little to be desired as they are not very robust.- 30+ minute run time for this price bracket is above the competitionThings to improve (or save for higher-end models as Norelco does):1) Use directly on power supply! This cost pennies to implement (my low-end norelco electric razor does it and it's 10 years old). I don't like waiting 10 hours for a proper recharge when the juice is all used up.2) A travel case would be an excellent addition. All the accessories are fragile and easily damaged left unprotected in a travel sac.3) REGULATED charging. Why cant the transformer shut off by itself at a certain voltage like any decent NiMH charger?? Again, pennies for a big improvement. Charging much over 12 hours and you are damaging the battery. I don't like babysitting electronics.4) Build quality of heads it pretty minimal. They work very well, but don't expect them to take a drop or any rough handling.Bottom line:Extremely good value for the engineering, quality, and rendered performance. Accessory pack is more useful than I imagined. Let me know if anything is better for <1/4 Benjamin.

I have been trying to find the right electric razor for a while. Between not getting what I want and losing the chargers, I just about gave up. Then I got this kit.The razor looked a little dainty and breakable at first glance. This is not the case. The casing is sturdy, as are the interchangeable blades, which are easy to remove and click into place. The guards are quite useful, though it may have more than you will ever use. I find myself only using one, but it is nice to have the options. The stand holds everything in one small footprint; if you get into the habit of placing the bits in the stand, you never lose them, which is great. The place for the shaver itself is where it charges as well.One amazing thing to mention would be the usage per charge. I have charged this unit once since I got it months ago, and have yet to lose any power. Beyond what I mentioned above, this is a huge selling point for me.All in all, I am very happy with this purchase, and would recommend this to anyone without hesitation.

UPDATED: 4/2023 —I have now been using this for 12 years. Still works like new! Only have to charge twice a year. Amazing.OK, I have waited 18 months to write this review. So, this isn't one of those "I've opened the package and it looks great"-type reviews.This grooming kit really does have everything you need and the battery life is incredible. Each month I use the groomer to cut my hair (which is much thinned as a result of age). I use it four times a month to trim my mustache. And I use it occasionally to touch up what my blade-shave did not quite do as well as it should have. I have recharged it three times in the 18 months!The various attachments are adjustable and the various grooming heads cover a wide range of needs. This unit feels good in the hand and is light enough to easily manipulate, but heavy enough to feel substantial. The quality is excellent and it was well worth the price.