Philips Norelco - 7000 Series Hair Trimmer - Gray/Black

I like the concept behind this trimmer, and I wish there weren't so many things that bug me about it because, let's face it, everyone wants less work when it comes to clean up after shaving; especially when it's time for the winter coat or playoff beard to get trimmed. Unfortunately, those types of situations don't really improve with this trimmer. This is the second generation for me on this razor, as I have the previous model, so I am comparing this one to my old one, seeing if they fixed some of the major nuances of it, and greatly improved it over the last model. The quick and dirty is, no, they haven't. The good news is, if you liked the last one, you can pretty much stick with it, or buy a second one; there isn't any surprise with this one. If you haven't tried the last one and need a new trimmer, this is still a good trimmer. It's just not as amazing as it could be with the vacuum feature. I have used everything from Braun, to Remmington, to Norelco, over the years, and I find the Norelcos to be more comfortable or consistent for me. The ones I had before this and the previous model all had were adjustable, but no frills. They were less expensive, so I didn't expect much, but they got the job done. They also didn't have the vacuum feature, so things could get messy. This model is longer than my previous 3000 and 5000 series, and took a bit of getting used to, but it cuts pretty well and, again, gets the job done, though with a little less mess. The box says it collects "up to 90%" of your hair, and while it does collect a good amount, in certain circumstances, I wouldn't say it's 90% in most situations. Because I have the old unit I did a comparison to see how they differed, and I will say this revision collects more hair than the other one, by about 10% more, though I misplaced my measurements, so I can't give better figures. This newer model has a slightly different design for the plastic housing around the vacuum fan, with a grill in the front and back, where the old model just had holes in the front. This might account for the collection increase. This newer model is also quieter than the old one, and that also might be due to this change. Aside from that, the last revision and this are identical. Both come with the same attachments, the same cleaning supplies, and are the exact same dimensions. The old one had a blue fan and this has a grey one, and the housing on the newer model is a darker silver than the old. Other than that grill change and the color, you would be hard pressed to identify which is newer. The charge in this holds up for a while, and though power does drop a bit as the charge lowers, it's not significant, cutting is still solid, and it lasts a while before that happens. It also charges fully very quickly. The adjustments are nice, in .5mm increments, and the dial is visible due to a backlight that turns on when you adjust. I find the guard to be comfortable at most angles, and it does a solid job getting most of the hair in one or two passes. I have yet to use an electric trimmer that cuts all hairs evenly on the first pass, and this is on par with the rest of them. The biggest pains for this trimmer come from the biggest feature. The vacuum, while collecting hair for you, is a bit of a pain to clean. To empty it, you pull the guard and blade off, and dump the trimmer over. And bang on it. And wipe it out. And wipe it again. Honestly, I barely clean it more than just knocking out the big clumps because it takes so much work. Then, to make matters worse, the motor attaches to the cutting head with a shaft that fits up into a greased up housing, where small hairs can collect. And they will. They also get stuck up in the housing behind the blade and don't come out easily when rinsing. The Q-Tip style cleaning piece is supposed to help get in those areas to remove hair, but the foam ends flex too much and feel like they will rip off when you push it around to get hair out. The brush is good for wiping off the blades, but it doesn't help get the rest of the areas around the motor. Besides making everything about the trimmer difficult to clean, the vacuum feature does pick up quite a bit of hairs, and it can fill fast depending on how much you have to go through. It does, however, struggle with longer lengths. Instead of sucking those in, they tend to clump up on the outside and fall or scatter. This is typical of most trimmers, so nothing new. It's just a bummer the vacuum isn't designed with this type of length in mind. I'm also not a fan of the clips that go down the side for holding the guard and blades on. I haven't had one break, yet, and I used my old one for a while. That said, I do tend to be more careful with them since they feel a bit weak. I have tried putting one or two on backwards before, and I think I would have easily broken something if I had tried to force it a bit more before I realized it was flipped. The last thing about this is the charger. I wish it had a stand. I have a Norelco Shaver that includes a charging stand and it's way more tidy, convenient, and easier than plugging the cord into the bottom and letting it flop on the counter. Thankfully, the bag it comes with holds all the accessories, trimmer, and charger, so it can be easy to store out of the way when playoff time comes back around. Overall, it's a good trimmer, as it does the job, and it does make the work area cleaner as you use it. Just don't expect the easiest time cleaning the trimmer out after all that work. The vacuum feature, while a great idea, still has some miles to go before they nail it.

Pros Easy to change length of cut Quiet Multiple guard options included Trimmer attachment included Hair is kept off your counter Vacuum seems to have increased in suction Good battery life Includes travel bag Cons Moving parts with grease tend to get hair stuck in them Suction doesn’t work with longer hairs Suction doesn’t work with stiffer hair Accessory retaining clips are prone to failure Trimming head sometimes partially cuts hairs Trimmer guards don’t evenly lift hairs for trimming Doesn’t include a counter stand It seems every time you look there are new grooming products trying to make daily tasks easier and less messy. Often changes are minor and don’t make significant changes to our daily routine. The Norelco 7000 Series Trimmer aims to make trimming your beard quicker and less messy and allow easy daily touchups. Design The design carries over from previous generations with an integrated vacuum to suck up as much of the hair trimmings possible and help lift the hair slightly. The standard head includes an adjustable guard that snaps over it. Height adjustments are made via an integrated dial with shows the height on a lighted display allowing checking your setting easy. An extra trimmer attachment is included with fixed height guards more like a standard trimmer. This is more for touchups around the edges, sideburns, and mustache. The trimmer, accessories, and charger are stored in a cloth bag when not in use. No countertop stand is included. The attachments are marketed as washable but the trimmer itself is for dry use only. This is all standard for this type of trimmer but what is different is the way the trimmer heads snap in place. It uses thin, plastic tabs. In previous generations this was a weak spot which would cause premature failure causing the trimmer head to not stay attached. If there was any main criticism of previous generations, it would be this flaw and the current design doesn’t improve on this flaw. Performance The marquee feature of this beard trimmer over others is the integrated vacuum that is said to catch up to 90% of trimmed hair leaving very little mess to clean up afterwards. In use, this 90% can vary greatly. The suction seems to have been improved from previous generations but if you have long hair or wiry hair you will find a good portion can still make its way to your countertop. That said, it still does reduce cleanup overall. Although the design is supposed to lift your hair to improve even trimming the results seem to indicate this feature doesn’t not work as well as one would hope. To achieve an even trim often requires multiple passes in multiple directions as hairs tend to flatten out just before the trimmer heads reaches the area. This results in missed hairs and high spots. More frequent trimmings do help alleviate some of this issue but overall it persists. This seems to be a common weak point of all beard trimmers that Norelco hasn’t quite found a perfect solution for. In all, it trims about as good as any other existing beard trimmer. Depending on hair type you may also experience an odd issue where sometimes hairs get slightly snagged instead of fully cut leaving to barbs on the end of the hairs. Slowing down trimming can help with some of this issue. Cleanup is a mixed bat. You remove the trimmer head and dump out the waste bin but often hairs get stuck on the underside of the trimmer and the end over the trimmer motor where the grease is applied. The head is supposed to be washable, but this bring in to question the longevity of the grease. The base is also not washable, leaving you to try to clean hairs off the moving parts while they are embedded in grease. This is also a common trend among trimmers with removeable heads which hopefully the industry will improve in the future. Final Thoughts The Norelco 7000 Series Trimmer is less a revolutionary and more evolutionary design in beard trimming. With slight improvements over the previous generations there is no need to upgrade if you already own one. As a trimmer, the features are neither bad nor stand out. If you are in the market for a trimmer, the standout feature that could make this one worth consideration is the vacuum feature. It definitely helps to decrease the cleanup needed during grooming.

This is an excellent beard trimmer with some really unique features. Pros - Even shave. No pulling or pinching. Guard design and vacuum really help lift hair into the blades - Backlit dial allows you to quickly and accurately make length adjustments in 0.5mm increments to the guard - Awesome battery life. I can use it 4 or 5 times between charges. - Much quieter than my old trimmer Things to Consider - Vacuum reduces clippings as promised, but you still have to wipe down the counter. - Vacuum hair collection compartment is part of the trimmer body and cannot be rinsed out like the attachments. A tool to clean it is provided, but it doesn't get every bit of hair out. - Precision trimmer attachment has 2 fixed length guards (3mm and 5mm). The vacuum feature is neat, but doesn't makes clean up easier if you are a perfectionist. I would definitely recommend this trimmer, because of the quality of the shave and the battery.

Way better than the previous generation model which had a defect with the trimmer blade housing which caused it to not click into place after regular use - I had to get 2 warranty replacements for the trimmer blade housing on the old one, which were a bit better engineered than the original. The new model has a much better engineered trimmer blade housing which I suspect will not wear out like the previous generation.

Overall, solid. This is not used as my primary trimmer, but rather my travel trimmer. I bring this on business trips, vacations and other over night non-home stays. It does the trick. It trims when and where its needed all while not taking up too much room. Battery life seems to be adequate for the usage that i have give and expect to give it.. Another cool this is that the trimming attachments pop off in a breeze, i have had other groomers in the past that nearly takes pliers to get the head off the handle. If you are looking for a solid, name brand, trimmer, i recommend this as your go to due to the compact nature of the trimmer and the sturdiness and long battery life.

Pretty good. I had an older model. This one has what seems to be a better vacuum feature, I notice less mess. I don’t like that you can’t lock it off like on the old one. Batter life is way longer than before.

Have bought this nice device recently, like it so far, very quiet and it cuts perfectly, why not 5 stars because the suction is not that powerful how it was expected, plus works with short hair only, like for me, for example, every 2-3 days to keep it looking good.

It cuts great but wish it was easier to empty. Charge lasts a good long time.