Shhhh…do you hear that? That sound? Sounds like something new approaching. It’s the crushing
sound of the Braun 360 model being driven into an early burial by the sleek, sonic pulsations
of the new Braun “Pulsonic” shaving system.
What’s that you say? The Braun 360 just came out less than a year ago? Yeah, we know. Remember back to my
post about how few the differences are between the 360 and the Activator? I guess the good folks at Braun
figured that they could get away with that for just so long, and jumped onto the Proctor and Gamble
powerhouse behind them to finance something new, sleek, super high-tech…and a wee bit noisy.
Not that I know that from first hand experience or anything, so I guess it’s really not fair to say yet.
As for what we do know already, the Pulsonic is making use of some kind of “sonic pulsing technology”
involved with an “active power comb” which by look of design and by description of theory, is starting to
look and sound a LOT like the current Panasonic shavers.
Again, let me emphasize the fact that this is purely hearsay, topped with a tiny bit of actual fact from a
German website selling the product overseas, but the mental deconstruction I have done with regard to this
new model suggests that Braun is taking a sharp left turn from where they were going with their product
line, opting instead to follow the Japanese design of electric shaving.
Evidence:
- The new foil and cutter configuration looks REALLY close to that of the Panasonic.
- The keywords “pulse”, “sonic”, “powercomb”, etc… all ring of the same tunes as Panasonics riff:
“Vortex”, “hydraclean”, “high speed linear”, blah, blah, blah. Keywords are keywords, and basically they’re
just advertising anchors, but do you really think that some kind of sonic pulses are going to be shooting
out of the shaver against your face? Isn’t it more likely that the foil and cutter will just shake really
fast? - Fully washable under water (well, everyone is doing this now, but still.)
- Finally, the redesign of the shaver body is very Panasonic-ish.
In case you’re ready to wag your finger in my face for being slanted to the negative side of things, I would
agree with you. I do tend to be negative to a certain extent when companies move away from a system that was
working, in favor of something that has the perception of popularity. It begins to stink of suits in a
conference room, rather than shaver designers and technicians, deciding what is going to shave you better
than what has worked in the past.
Here’s the best part. In case you were beginning to froth at the mouth in anticipation of this new unit
coming out in July—guess what the suggested retail price is going to be–$250.00! Yes, two-hundred and
fifty smackeroos for a unit that might shave better than the existing Braun Activator/360’s. We’ll
have to wait and see (obviously), and I’ve been wrong before (sorry Remington), but to justify two-and-a-half
bills for a new shaving system, the Pulsonic had better knock the hairs off of my face with great prejudice,
rendering me baby-ass smooth with nary a touch of its sonic pulses. Wouldn’t that be something? Yeah…