Philips 9872

[Colby DuLin]

ThisLift&Cut system appears to be a refinement of the old Super Lift&Cut which Philips dropped in favor of more comfortable single-blade designs for most of their current shavers.

But I will say that Philips made the switch to this head (which made its way into the lower-end series as well) in order to make the new Prestige compatible with the Quick Clean pods.

Since all of them are available and the price differences between the standard S9000 and the Prestige series can be significant, the comparison should be useful for someone looking to buy a very capable (Philips) rotary.

The lowest power mode (Comfort) is supposed to make the shaver suitable for very sensitive skin and you would choose it by pressing the Minus side of the rocker once or twice until that mode is selected on the display.

By the way: Some models, like the SP9883/35, come with a nicer trimmer that even has a guard with different length settings. It seems to be the same trimmer that was sold back in the day with some models of the old Series 9000 shaver.

I own SP9883/35 model (in Australia) which comes with a cleaning pod. It works perfectly fine and it switches off after 1 min. It also has raise feature when you pick up the shaver the screen comes on.

Can you try something? When you put your shaver into a cleaning pod and switch it on, move the handle towards you while the cleaning is still going. At one point the shaver may detect the cleaning cycle (you will see a blue icon on the handle).

I received this information form Philips Australia after having an issue with a battery not holding charge on SP9883/35 unit I bought. The customer service told me that due to supply shortages there was a temporary supply from a different supplier causing bad batteries to be installed in some units. They also had some issues with the accelerometer not installed properly causing a cleaning mode not to be detected correctly. Not sure if the problem is that wide spread to warrant a recall which is why there may not be any press releases.

I can also confirm the plastic body, and like you regard it as a step down from the earlier premium metal Prestige. They both feel similar in the hand, essentially the same weight (6.9 oz for the new model, 6.8 oz for the old), I have both the QI and cord charging versions of previous Prestige models and both charge fine with a metal case, so no real apparent advantage to plastic other than manufacturing costs for Philips. Looks nice, but not as premium for feel and look as the old metal case of the previous Prestige. As an additional observation even the cheaper 9000/7000 series models have metal cladding on the outside.

To me the most surprising thing is that the SP9886/89 also comes with a plastic body. And that also busts the idea that all the range-topping models (with both the Pod and the QI pad) have a metal body. So they might be region-specific after all (available in Australia, maybe Europe).

When I decided to try an electric shaver and learn more about the topic, there was a stark contrast: only a few sites with thin content written by people who probably never used an electric shaver. So I pretty much had to rely on trial and error and for the next 10 years or so I bought and used various shavers and I learned (the hard way) a lot. And at one point, approximately 11 years ago, I thought it might be useful to others as well, so the natural thing to do was to create a website.

I actually recommend both, but you should choose the one that makes more sense to you. For example, if you can get a great deal on the older one, it might just be a better buy. Or maybe you care more about some features of the new one like the flip-open head. Towards the end of the review above I go into more details regarding these differences between the new and the old one.

I agree, the battery is the one thing where the high-end Panasonic shavers lag behind Philips and Braun. Even the latest Arc 5 models come with the same battery as the first generation. Replacing it is an option and can be done fairly easy. I go into more details on that in this comment.

After 9 months of constant use you will notice a performance drop with the current set of foils and blades but they probably can still provide a decent shave for a while. I would highly recommend the use of a lubricating spray like the Andis CoolCare Plus, it seems to revive partially worn out blades.

I mention the trimmer because the hairs at the very edge of the goatee will need to be short when you want to clean the area with a shaver (rotary or foil). So you would first use the trimmer which is a lot better at edging and then follow up with the shaver to clean the remaining stubble and use the breakpoint technique you mentioned.

On the new Prestige models that come with the pod the cleaning symbol is three droplets positioned in a circle (similar symbol to S9000). These droplets flash 2x in white colour when cleaning is required and then disappear. During the cleaning cycle these droplets flash blue. Once cleaned, the droplets again flash 2x in white colour and then disappear.

Amazon reviews indicate the SP9841 is plastic, and from photos it certainly appears to be no different than the other variants. Not a significant negative IMO, other than cosmetic, but perceived build quality is a step back from the original.

Those two specs, 165 000 and 150 000 respectively, refer to what Philips calls cutting actions per minute, not CPM which is a more standardized metric that stands for Cycles Per Minute. CPM is more often used in the context of foil shavers where the rotation of the motor shaft is converted into an oscillation (linear movement). I think Braun actually came up with the cutting actions per minute thing in an attempt to one up Panasonic in the specs sheet (in reality Panasonic still has the faster motors).

The cutting actions per minute numbers are obtained by multiplying an actual motor spec (number of rotations or oscillations) with the number of cutting elements in the case of foil shavers (usually 1 to 6) or the total number of individual tiny blades in the case of Philips rotaries.

The latest would be the 2023 S9000 Prestige like the one in the review above. Yours is the original Prestige from 5 years ago. The closeness is quite similar, the new one being marginally better. Also, if your shaver is still in good shape, I recommend only replacing the cutters with the SH91 of the new Prestige.

I finally bit the bullet and bought this shaver a few weeks ago. I got the model SP9840/31 which comes in black, and I like this shaver more than I should: The shave is very comfortable and really close, closer than my Braun Series 9 Pro. Especially, areas under the neck and chin are easier to shave as well. And the whole shave is faster as well. Great!

The new Norelco Shavers are a step back. Their low end like the 3500 take forever to get anywhere near a close shave, I guess because of the heads not having as many cutters and the high end models have the rediculous square heads that make shaving difficult, I ended up getting a 6000 series with the round heads but paid to much and when the original sh60 heads wear out, then what, I think the new sh60/72 are not as good. Norelco is getting worse every year and I hope they fix it. My old aquatec with the hq8 heads where better than anything they have on the market now.

I use a timer with a QI pad to charge my iPhone and, after over a year of use, battery health is still showing 99%. With my new Philips 9000 series I plan on setting the timer for an hour or two each morning so that it will come on after shaving and cleaning.

I own 5 Series 9 shavers and the oldest of them was bought almost 8 years ago. No issues so far, but assessing reliability is tricky and takes time and the outcome is sometimes different for different users.

You are very welcome. Both are great shavers and the performance is very similar. The new one already comes with the SH91 heads, while the old one uses the discontinued (but very similar) SH98. The SH91 will fit perfectly as well. Check out my comparison above for all the details between these two so you can lean more toward one or the other.

Anyway again thanks for your input as it has now given me a sense of direction to try a rotary shaver once again as I usually shave once or twice a week with some slight tiding up under the neck and higher cheek bone areas.

Well the new 9000 prestige arrived and its soo much more powerful and quiet than the 7000. I am really pleased and yes it doesnt work with a QI pad but it works with a non oem USB charge cable I got from Amazon for the 7000 so perfect for travelling. Seems to shave great. Pleased with my choice.

Nice review Ovidiu but I would really like to know how easily you can shave around your sideburns ?. It seems that those extra large angular heads would make it hard to see just where the cutting edges are in relation to your side burns, or for that matter moustache etc.

It is a pity that the new Philips comes with a charging pad. Makes it uncomfortable when you travel and you have to carry all this stuff rather than a simple charging cable.

I prefer the Philips to the Brown (I have both)

-Better and closer shave

-No need for pre electric shaving lotion

-Manual cleaning pod better, too many electronics make it complicated. My older Brown cleaning station malfunctioned as the chip on the shaver gave up. When buying the Brown Pro I bought the one without cleaning station.

-Braun only keeps coming up with new heads, so I just upgraded the heads till the moment the razor took the initiative to switch on at will, sometimes in the middle of the night.

-I prefer Philips!

As mentioned in the review, there are also Philips Prestige variations that come with a standard wired charger instead of the pad. The quality of the shave vs a Series 9 Pro really varies from one user to another, but in this case the rotary Philips clearly seems to work better. I agree that the simplicity of the pod is one of its strengths.

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