Manscaped The Beard Hedger Review
Manscaped The Beard Hedger
The Manscaped Beard Hedger is a sleek and comfortable trimmer that feels great in the hand. It offers multiple settings and a singularly unique charging light but lacks something in the cutting power department.
Pros
Extremely easy to grip and hold
20 different length settings with the scroll wheel
Intuitive and Informative battery charging light
Fast Charging
Solid feel and heavy-duty
Easy and fast clean-up
Cons
Shaping Comb has some strange geometry–hard to find the cutting-edge at first
Comes without a cleaning brush
Back again, dear readers, with another beard trimmer review for all of you.
Today, we are looking at the Manscaped Beard Hedger, a precision trimmer brought to us by…well…Manscaped! It’s a nice little trimmer that works as a really solid option for anyone looking for something new to try.
Recently, we’ve looked at the Remington Vacuum Beard and Stubble Trimmer 6000 and the Philips Norelco Series 9000 Prestige Beard Trimmer. Both of these options are stand-out trimmers for any guy looking for a good option to upgrade from a cheap little trimmer.
How does the Manscaped –The Beard Hedger stack up?
— Related: 6 Best Beard Trimmers in 2024 – 11 Tested and Reviewed
Description and Features
I got this trimmer a few weeks ago from Amazon. It came in this cool and sleek silver box that made me think I was getting something like a new piece of gaming equipment.
Inside the box, we get the trimmer. a hard-shelled carrying case (more on that one in a bit), a USB-C cord and charging brick, and the removable and adjustable comb.
It doesn’t have a cleaning brush with it, which is very strange. I always thought every trimmer should come with a cleaning brush like it was federal law or something.
List of features:
- Wet & Dry: The Beard Hedger is noted as being both “Wet & Dry,” meaning it can be used in a wet environment. It is waterproof and rated as IPX7, meaning it can be fully immersed in water for about 30 minutes. This means it can go in the shower with you!
- Stainless Steel T-Blade: The specialized blade is designed to lift your beard hair as it cuts, so you need fewer strokes.
- Beard Comb: The exterior comb slots in to cover the blade and provide a guide for the adjustable length. Easy to put in and remove.
- Adjustable Wheel: The control wheel on the trimmer adjusts the length of your beard to a total of 20 different length settings. The settings range from 0.5mm to 10mm, in 0.5 mm increments.
- Removeable Head: The cutting blade head is removable, allowing you to clean it out easily.
- Handle: The handle itself is blocky, but not uncomfortable. It fits in the hand well and has a rubberized grip to keep it from slipping out of your hands.
- Rechargeable: It uses a USB-C cable to charge, so if you lose the one it comes with, it is easy to replace. Charges off a wall outlet, and takes 1.5 hours to go from 0 to full. One fully charged battery can run continuously for 60 minutes.
- Indicators: The Battery Indicator light is nice and informative. It blinks in three sections, showing the level of battery charge in thirds. This allows you to track how much charge your trimmer has.
- Hard-Shell Carrying Case: The carrying case for the trimmer is black and comes with an interior pocket to hold onto your charging brick and cable. It also has an elastic strap to make sure the trimmer isn’t rattling around in there.
Build Quality
The overall build of the trimmer is solid. While it is made of full plastic, unlike other plastic trimmers it doesn’t feel flimsy like it is going to be crushed in my hands. This feels solid and reliable–like I can drop it and it will work fine and not break.
Blades and Cutting Power
The stainless steel blade is made to cut quickly and easily. The heavy-duty design is also supposed to lift your beard hair, so you only need to make one pass.
Mascaped itself calls this the One Hit Wonder, but honestly, I felt it was more like two hits.
While I won’t argue that the motor feels powerful, no beard trimmer is going to get everything on the first pass, especially if you have thick and dense beard hair or are in a hurry.
One thing I would bring up is that I don’t know how precise this blade is. It is rather large and flat. For someone like me, that works fine because I have a large face. However, on smaller nooks and crannies of my face, the blade doesn’t really cut all that precisely.
Ergonomics and Grip
The trimmer handle is shaped octagonally. What this means is that, unlike most smooth and rounded beard trimmers, this one has flat sides. This may sound uncomfortable, but it fits in the hand better.
The flat sides are easy to grip and hold onto, and that also means it won’t roll away from you when you set it down.
In addition to the shape, the bottom half of the handle is rubberized. This makes it even easier to grip, especially if your hands are wet.
If you are using this in the shower, then you are less likely to have this slip out of your hands and smash on the tile floor.
Zoom Wheel, Comb and Settings
As with almost all beard trimmers, the setting or zoom wheel is in the middle of the handle and goes all the way through the unit. This allows you to get a good grip on it to adjust the comb to exactly the length you want.
It has 20 possible settings ranging from 5 o’clock shadow at 0.5mm to stately beard at 10mm. Each setting is at 0.5mm increments, so it goes 0.5mm to 1mm to 1.5mm, and so on and so on.
The zoom wheel itself is rubberized like the handle, so it is easy to get ahold of it if you have wet hands. The wheel takes some serious force to move, so you won’t be accidentally switching lengths in the middle of your trim.
My one complaint about that is the numbers on the wheel are so small, even with my glasses or contacts, I have to squint to see them. Would be nice if they were somewhat bigger.
Charging and Battery
The battery came to me almost fully charged, so I could use this guy right out of the box. However, the charge time from empty is listed at 1.5 hours. That seems slow for a battery that only allows the unit to run for about an hour with a full charge, but then again, the motor is quite overpowered.
What I like is the battery indicator light.
It shows the battery charge in thirds, like you are filling up a tank. It blinks as it slowly charges up, showing you just how much charge is actually in the trimmer. Why don’t other trimmers have such a feature?
Finally, I like that it uses a simple USB-C cord. It means I can use just about any USB-C cord and not worry about losing the actual charge cable.
Cleaning & Maintenance
As I mentioned before, this trimmer didn’t come with a cleaning brush, which kind of threw me off. I thought that was supposed to be standard issue.
Not that you need it all that much. It is easy to clean this trimmer.
As the trimmer is waterproof, it is pretty safe to just run it under water to get rid of all the stray hairs without having to worry about water getting into the motor. You can even take off the blades to get underneath.
The blades do not need to be oiled, meaning you don’t need to do any major maintenance. It is easy to use and maintain.
How does the Manscaped Beard Hedger Perform?
For this review, I have been using it to trim my beard for two weeks. I varied the amount of time between trimmings to get a general idea of how it cut at varying lengths.
Overall, I found using the Beard Hedger to be awkward at first, but then it became it became much easier.
The comb has a strange overhang on it that is confusing at first. Indexing where the actual cutting-edge is takes some work. After dialing it in though, the trimmer cuts like a dream.
While it isn’t a One-Hit Wonder, it gets the majority of the hair with one cut. I found it easy to use after the awkward first time using it.
Any Common Consumer Issues, Complaints, or Positive Reports?
The Manscaped Beard Hedger reviews very well with the vast majority of its consumers. Though there are a few complaints that I could find.
Positive Reviews
First, the Positives, if my gushing isn’t enough…
One of the first positive points that jumped out at me was consumers raving about not having so much clutter. Consumers have a point. The majority of trimmers on the market now have 2 or 3 different trimmer combs or other attachments, and having a high-quality trimmer with only one necessary attachment is rather refreshing.
Other positive reviewers note the close shave you get from using this trimmer. It seems the majority of users prefer this trimmer for the ability to get a close trim without completely shaving. The precise length settings allow for a trim that can get just as accurate as you want.
Finally, there are a great deal of consumers who note that the shave is very quick. While I seem to have issues with curly beard hairs not wanting to cut on the first pass, that doesn’t seem to be an issue for many other users. Everyone’s beard hair is different, I suppose.
Issues and Complaints
One of the first complaints I read about this trimmer was the fact that the motor seems to wear out for some consumers. It is slightly overpowered, and if you are using it on some pretty thick hair, I could see that being an issue. Leaving the trimmer on for a long period is going to put some stress on the unit. Running it in small bursts is better, I suppose.
I have also seen plenty of complaints about the battery life. It seems to die easily for most people, and I am forced to ask how long they are running their trimmers. Honestly, if a trim is lasting you more than an hour’s worth of battery life, maybe go see a professional barber. However, there is also the chance that they are overcharging the battery, which is known to reduce the life of Lithium Ion batteries.
Finally, I see a great deal of people complaining about the price, which I will get to below.
Value For Money
Is this really worth the money? Well, I suppose…
Yeah that is weaselly, isn’t it?
As of the time of writing, Amazon.com is selling the Manscaped Beard Hedger at $80 USD. That is a little much in my opinion. I can find some more useful, feature-rich, and more durable trimmers for less or not too much more.
Honestly, this seems to sit in the middle of the road of being just good enough to stand out, but too expensive to get behind.
Final Thoughts – Who do I recommend buys and uses Manscaped The Beard Hedger?
Okay, so overall you should really only get this trimmer if you need something brand new and aren’t sold on any other brand.
While I really do like the trimmer and its features, you can find something almost as good for less money. However, if you want to downsize, or you need a good travel trimmer, this might be a good pick for you.
However, I would certainly NOT recommend this at all if you have a longer beard. If you are rocking something like a Viking beard, then pass on the Manscaped. If you are rocking more like the Commander Riker beard, you might like this one.
