King C Gillette Beard Trimmer Review – Vanilla and Generic
King C. Gillette Beard Trimmer
The King C Gillette Beard Trimmer does the job…sort of. It can trim your beard, but it does nothing more. It is let down by an awkward design and low cutting power. At least it comes with a nice carrying pouch.
Pros
Easy to Clean and Maintain
It comes with a large variety of attachments and settings
Nice carrying pouch
Compact and easy to travel well
Inexpensive option for someone just starting out
The blades will remain sharp and won’t need to be sharpened or oiled
Cons
It is not very ergonomic, uncomfortable to hold in your hand
Cutting ability is underpowered
The power button is very easy to switch accidentally while using the trimmer
The power adapter doesn’t show the status of the trimmer’s charge
Not waterproof
Rounding out our product reviews for King C Gillette, today I am going to take a look at the beard trimmer.
Designed to tackle beards of many different lengths, this trimmer is a collaboration with Braun, who makes a great deal of high-quality personal grooming products.
So take one of the biggest names in men’s grooming products, with another popular company that makes some powerful and remarkable personal grooming appliances, and then get them together to design an inexpensive option for almost any beard.
What could go wrong?
Well…
King C. Gillette Trimmer Product Line
King C. Gillette has a small offering of beard trimmers in their product line. I purchased the King C Gillette Beard and Mustache Trimmer, which is also referred to as the Cordless Beard Trimmer. In addition to that, they have two other trimmers: the smaller Style Master, which is made for trimming stubble and shaping your sideburns, and the King C Gillette Trimmer Pro, which has a more precise dial for determining your trimming length.
Description and Features
The King C Gillette Cordless Beard Trimmer came from my one-stop-shop Amazon. The box came with the trimmer itself, three comb attachments for setting the length, a cleaning brush, the wall charger, and a canvas carrying pouch.
- 11 different possible beard length selections
- 10-hour charge time for 50 minutes worth of battery life
- Long-lasting “lifelong” stainless steel blades
- Removable head to allow for cleaning under running water (not waterproof)
- Advertised as cordless (but isn’t in reality)
- 2-Year Limited Warranty
- The trimmer is assembled in Mexico, and the attachments are made in China
The back of the box for the King C Gillette Beard Trimmer claims it is the “pinnacle of a century’s worth of innovation and expertise.” That is a serious piece of marketing that very few companies could offer. Working alongside Braaun, you would think this beard trimmer is going to have everything possible going for it.
I’ve gone through some intense testing with this trimmer, putting it through the paces to see if it is a pinnacle of design.
Unfortunately, I don’t believe it does at all.
Quality and Design
Overall design is nothing to write home about.
If you have any experience using a beard or hair trimmer, then there is nothing new.
You have three different comb attachments that allow you to dial in exactly how long you want to cut your beard. There are 11 different length selections you can set the trimmer to.
The smallest attachment isn’t variable and is only set at 1mm. The next comb has 5 settings, starting at 3 mm and ranging to 11mm. Each setting jumps 2 mm, so we are looking at 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. The last comb is the same, starting at 13mm and ranging up to 21mm.
The longest setting is longer than most trimmers I have used, but that still means the overall length selections are more limited than most trimmers.
Finally, I have to discuss the power button itself. While using the trimmer, I had an issue with almost turning it off in the course of the session. Not terrible, but annoying enough to note here.
Ergonomics and Grip
There is not much to this category overall.
It seems like Gillette did not put much if any thought into the actual ergonomics of the trimmer. It’s just a straight oval from the head to the base. There is no shaping to make it fit in your hand comfortably.
The grip is textured but not rubberized. That is not necessarily a bad thing. The Trimmer isn’t waterproof, so you can’t use it in the shower. That means your hands should be dry when using this, and they won’t slip out.
All this is to say it does not sit comfortably in the hand, and I didn’t enjoy using it.
Cutting Power
The King C Gillette Beard Trimmer feels very underpowered when compared to other trimmers I have reviewed for Shaving Advisor.
More than any other trimmer, I had to go back over places on my face repeatedly just to get it to cut stray hairs. I would even go back with a brush to make sure all the hair was standing up straight and it still wouldn’t cut unless I was just mashing it against my face.
Each time I went to use this trimmer, I would see one of the other trimmers I had reviewed for the site (specifically the Panasonic ER-GB42 Beard Trimmer and the Remington Vacuum Beard and Stubble Trimmer) just sitting there, and I found myself wishing I could use one of those.
What does that tell you?
Ease of Use
If you have ever used a hair clipper or beard trimmer before, then you know exactly how to use this one. Just set it to the length you desire, and drag the come with the blades over your face.
The one thing that I would consider being in the way of using the trimmer is the method of selecting the length you want.
There are two issues with this.
First off, the length settings as they are written on the side of the comb are tiny. They are hard to read on normal days. If you are trimming after a good shower or just getting up, they might be even harder to read.
Secondly, it is easy to miss the setting you want when holding down the button. There is only a soft click to show you are moving, so you can easily slip up and get a few millimeters off.
Battery and Charging
The battery on this trimmer is one of its better components.
On a 10-hour charge, the battery itself will run continuously for almost an hour (50 minutes specifically).
Most trimmer batteries need something closer to 20-30 hours for close to an hour or an hour and a half of continuous use.
This may be because the motor is underpowered, but overall that is a very quick charge time for a modern-day beard trimmer.
I do want to bring up one point here that I find strange. The device is advertised as cordless, and yet it has a corded charger that looks like your generic flip phone charger with about a two-foot cord.
How is that cordless?
I suppose you could claim that it is cordless when you are trimming, but most beard trimmers are that way. Unless you are talking about those larger industrial-grade beard trimmers that are less trimmers and more actual hair clippers.
Cleaning and Maintenance
The King C Gillette Beard Trimmer is pretty easy to keep clean and maintain.
It comes with a brush for clearing off stray hair and debris after you trim and allows you to pop the head of the trimmer so you can rinse it off if you need to.
In addition to that, the blades don’t need to be oiled like most other trimmers.
The only real issue here is you need to be very careful if you are running it underwater because it isn’t waterproof.
In the instructions and the advertising it mentions that only the head and the combs are washable under water, so make sure to keep the trimmer itself away from the sink when cleaning up.
How well does the King C Gillette Beard Trimmer Perform?
For this review, I took about a week and a half to review this trimmer.
Normally, I only take about one week to fully review a product, but because of the track record of King C Gillette products in my experience, I genuinely wanted to give this trimmer a chance.
Overall Trimming Experience
Overall, what can I say that I haven’t already noted above?
The most condemning aspect of all of the time spent with this trimmer was that I wanted to switch to another trimmer the entire time I was using this one.
It doesn’t fit in the hand well, being just an oblong shape with little in the way of ergonomic design.
The cutting power was low, so I was going over spots multiple times.
The fact that it wasn’t waterproof meant I couldn’t use it in the shower or rinse it off easily.
The length selection was finicky and hard to read.
I suppose that if I had no other options and ever used another trimmer in my life I would like this beard trimmer. However, I just could not enjoy this as much as something like the Remington VATech or the Panasonic GB42.
Value for Money
Even with all the negatives I have to say about this trimmer, I would say it has a decent price.
As of the time of writing this review, the King C Gillette Cordless Beard Trimmer is available on Amazon for around 35 USD. At brick-and-mortar stores like Walmart and Target, you can find it for about the same price.
Is this a good price for a basic trimmer like this? I would say so. You could get better if you can find a deal on a better trimmer like the Panasonic ER-GB42 Beard Trimmer on sale, but if you don’t have that option you could do worse.
Look for something better, but if you are on a budget go for this one.
Common Consumer Complaints, Issues, and Positive Reviews
When looking at reviews for the King C Gillette Beard Trimmer, for the most part, they are pretty hyperbolic. Either people like using this trimmer, or they hate it.
Positive Reviews
Positive reviews for the King C Gillette Beard Trimmer repeat themselves a great deal.
For the most part, consumers note the price is better than most other trimmers on the market. In this kind of economy, price is king. How much money do you genuinely want to spend on a new piece of grooming equipment? Inexpensive is good.
That leads to the second thing that comes up often, which is the fact that it seems to do the job. Multiple times I have seen people note that it has no bells and whistles and just does the job. You get what you pay for.
Finally, consumers note that the trimmer is pretty easy to use. I would say so if you have never used other trimmers. Honestly, I find some of the other trimmers I have reviewed much easier to use, but those are typically more expensive options overall.
Complaints and Issues
One of the major complaints I have seen about this trimmer is the battery life. 50 minutes should be enough for anyone. However, some users talk about the fact that it seems to only last about 20 to 25 minutes when they are using it. Maybe they aren’t charging it enough, but rechargeable batteries are finicky little things.
A few reviewers have noted that it doesn’t last very long either. The motor seems to wear out after about a year. Again, you get what you pay for.
Overall, many consumers note that the product breaks down extremely quickly. It doesn’t seem to last more than a year. Either the battery degrades, or the internals break. Cheap components lead to a cheap price, which means you are going to need to replace this one pretty quickly after grabbing it.
Final Thoughts – Who is the King C Gillette Beard Trimmer Really For?
Overall, this is certainly not the best a man can get.
The only person I would recommend this to would be someone who is strapped for cash and genuinely needs to get themselves a beard trimmer right now. Maybe you want to start growing out your beard, but don’t want to drop major cash on a new trimmer with all the bells and whistles. Then I suppose this trimmer would be for you.
If you have no other option, then grab this. If you have other options like sales or gift cards, then go for something better like the Remington Vacuum Beard and Stubble Trimmer or the Philips Norelco Series 3000 Beard & Stubble Trimmer. Either of those trimmers would make a better impact and feel better to use than this one.
