OneBlade Unboxing [Picture heavy]

The OneBlade
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Ok, so unboxing threads and videos are super-geeky..but,well, that hasn't stopped me before so here is one of the OneBlade razor I just received

I took advantage of last week's offer to get the razor and 30 blades for about $190 shipped.
Normally, this is a $300 razor so I must admit the expectations were pretty high on what I would be receiving.

Inside the box from FedEx were three pieces. One postcard with some general information welcoming you to OneBlade, a box with the 30 Feather razor blades - and a very neatly wrapped box containing the razor. The unique serial number of the razor is hand-written on the paper and it's all tied together with a piece of string and metal medallion sporting the OneBlade logo.

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Inside the box w/ the razor blades:
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String with the metal medallion holding the package together:
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Further unwrapping reveals a very nice leather box. I am not an expert as far as leather goes but this looked and felt very impressive. Nice stitching and leather grain.

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Opening up the leather box revealed some more instructional pieces of paper about loading/unloading the blade, etc - all done extremely tastefully with nice printing on good paper stock.

Digging a bit further....we finally strike gold steel!
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So before I proceed.
Does one need all - or any - of the above?
Fancy paper, luxurious leather boxes, metal medallions, etc.
No of course not. It will obviously not matter two months from now - or two days even - when you pick up the razor to shave one morning. Most of it will probably even be misplaced/lost and what truly matters is how the razor feels against your face that morning. BUT - what it does give you is an experience and an impression. I had great fun unboxing this razor and go through all the eye candy and the extreme attention to details that has been applied here. It is hand down the most impressive packaging I've ever seen as far as any shaving equipment goes. Did I need it? No. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely.

Anyroad....back to the razor....

There it finally was in all it's stainless steel glory:
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First impressions picking it up and razturbating a bit:
- Nice weight and incredibly solid feeling,
- Any moving piece like the pivoting head moves silky smooth,
- An absolute fingerprint magnet

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The stand is also surprisingly heavy - it honestly feels like a solid piece of steel when picking it up.
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Next up is to actually shave with this thing...
It's a weekend and my religion laziness doesn't allow me to shave on the weekends so it will have to wait until next week when it will compete with the Shavette from IBC for lather-time.

In short recap: Best un-boxing experience ever that really sets you up with quite some expectation on performance. In lack of better words there was an air of decadence so thick you could cut it with whatever jewel encrusted knife that happened to be closest.

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Thanks for the peek inside.

That is a beauty of a razor and the packaging/presentation looks really nice. Congrats on your purchase and hope you enjoy it.

Very nicely done darkbulb. I'm glad you received yours today too. Your pictures make me want to get out my wife's camera so I can capture some shots as nice as yours.

I agree that unboxing it was fun. I even called my wife in to watch. All she kept saying was, "I wonder how much the razor would cost without all the fancy schmancy packaging." That's not stopping her from using it before me though as she wants to try it on her legs tonight. I'll use it first thing in the morning.

Very nicely done darkbulb. I'm glad you received yours today too. Your pictures make me want to get out my wife's camera so I can capture some shots as nice as yours.

I agree that unboxing it was fun. I even called my wife in to watch. All she kept saying was, "I wonder how much the razor would cost without all the fancy schmancy packaging." That's not stopping her from using it before me though as she wants to try it on her legs tonight. I'll use it first thing in the morning.

No need for a fancy camera - I just use an old iPhone

Over on another forum, TSD, a member called out that he remember that it might be Mantic's favorite razor.

I looked it up and it sure does seem as if he likes it

Two quotes:
"After the first couple of “settling in” shaves to figure out some of the subtleties of working with it (more on that in a moment), the OneBlade gives me the closest, cleanest, most consistent shaves I have ever had…"

and

"The OneBlade has replaced my Progress as my “dead fingers” razor"  


Talk about raising my expectations even further.....

Yes, I've read mantic59 's article on it a couple times now. He does give it some high praise.

Regarding photos I also use my iPhone most of the time. I guess where I'm really lacking is in the lighting department.

Congratulations on your new razor. I hope it serves just as well as it has served me.

Very cool, I'll be interested to hear your feedback after using it. The importance of the packaging and the unboxing can't be overstated. It prepares you for what is coming. Just ask Apple and Steve Jobs (you'll need a medium of some sort) Apple product packaging is impressive and you expect their products to be equally impressive. I think they are.
Mark

Beautiful pics and congratulations, Darkbulb! I hope you love it as much as I do. I look forward to reading the shave review/reports!

Shave Report - Day 1

This morning it was finally time to try out the OneBlade.
Being at home today - and lazy as the extreme rain didn't encourage me to step outside - I didn't shave until late in the afternoon so the razor had almost over three days of stubble to deal with.

Loaded up a fresh blade w/out any issues. Simply insert it from the back of the head and push it through until it clicks in place. Double-checked that it was leaning against - and not on top of - the blade stoppers and it was.

Picked out a New Forest brush, some T&H soap and a bottle of Floid Blue as fun candidates for the afternoon shave.

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Lathered up some soap (man, I love New Forest brushes...) and put razor-to-face for the first time. Would it be a keeper on a shelf? Would it be sent back? Would I love it?

First stroke felt odd, adjusted the angle just a tiny bit and it all fell into place. Once dialed in (literally w/in two strokes) the razor shaved and let me tell you - it shaved well.
It's not an aggressive razor but it's not as 'mild' as say a PAL injector, Wilkinson Sticky and/or Gillette Blue Tip - it has a bite to it but it is very well controlled.
As I was completing my first pass (WTG) I noticed that it was more audible than I thought it would be. I like that as it can sometimes help dial in an angle more accurately.

My two trouble-spots (under the nose and under the chin) were both very closely shaved after the first pass.
There was never any risk of blood letting but the result was a very close firs-pass shave.

I went back in for a second, and last, pass (ATG) and the same feelings as during the first pass - nice audible shave, close and efficient.

As I rinsed off my face with some cold water and splashed on some Floid Blue my felt was indeed very closely shaved and no irritations or discomfort.

Now, it would be easy to just say that it's a great razor but I think that would be an easy 'out' for me so let's compare it to the King Cobra that I purchased just 1-2 weeks ago and have had three shaves with so far - and it's also a single edge razor.
As much as I love the King Cobra and the shave it gives me I will have to declare the OneBlade the 'winner' between the two. It's easier to navigate around my face and felt less prone to cut me while using it.

Is it the best SE razor I've ever used? This is where it gets tricky as I've only used this razor once so I'll save the final verdict on that until the end of the week to see if it can beat out some of my personal SE favorites such as the Schick Type O, Mongoose, Schick Paul Revere, GEM Damaskeene OC and Le Coq (hoe razor)...

The "bad":
The one thing that I didn't care for was how you unload the blade.
You pull it out of the same slot as you inserted it into and if you, like me, take out the blade of the razor every time you've used it I can see how inserting and replacing it may damange the edge of the blade as there is direct metal-to-blade edge contact when you pull it out. I feel that it's a near perfect design but with a flawed blade extraction.
I know that the site recommends using the blade just once but online most people seem to get four-or-so shaves out of the blade. I wonder if the people that get less than four shaves out of the blade are the people that take the blade out after every shave.

I'll try to use the same blade all week.

TL;DR:
Loved the razor, loved the shave but not sure if the blade extraction will damage the blade and shorten the life of the blades.