Expert assessment
Advantages
- Excellent battery life
- Shave quickly
- Range of accessories
cons
- 360 upgrade doesn’t add much
Our verdict
The Philips OneBlade is as perfect as it gets. The OneBlade 360 doesn’t add much new, but I still don’t see a good reason not to recommend these razors to everyone.
Price at review
From $27.99
Best prices today: Philips OneBlade
$49.96
![Best Buy](https://www.techadvisor.com/wp-content/themes/idg-base-theme/dist/static/img/best-buy-logo.png)
$49.99
I may be able to rate them but honestly I’m a bit of a skeptic of electric razors. In fact, I’m worse than that: I’m the kind of nut who uses an old-fashioned double-edged safety razor and badger hair brush – even a Gillette Mach3 is too high-tech for my stubble.
All that preface is to add some context to what I’m about to say: I absolutely love the Philips OneBlade and I’m honestly not sure I could do anything about it.
That’s still the case now, four years later, with Philips sending me the upgraded OneBlade 360 to try. But since it’s extremely similar to the original, I’m updating this review to just add my take on the newer model.
Price and availability
Here’s the first thing I like about the OneBlade: the price.
For $50 / £50 you get the upgraded OneBlade 360 direct from Philips, along with a spare razor head, charging cable and a pair of skin guards and comb heads.
If that feels a bit steep, head over to Amazon and you’ll find it different bundles for both the original model and the 360 (which are compatible with the same shaving heads). You can buy the older razor body for a little less, then upgrade to a 360 razor head if you feel the need, but for what it’s worth, you may not need to.
Blades are a bit pricey, round $35 / £25 for a pack of three And more for the 360 bladesbut as each blade is meant to last four months, that could be enough to cover a full year of shaving – note, however, that Philips notes in the fine print that this is based on two full shaves per week , not on daily use.
Regardless, with some other rotary and foil shavers costing upwards of $100/£100, the OneBlade is undeniably competitive on price, even taking into account the blade’s long-term commitment, and still sticks out over time still quite favorably with most manual razors. .
![](https://images.techadvisor.com/cmsdata/reviews/3778912/philips_oneblade_3.jpg)
Design and build
- Compact design
- Grip-resistant and waterproof
Here’s the next great thing: the design.
I’m not going to argue that the OneBlade is the most beautiful shaver I’ve ever seen – the Remington Heritage probably wins that award – but who cares what their shaver looks like?
What matters is that this is lightweight, compact and incredibly portable, meaning this is almost guaranteed to be my de facto travel razor for years to come. It’s barely any bigger or heavier than most manuals, despite packing in a motor and battery, which is quite an accomplishment.
Putting them side by side, you can see that not much has changed in the 360 version, which added a silver patch to the body but otherwise left things pretty much unchanged:
![Philips OneBlade](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/philips_oneblade_2.jpg?quality=50&strip=all)
![Philips OneBlade 360](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Philips-OneBlade-360-1.jpg?quality=50&strip=all)
The black and green finish is a bit daring, but the textured grip on the green parts helps keep it stable even if you want to use it in the shower – it’s waterproof, of course – and the curved shape is quite ergonomic.
Philips ships it with a little clip-on sheath for the blade, which is handy for keeping it safe in the cupboard or when traveling, and it’s pretty easy to clip it on and off or attach and detach the trimmer combs .
Features and Performance
- Fairly smooth shave
- 360 head isn’t really an upgrade
- Excellent battery life
Finally, here’s what I really like about the OneBlade: it just fucking works.
Philips touts (perhaps oddly) that the OneBlade doesn’t shave as close as most razors, suggesting this helps reduce skin irritation and razor burn.
I certainly haven’t had any razor burn from using it, but I’m actually happy with how close the shave is as well. Sure, it’s not the closest shave I’ve ever had in my life, and it can’t quite match my old-fashioned safety razor, but it actually removes all of my visible stubble and leaves my skin smooth enough to count, if not quite babyface .
![](https://images.techadvisor.com/cmsdata/reviews/3778912/philips_oneblade.jpg)
More importantly, it’s consistent. My experience with most electric razors is that I go over the same areas of skin several times to get results, which not only takes more time, but also increases the risk of skin irritation.
With the OneBlade, I’ve found that one or two shaves almost always do the job, and because the head is so compact, it does a remarkable job under my jaw and along my neck that many more expensive razors struggled to do.
![Philips OneBlade 360](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Philips-OneBlade-360-3.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200)
Dominic Preston / Foundry
The 360 head could handle this area even better, with a less rigid design that allows the head to move more comfortably with the contours of your face.
I’ll be honest: I haven’t noticed any difference at all. Shaving with the 360 is certainly no worse, but not noticeably better either, so don’t feel the need to pay extra for OneBlade 360 shaving heads – the originals do the job just fine.
So: the OneBlade shaves me fairly close, without skin irritation and quickly. That last point also helps the battery life – officially it offers 45 minutes of use on a single charge, but given that it’s so quick to use, that’s probably more shaves than you’d expect. I find that with a shave every few days I can easily go weeks between charges, and so does the 360.
Unfortunately, if you must, there’s no fancy charging stand and it doesn’t use a convenient standard like Micro-USB, so you’ll have to carry the cable with you, and a full charge takes a whopping eight hours.
The original OneBlade comes with a charger that plugs into a bathroom outlet, but the newer 360 instead uses a cable with one end going into the shaver and the other being a standard USB connector, so you need to connect it to another USB charger to recharge the shaver.
Still, the slightly clunky charging is really the only complaint I have about the OneBlade, which is really saying something.
![](https://images.techadvisor.com/cmsdata/reviews/3778912/philips_oneblade_1.jpg)
Pronunciation
The Philips OneBlade is almost perfect. Throw in a micro USB port and reduce the charging time and I’d call it flawless, but as it is I don’t see a good reason not to recommend this razor to anyone.
The OneBlade 360 isn’t much of an upgrade, but the price has stayed the same and it certainly isn’t worse. Existing OneBlade owners shouldn’t worry about upgrading to the 360, and new buyers should definitely consider the older model if it’s available, but both are excellent buys.
I’ve long argued that no electric razor could ever tempt me to move away from an old-fashioned manual blade, and it’s with some resentment that I admit that the OneBlade finally succeeded.