Philips Norelco Vacuum Beard Trimmer Series 7200, BT7215/49, Cordless Lithium-Ion Mustache and Beard Groomer for Men - NO BLADE OIL NEEDED

I've been using Philips Norelco products for some time now and also have another trimmer of theirs (model QG3280/41), which is still running strong after six years of use. I usually find their products to be reliable and of exceptional quality. Before purchasing the BT7215/49 model however, I read most of the reviews on here and became hesitant about acquiring it, as there were too many incidents of the tabs breaking off on either the blade or comb assembly. Still, I decided to risk it thinking those incidents were either a case of bad handling or flat-out bad luck. I even went as far as purchasing the Asurion extended warranty that Amazon offered, in addition to the warranty that already came with the unit as a safety measure. I even got a padded case to house it in whenever it wasn't being used.Fast-forward to three months of gentle handling and use, and snap—one of the tabs on the blade assembly broke off while I was brushing it of all things. At first, I didn't even bother contacting Philips Norelco about it, as I had read somewhere that they had become resistant to providing anymore replacement parts for this, as their warranty department had gotten inundated with similar complaints. I reached out to Asurion, and they informed me to first contact Philips Norelco about it. So I did—and to my surprise—they quickly took my contact and shipping info and shipped out a replacement blade and comb assembly. The rep also informed me that they were an updated version of what originally came with the unit, and that the plastic tabs were now designed to be stronger.I'm giving 5 stars here, because I feel that the original engineering for these specific parts was a case of bad luck, and that the company is now trying to correct their mistake by having improved on the design and offering a replacement for the defective parts to its customer base at no cost. If your product is still under warranty, then I encourage you to reach out to Philips Norelco so that they can get you this replacement if it's needed.As far as the device itself, I think it's great. It has a long battery life between charges, runs with the provided power supply in case your battery's running low, feels very light and ergonomic when handling it, and does a great job of trimming my facial hair. The vacuum also works pretty good, although I still get a few pieces of stubble in my sink whenever I use it. The only thing I wish could be improved would be the housing for the vacuum. I wish I didn't have to remove the blade and comb assembly whenever I wanted to empty it out, as I believe that constantly having removed them most-likely wore down the plastic tab that eventually broke off. Also, cleaning out the compartment where your hairs get vacuumed seems a bit risky. They do provide you with a soft-padded brush for this purpose, but I always feel that I need to take great care not to unintentionally damage another component within that housing, which also includes a portion of the device's motor.All-in-all, I encourage you to give this model a try, and if the tabs on either the blade or comb assembly break off, then reach out to Philips Norelco ASAP so they can mail you out a replacement.

I wanted to hold off on giving a review until I've used this for a considerable amount of time so I could address the timmer's quality and durability, as there were some reviews that mentioned the plastic length guards/guides breaking on them. Well, I purchased this at the end of Aug. 2016 and it's currently Oct. 2017, so I think I can provide a fair perspective on this.In short: this is an absolutely amazing trimmer, and I can't imagine *not* having it (or one similar). I normally keep a relatively short (~3-5mm) beard and the thing I hated the most about it was when it came time to trim it: my previous trimmer would throw the tiny clippings *everywhere* and I often had to spend just as much time trying to clean up the bathroom sink/countertop of the tiny pieces of facial hair as I did actually trimming my beard. It came to the point where I would actually go outside on our porch to trim my beard so I wouldn't have to clean the sink/counter (or annoy my wife with the numerous little pieces that managed to land outside of the sink).With the 7200, I no longer have to trim my beard outside on the porch. The first few times I shaved with this, I did so over the sink... and afterwards: there was basically nothing to clean up in the bathroom! Now I can pretty much trim it anywhere and, assuming that the vacuuming system isn't full, only a very minimal amount of the trimmings won't be caught by the trimmer (so little that it's essentially a negligent amount).My biggest "con" about this trimmer is that I _still_ sometimes try putting the head and/or plastic length guide/guard on the wrong way. There's just something about the angles and shapes of the trimmer/cannister that makes me want to put it on backwards. I read some other reviews that mentioned their plastic length guide breaking, and I suspect that the reason for this is most likely due to them trying to put it on the wrong way and using too much force.Other pros about this are: an insane battery capacity. I haven't actually had my trimmer's battery die, yet, and I only plug it in to charge it maybe once every 3-6 weeks (and I use the trimmer probably 2-3 times a week). It's quite quiet, it does a great job trimming, and using it feels good. I really like the ability to adjust the trimming length to 0.5mm precision as well.Some minor downsides: due to the size/shape of the head, it can be somewhat difficult to nicely trim the area just below your nose. The wide trimmer head makes it tough if you want to do a quick trim of the hairline over the ears (and switching to the smaller, precision trimmer head and then back takes longer than doing the actual trimming).So, would I recommend this? If you have more facial hair you trim rather than shave, absolutely! But if you have something like a goatee, then I'm not really sure if the benefits of the beard trimming collection are really going to outweigh the 7200's somewhat awkwardness when doing more precision trimming.But, perhaps more importantly: would my WIFE recommend this? Absolutely! And she already has to several of her friends whose husbands have facial hair! She has been very, very pleased by no longer finding tiny little beard trimmings all over the bathroom sink and countertop.