All-in-one trimmer – testing two Philips multigroomers
I tested two Philips beard trimmers: the upper mid-range model, MG7940/15 from the 7000 series and the top-of-the-range model, MG9553/15, from the 9000 series.
Clean contours and an evenly trimmed beard. Sounds so simple, but hasn’t been simple to me for years. I used to either go to the barber, the hairdresser or I cut my beard myself with an old, fairly simple shaver and scissors. The latter was often very tedious. The last time I tried a trimmer was probably 10 to 15 years ago. It wasn’t a success – I remember either the attachment came off, so I had to hold it in place while shaving, or it kept going back to 0 millimetres. I wasn’t amused, to say the least.
I’ve decided to put an end to this and have tested two beard trimmers: the Philips 15-in-1 Trimmer Series 7000 MG7940/15 and the Philips 20-in-1 Trimmer Series 9000 MG9553/15. They’re quite similar. However, the MG9553/15 is higher-quality, comes with more attachments and a OneBlade. I’ve taken a closer look at both devices, including their scope of delivery, and rated them in the categories shaving, convenience and battery.
Scope of delivery
One thing’s misleading to start with: the devices are advertised as 15-in-1 and 20-in-1 trimmers. To me, this isn’t correct. In both cases, the appliances themselves (trimmer and OneBlade) are ascribed a function they don’t fulfil on their own, i.e. without attachments. The way I see it, the MG7940/15 has 14 attachments and functions and the MG9553/15 offers 18.
Source: Kim Muntinga
MG9553/15: two appliances and 18 attachments
The Philips 20-in-1 trimmer MG9553/15 offers two main appliances – the trimmer and the OneBlade. The latter has one attachment, which comes with a protective cover. The trimmer, on the other hand, features four attachments – a large, wide OneBlade for the body and three for the body and face. They come in various sizes – small, medium and large – and are designed to trim beard or body hair to 0.5 mm. And that’s not all: the medium and large ones can be extended with additional attachments.
Here’s an overview of all trimmer attachments:
- four wide combs at four, nine, twelve and 16 mm
- two combs for side trimming
- an eyebrow comb
- two medium-width combs at three and five mm
- four adjustable combs with 1.0 to 3.0 mm (in 0.2 mm steps), three to seven mm (in 1 mm steps) nine to 13 mm (in 1 mm steps), 16 to 20 mm (in 1 mm steps)
The scope of delivery also includes a storage pouch, a USB-A cable and a cleaning brush. The cleaning brush fulfils its purpose, but I find the bristles a bit too soft. They give way quickly when cleaning.
Source: Kim Muntinga
MG7940/15: less choice, but a special attachment
The MG7940/15 lacks the comb attachments for side trimming, the medium-width comb at five mm and an adjustable comb (from 16 to 20 mm). On top of that, there’s no OneBlade. It does, however, feature an attachment for nose and ear hair.
Source: Kim Muntinga
The trimming experience – good marks for both
First things first, both trimmers do their job well. I’ve tested both devices several times with different attachments and am very satisfied. They offer an easy and fast experience. The attachments hold well and don’t move. Only the nose hair trimmer won’t ever become my best friend. Turns out I’m very ticklish in the nasal cavity and couldn’t stop giggling when I used it. The OneBlade, however, immediately became my favourite. It makes it easy to shave my beard off precisely and create nice lines, all while leaving my skin soft and smooth.
The MG7940/15 has a total of 22 length settings from 0.5 to 16 mm in 0.2 mm steps. The top model MG9553/15 even offers 27 length settings from 0.2 to 20 mm.
In my opinion, a high-quality beard trimmer should offer a few features for extra convenience. First and foremost, however, I expect convenience when it comes to basic functions. Is the trimmer easy to operate? Are the attachments intuitive, easy and quick to put on and take off? I can answer all these questions with a resounding yes. Other convenience features include Philips’ Beard Sense Technology, which apparently analyses the beard density 125 times per second during shaving and increases power precisely when needed to tackle thick, bushy or long beard hair.
Both trimmers are waterproof. This doesn’t only mean you can use them in the shower, but also clean the devices themselves and all attachments easily. What’s also handy is that both trimmers notify you when the battery is low. One minus point for me, however, is that neither of them work while they’re charging.
Source: Kim Muntinga
Battery – more than enough runtime
Both trimmers are said to have a battery life of up to 120 minutes. I tested this by leaving the 9000 series trimmer on as long as it would go. It ran out of battery after 132 minutes. A good result, if you ask me. According to the manufacturer, the charging time is 60 minutes; fast charging is possible in five minutes. Both trimmers are equipped with a charging cable with a USB-A connection, but without an adapter.
The battery life of the One Blade is specified as up to 30 minutes. In my test, it lasted exactly 90 minutes. However, it takes eight hours to fully charge.
My verdict
For years, I made do with an old, rather bad razor. Not any more. The two Philips trimmers have won me over. I was particularly impressed by the 20-in-1 trimmer MG9553/15 from the 9000 series with the additional OneBlade. It makes trimming and shaving convenient, quick and easy. I’ve never been able to get the edges and lines on my beard as precise as with the OneBlade. And in my opinion, the result is impressive. At least I like it, and that’s the main thing.
Source: Kim Muntinga
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