Buy Now...

Described as a device promising to deliver an “Effortless even trim”, the Series 5000 Beard trimmer, with its model number of BT5200, forms part of the Philips facial hair product line up of offerings.  This particular kit consists of the main hand-held beard trimmer unit, combo guard and comb element, power lead with attached three-pin plug and a small cleaning brush which does tend to make itself scarce when it is required.  There is some documentation and I will return to this aspect a little later,

With a length of 185 mm and a circumference of 137 mm at its thickest point, the beard trimmer features what are referred to as skin-friendly blades mounted o the head of the unit.  To ensure the best performance, these full metal blades are double sharpened for faster trimming of the facial hair.  Philip claims this trimmer is 50% faster but, unfortunately, I do not have any figures or evidence to go on with regards this claim.

The blades can be adjusted in position for dealing with elements such as a full beard, moustache or side-burns.  Mounted in a central position of the hand-held beard trimmer is a rotatable wheel allowing for the shaver to adjust the length setting of the blades.  With 17 different settings being available, the length setting can be set between 0.4 mm and 10 mm.  Actually the setting adjustment feature does not appear to make any affect to the adjustment of the blades which are securely and firmly attached to the top of the beard trimmer.

Any adjustment, as such, is made to the guard / comb element which slots over the head of the beard trimmer to provide a protective layer between the cutting blades and the shaver’s face.  This guard element is raised or lowered as required to deal with the different types of facial hair.  As well as its protective guard usage, the element’s comb feature also performs as part of the beard trimmer’s guide system feature.  It does this by raising the strands of facial hair up to the level of the blades so that an even cut can be achieved.  In tests the comb feature does what it is meant to do.

Residing within the beard trimmer’s body is a rechargeable battery unit which is rated as providing 60 minutes of use after an hour of charging which does seem a reasonable exchange rate (far better than some dollar pound rates I have encountered recently).  Charging of the device’s battery is carried out using the supplied lead which links between the bottom of the beard trimmer and an appropriate power source.  A light, positioned just below the beard trimmer’s on / off switch, will flicker with a white glow during charging and then hold steady to indicate when the process is complete.  The supplied power lead measures a reasonable 180 cm which should alleviate any difficulties in locating an appropriate power socket.

While a small brush, which I have misplaced on more than one occasion, is included in the package for cleaning the comb and blades, the beard trimmer is waterproof.  This means that the product does qualify for a running water tap clean when the need arises.

Earlier I mentioned the presence of documentation in the package.  With more emphasis being placed on warranty and multi-lingual safety issues, the actual instructional element for this device is limited to a few illustrations which I found of little help.  Basically this beard trimmer is fairly straightforward to use although I did struggle initially when trying to place the guard / comb cap over the blades.  There was more useful information on the outside of the packaging than contained within the supplied documentation.

The Series 5000 Philips Beard Trimmer comes with a two year warranty.  Philips has placed a £65 price tag on this product although you could save several pounds by logging on to Amazon.co.uk where it is currently available for £40.

http://www.philips.co.uk/c-m-pe/face-stylers-and-grooming-kits/effortless-even-trim