Philips QC 5170

Background:

I had never considered cutting my own hair until recently. My father is in a care home and would not let anyone cut his hair and it has become very long and quite wild, so I suggested to him, being his favourite son (ok only son!!), that I cut it for him. He seemed happy with this idea so I investigated the hair clippers market and wondered if it might work on me too.

The product:

I checked out what where the popular models for various internet sales sites and discovered the Philips QC5170 seemed a popular model with lots of easy to use features. So I went on Dooyoo and Ciao to see what my fellow reviewers thought of it and they where very positive about it, so based on this I decided to give it a go.

The recommended retail price for this is over 64 pounds but I managed to find a supplier who would sell me the product new with delivery included for just 27 pounds 95 pence. I do recommend you shop around for this as it is possible to get it for as little as twenty pounds. So I waited and wondered if I had done the right thing and hoped I hadn't bought something that was either ineffective or I could not work. Always a problem when buying on the internet you have to wait till the post arrives the following day for the product!!

When it arrived I was really impressed with the way it looked it was packed in a very tidy box that allowed you to see the product and described some of its features. I was however quite apprehensive about using it so I decided I would try it on myself first. Although I need to wait till the next day to use it as when you first use it the battery needs to be charged for eight hours according to the instructions anyway.

My experience:

I found the product was easy to assemble with clear instructions in English that I could easily follow. It comes with two different heads, a mains charger, the trimmer and a small brush to clear the blades of hair after use. I put it on charge and it makes it very clear when it is fully charged as the light on the back of the charger changes from red to green. Once the clipper is fully charged you can get up to 60 minutes use out of it.

So I began gingerly cutting my hair with it. I found it very quick and easy to use and within ten minutes I had cut my hair. After every wave through my hair I simply took the hair of the clipper and put them in the bin. I found it was so easy and I questioned why I had not considered doing this before, because to be honest I don't have much hair these days and I found it only took the Hairdresser about 10 minutes to cut it and that included a chat, and a cup of coffee and I was charged twelve pounds a time.

What I found was as my confidence improved I found the clipper would do different things to make cutting the hair easier as hair grows in different directions. For example it has a 180 degree pivoting head and I found this really helpful for cutting the sides of my hair. It felt to me like I had a pretty good cut and no one in my office passed any comments other than to say it was a smart cut when I went in the following day. Although I did notice it did struggle to get the hairs from my neck and I needed to cut these with scissors myself.

The product comes complete with two separate trimmers and these have five different settings of blade. So in total you have ten different settings. One is for the length 3mm up to 11mm, while the second is for longer hair 13mm to 21mm. With the two clippers very easy to change and the different settings impossible to change without knowing it. That is because there is a button on the shaver you have to press to change the setting so you don't end up changing it without realising it and different lengths of hair!!

I found the trimmer very easy to operate and it felt comfortable in my hand and while it is difficult to do this without a mirror if you regularly cut you hair clearly not impossible. The product comes with a two year guarantee and a self sharpening stainless steel blade that requires no oiling or intervention from the user, only a clean with the brush provided after use.

Having successfully tried it on myself I went to visit my father and cut his. He seemed quite happy for me to do it and while there was a lot of hair to come off it didn't take too long. The machine I think did struggle because it was so long initially but when it was a more manageable length it became easier. The result was my Dad had a new haircut that was short and very tidy and it clearly didn't hurt at all otherwise he would have let me know!!

For me this is a really good investment and I am very pleased with this product. I keep offering to cut all my friends hair with it but I haven't had any takers yet!! It cuts at so many different lengths with what appears quality precision and leaves you with a cut that is consistent in length throughout. I found this product easy to use and as my confidence in it grew I found I could have my hair as short as I dared.

I found the instructions although written in lots of different languages very easy to follow and they helped me through every stage of my first cut. They where comprehensive too and advised on everything from charging the trimmer up, how to cut the difficult to reach areas to care of the equipment after it had been used. For someone like me it was an idiots guide and I appreciated the pictures to help explain everything.

Conclusion:

I would definitely recommend the Philips QC5170 as an excellent piece of kit. This is because it is very easy to use and cuts your hair with a high quality of precision. It is competitively priced and comes with ten different choices of cutting length. I found the whole process simple but very effective and was very pleased that I purchased this particular model to cut both my father and my hair.

Thanks for reading my review.

This review is published under my user name on both Ciao and Dooyoo.

© CPTDANIELS July 2011