I've never really had much luck with electric razors. I liked the concept, and they're practical, but my beard's pretty thick and I'd never been able to get a really close shave. So I wasn't expecting much from this one.

But I actually thought the Braun Series 7 Pulsonic Shaver did a pretty good job. Definitely better than my previous experiences with others.

I really liked the self-cleaning feature; this is a real problem with other electric shavers. The head gets full of beard bristles and it's a pain in the ass to clean it with the little brush they give you!

The Series 7's cleaning mechanism is really convenient; you just stick it in the base unit and it gets clean [Kristen's note: you can set it for 3 different cleaning options -- eco, normal, and intensive].

In fact, you don't have to do much maintenance at all. Not only does the base unit clean the shaver, it lubricates, dries and charges it. [Kristen's note: set it and forget it! OK, bad Ronco joke.] This way you can leave it at your girlfriend's place and it's ready for the next time she drags you to a wedding, family function, or Sephora.

As for its actual shaving performance, most parts of my face were as smooth as if I'd used a blade, though there were still some areas around my jawline that were stubbly. I think this is just a tradeoff you make when you start using an electric shaver. Although I have to say, this one worked a lot better than the ones I've tried in the past.

In conclusion, I'd continue to shave with a blade on a day to day basis. But I'd enjoy having the Braun for evening events -- at the end of the day when you have a shadow, you don't want to shave with a blade for the second time that day, it's just too irritating.

And for guys who have lighter beard growth or normally prefer an electric shaver, I think it'd be hard to do better than this one.

Braun Series 7 Pulsonic Shaver, $229.99 at drugstore.com