Philips OneBlade Pro Review: Is It The Best Hybrid Trimmer?

I had that in mind when doing this Philips OneBlade Pro review since it claims to be the best all in one beard trimmer/electric shaver.

It is supposed to excel at trimming your beard, edging your beard and sideburns and then shaving your face like an electric razor.

Usually when you have these tools that try to do too many things, it inevitably falls short in one area or all of them.

So, how does the OneBlade Pro do when trimming, edging and shaving? I thought about keeping you in suspense until the end of the review, but I will let you off the hook.

It does very well in all of these areas.

In this Philips Oneblade Pro review, I will go over its features and give details on the performance in all three areas.

Before I go into that, let’s take a look at the features and pros and cons.

One Blade Pro vs One Blade

Since the One Blade Pro is an upgrade on the original, it makes sense that there would be a lot of similarities.

Here are some of the ways they are similar and then I’ll go over the differences.

The Similarities

Wet/Dry Shaving

Both razors can be used without using any kind of shaving cream or lotion. You can get right down to the skin with either.

Whether you are trimming your beard or shaving it off. Now, you can use a shaving cream or even take it in the shower with you. They both are fully waterproof and will work well under running water.

Leave Stubble

The blades on both are geared towards guys with sensitive skin so they leave some very slight stubble.

I would say something slightly under 5 o’clock shadow.

Same Shave Heads

The nicest thing about these two is that they use the same head. If you decide to upgrade to the Pro, then you don’t have to wait until you’ve used all the blades from your original.

The Differences

The Design

While both of the versions sport an ergonomic design that is comfortable and allows for a good grip, they look totally different.

The original almost looks like a regular cartridge razor just with a much thicker body. The body has a similar shape and length as you would find on a Gillette Fusion or something similar.

The Pro version looks more like a trimmer than a razor. It has a sleek silver body that tapers down towards the end.

The grip is slightly less sturdy as it doesn’t have the same type of texture as the original. It looks nothing like its predecessor.  This isn’t a bad thing or a good thing. Everybody will have their own preference to how they want the design, with some preferring the older version. In other words, the design itself is not necessarily and upgrade.

Charging and Battery Life

Of all the differences this is the one that affects you most and may be the biggest factor on your purchasing decision after reading this Oneblade Pro review

The Pro way outlasts the original in both charge time and battery life.

Let’s start with charge time. The original Oneblade takes 8 hours to charge to get the battery full. The Pro? A mere 1 hour to do the same.

Then for battery life, the original lasts 45 minutes. Not bad in the grand scheme of things. In fact, some trimmers might not even get that much. Considering how small it is I would say that it is pretty good.

But, we go from pretty good to stellar with the Pro which gets 90 minutes. Obviously getting double the runtime and in a fraction of the time, it takes to charge, you get more bang for your buck in this department.

The difference in battery type also makes a big difference. The older version has a Nickel Cadmium, which as I just pointed out has a respectable run time. Not only does it take longer to charge and gets less runtime, but it also doesn’t last nearly as long as a Lithium Ion as the Pro has. What I mean by that is eventually a rechargeable battery will no longer hold a charge as I alluded to. This is inevitable, but it takes longer, sometimes years longer, to happen with a Lithium Ion battery. They cost more, but end up paying for themselves in terms of long life.

LED

When you are charging it is really helpful to know when it is done and ready to use. Not only is it convenient but it will extend the life of your trimmer by not allowing you to overcharge it. This overcharging will eventually lead to the battery not fully charging after a while and will diminish the runtime.

There is no LED at all, either to indicate it is done charging, or that it is charging at all on the original. This is something that may also be a big factor in your purchase decision as the Pro has a charging light indicating when it is charging and when it is done.

Attachments

The Oneblade comes with 3 plastic comb attachments so you can change the length of your beard by swapping them out. Going way beyond this is the dial to adjust the length of the Pro. I will go into more detail about this further in the Oneblade Pro review, but the gist of it is that you have way more control and accuracy with the Pro because of this feature.

It would be really hard to do any tapering with the original.

Price

I ended with this difference but it is a big one. Maybe the biggest difference and could impact your decision to buy even more than the battery life.

The OneBlade Pro costs nearly double at the time of this writing. The Oneblade original is much cheaper and does mostly what the Pro does. Is it worth it for you to pay double for the upgrades you get with the original?

For some, it is a no brainer. For others on a strict budget, they may do without the extras. Because you do still get decent battery runtime and the blades are the same so the quality of the shave is not much of a difference. So you pay half for essentially the same shave.

It is when you consider how much more accurate a trim you get with the Pro that things change. If you travel a lot and need a long lasting battery then this also comes into play. And lastly, if you prefer paying more for something that can potentially last much longer, then you will get good value for the money you’ve spent.

Spend the most you can afford for quality and you end up saving money in the long run. If you have some wiggle room in your budget then I recommend going for the Pro.

OneBlade Pro Review: Main Features

Rechargeable

In about an hour you can fully charge the trimmer which will give you about 90 minutes of use.

Figuring the average time to use it to fully shave your face is about 15 minutes, you can use this for about a week before you have to recharge.

If you don’t need to use it every other day to shave, and you need to do the occasional manscaping, then it can last you over a month between charges.

Wet/Dry

Though Philips says it can be used wet or dry, I wouldn’t necessarily use it with a shaving cream or gel.

Use it in the shower when you want to use it wet and save time.

I feel like it actually works better dry, but it is nice to be able to run it under the faucet to clean it off.

A nice in between is to use a preshave cream or oil specifically for electric razors. All you need is a very thin layer to help lubricate the blade as it goes over your skin. You’ll get as close a shave as if you did it dry but without any of the mess of using a gel or shaving foam.

This is a very good option for guys with sensitive skin.

Adjustable Trimmer Comb

This is the feature that I believe sets this apart and makes it a top rated beard trimmer.

Instead of having multiple attachments for different lengths, it comes with one that is  adjustable.

With a unique dial, it can be adjusted to 14 different lengths.

To me, the less things to get lost or broken, the better. I love having one attachment that is easy to adjust to make length changes on the fly. It makes it very easy when you want to taper your beard into your hairline, for instance. You can get much more accurate lengths as opposed to being tied down to the fixed lengths of the different comb attachments seen on may other beard trimmers.

Pivoting Head

Whether you use it as a beard trimmer or as an electric razor, it has a nice pivot that can get over all the contours of your face for an even trim or shave.

It also makes for less irritation when the head pivots. If you can get over the hard to get to areas easily, then you won’t be going over the same spot multiple times. This reduces any razor burn potential and makes for a much more comfortable shave.

How does the OneBlade Pro work?

Shaving

When using the OneBlade Pro as an electric razor, there is one important thing to keep in mind. It is not meant to get as close as a traditional razor. It isn’t a stubble razor, it won’t leave any noticeable stubble in other words.

This is by design.

You need to know in this Philips Oneblade Pro review that this electric trimmer was created for guys with sensitive skin. Having it get as close as a razor would probably mean a rough shave for most guys. If you have sensitive skin and don’t mind that it will feel as though you shaved with a razor a couple of hours before then you won’t mind that it isn’t a super close shave.

It has a unique blade, where the internal blade comes right to the edge on both the top and bottom of the razor.

This is great since it means you don’t need to use a separate trimmer to buzz down the beard before you use it as an electric shaver. The edges mow down the long beard, then the foil section allows the stubble to get cut by the sharp oscillating blades underneath, just as a traditional foil shaver would.

Because of the unique design you can go with or against the grain without any pulling. In fact, Philips recommends going against the grain to make sure it is as close a shave as you can get.

If you’re afraid of getting ingrown hairs by going against the grain, then you can go with a preshave oil or cream as I mentioned earlier. This will keep everything lubricated to prevent that. Plus, since it doesn’t cut the hairs down to closely, it shouldn’t be much of a problem anyway.

OneBlade Pro works as a wet razor and can be used to shave with shaving cream or in the shower. If you use it dry, it is easy to clean by running it under the faucet.

The pivot head and small blade is great at getting into all areas of the face by following the contours very easily. I love the size and shape of the head, too as it can get under the nose much more easily than a regular foil razor since it lays flat.

The unique design also means that it works very quickly. You won’t need to go over the same spot multiple times. This is also great news for guys with sensitive skin as the fact that with many electric razors you have to go over the same spot causing irritation.