Together with the SmartEdge Foil Shaver, the Hyperflex rounds out Remingtons Hyper Series ranges of shavers. These shavers are the most expensive, and supposedly best that Remington currently has to offer.
Unlike the Smart Edge, The Hyperflex XR1370 is a rotary shaver (the blades spin rather than move side to side). If you have any experience with electrical shavers you will be fully aware that Philips Norelco dominates the rotary shaver market.
Has Remington bitten off more than it can chew when it comes to providing an effective and reliable shave at a tempting price point? Read on to find out.
HyperFlex Models
There are a few different models of the HyperFlex. All have the same shaving heads but come with different features and accessories.
XR1340 Premium model; comes with mesh carry bag, one of four different “designer” faceplates and a 3-month magazine subscription.
XR1370 The next step down, without the gimmicks. This is the model reviewed.
XR1330 Base model, 20 minutes less runtime, basic indicator display.
Remington HyperFlex XR1370
What’s in the box?
- Remington HyperFlex Electric Shaver
- Protective shaver cover
- Charging Cord
- Charging Dock
- Cleaning brush
- Instruction manual
I’ll quickly cover each of these items before I continue. Let’s start with the big fellow:
1. Remington HyperFlex XR1370 Electric Shaver
The star of the show. I will be examining this in much greater detail in the following section of the review.
Next up:
2. Protective Shaver Cover
The HyperFlex XR1370 does not ship with a travel case. Instead, you will have to slide this plastic cover over the head of the shaver to keep it safe while traveling.
And to top up your shaver when it runs flat:
3. Charging cord and plug
Just like the Philips Norelco 6100 I reviewed earlier (The HyperFlex’s direct competitor) the charging cord does not plug directly into the electric shaver.
Instead, the charging cord plugs into:
4. Charging Dock
When the time comes to charge the battery you simply sit your shaver in the stand. The battery will instantly begin to charge, no plugging in necessary.
When the time comes to remove hair clippings from your electric shaver you will be thankful for:
5. Cleaning Brush
Nothing overly exciting here. It may just be a cleaning brush but it sure beats picking cut hairs out of the shaver heads with your fingers.
And last but not least:
6. Instruction Manual
If you find yourself stumped, the answer is most likely found in the instructions!
So that’s everything in the box. Now, let’s take a closer look at that shaver.
Remington HyperFlex XR1370 Electric Shaver
Compared to the incredibly ugly SmartEdge, Remington has paid a little more attention to design when it came to the HyperFlex:
The XR1370 is one good looking electric shaver. The simple mixture of black and chrome is was an excellent choice.
At first, I thought the chrome was came marked. Upon closer inspection, it appears that Remington has decided to use brushed chrome highlights rather than the super shiny chrome that is found on high-end shavers like the Braun Series 9.
While chrome looks great out of the box, it is quickly smudged up by fingerprints and watermarks. Unless you are constantly polishing it, your shaver will forever look dirty.
Brushed chrome however actually works Remington’s favor. Smudges and marks are much less visible than plain shiny chrome.
In the center of the HyperFlex Shaver handle is the power button:
The button performs two functions:
1. On/Off: You have to turn your electric shaver on somehow.
2. Travel Lock: Pressing and holding the power button for three seconds activates travel lock.
With travel lock activated you will be unable to accidentally turn your shaver on; even if it’s squashed at the bottom of your bag or suitcase. Great for those of you that travel with your shaver.
The button itself does not need much pressure to push and makes a satisfying clicking sound when pressed.
Just below the power button is a large plastic area:
This is actually the HyperFlex’s display screen. With the power turned on, a red display (Like a 90’s stereo) will show you the remaining charge in your battery.
Flipping the shaver over reveals a hard plastic rear:
A wet electric shaver can be slipperier than an oil-coated ostrich and a hard plastic back is not going to be your friend, especially if you shave in the shower.
It appears Remington has coated the plastic rear to make it a little more grippy but even so, it is a lot more slippery than rubber.
Remington is obviously aware of this shortcoming and has included two small rubber grips on either neck of the shaver…
…And it was an excellent decision. Without the grips, the HyperFlex would be impossible to grip.
Your pointer and middle finger will rest on one side and your thumb on the other. These two fingers and thumb will often be the only things that are stopping your shaver from dropping to the floor below.
These are used to charge the shaver. When the metal studs make contact with the charging stand, electricity will flow through and charge the battery.
The reason you cannot plug a charging cord directly into the shaver is that Remington has completely sealed the XR1370, making it waterproof.
At the top of the shaver, directly behind the shaving unit is a little button:
Pressing this button causes the built-in trimmer to pop up.
Like the power button on the front, the trimmer release requires little effort to press down. Unlike the power button, the trimmer release does not have a travel lock.
Do you see where I am going with this?
I tossed the HyperFlex shaver twice in my work bag and both times when I removed it the trimmer had popped up on its own. If you find yourself traveling frequently with your electric shaver then you will no doubt find this oversight a little annoying.
I would also like to point out that the spring mechanism seems very flimsy and I am not confident it would hold up to continued use.
The position of the shaving unit gives you an unobstructed view when the time comes to use the trimmer.
If you are trimming an area that requires a steady hand you can remove the whole shaving unit:
The trimmer works well and it’s small size makes it fantastic for detailing areas like sideburns, goatee, and mustache.
Unfortunately, it just won’t replace your every day beard trimmer. Attempting to trim your entire beard will see you end up with both protests from the trimmer and tiny little nicks on your skin, especially on the neck area. Lesson learned.
Now let’s take a closer look at the shaving unit:
As you would expect from a rotary shaver the shaving unit consists of 3 shaving heads (made up of a comb and razor disc) set out in a triangular formation.
If you look closely at one of the shaving heads you will notice that it has two distinct rings:
These are called tracks. If you look closely at the photo above you will notice that each track has a different pattern cut into it. Each pattern is designed to cut specific types of hair.
Outer Track: Pre-trims longer hairs
Inner Track: Captures and finishes shorter hairs
One thing immediately sticks out to me:
Each shaving head sits nearly flush with the plastic. While this is not a problem on its own, the outer edges of the shaving unit curve upwards right up to the shaving head:
Unfortunately, this is going to make the shaving head miss more hairs than if the plastic around the shaving head was flat (like the Philips 6100) or if the shaving head stuck out a little.
Remington somewhat combats this by allowing each shaving head to pivot inwards:
The pivot makes it much easier to shave contoured areas like your jawline.
Unfortunately, it’s an all for one approach to the pivot action. Pressing down on one shaving head will cause all of them to pivot inwards. Still, any pivot is definitely better than no pivot at all.
In addition to the shaving heads being able to pivot, the whole shaving unit itself can flex in a limited 360-degree range of movement.
Pulling upwards on the face of the shaving unit splits it in half:
The pivot makes it much easier to shave contoured areas like your jawline.
Unfortunately, it’s an all for one approach to the pivot action. Pressing down on one shaving head will cause all of them to pivot inwards. Still, any pivot is definitely better than no pivot at all.
In addition to the shaving heads being able to pivot, the whole shaving unit itself can flex in a limited 360-degree range of movement.
Pulling upwards on the face of the shaving unit splits it in half:
You will need to do this on two separate occasions:
1. Cleaning: Giving your HyperFlex a good deep clean
2>Replace the Shaving heads: Remington recommends you change the shaving heads and cutters once every 12 months.
If you flip the shaving head over you will see this:
The razor blades are held in by a blue retaining frame. Pulling down on the shaving frame will allow you to remove the individual blades.
It is here that Remington has done something that I have been wishing Philips would do for years…
…Color coded the razor blades.
When you remove the razor blades, reinserting them in the incorrect place will see your electric shave performance drop dramatically, especially if you have been using it for a while.
When you are cleaning your shaver these are very easy to mix up.
Remington has given each razor blade a different color to help you remember which slot they go in.
Simple but brilliant.
Let’s take a closer look at a razor blade disc:
All up the disc has 21 razor blades. 14 on the outer circle and 7 on the inner.
These two circles of razor blades line up with the two tracks I mentioned earlier.
It’s time to put the HyperFlex electric shaver back together and take it for a test drive.
But first, I am going to have to charge the battery.
As I touched on earlier in the review; in order to charge the battery of the HyperFlex XR1370 you are going to have to use the charging dock:
Unfortunately, the charging dock just isn’t all that great. The center of gravity is poor and topples over at the slightest bump.
If there is one thing you don’t want to do, it’s to drop your electric shaver on the tiled floor of your bathroom. Unfortunately using the dock will very likely see this worst case scenario happen to you.
Remington is obviously aware of this flaw as they also allow you to “clip” your shaver into the charging dock and lay it flat:
While it definitely isn’t as functional as a stand, it does prevent the headache of the charging dock being knocked over.
Like much pricier shaver models, the charger itself can be used on any voltage from 100-240V. That’s basically anywhere in the world that has power outlets. Great for those of you who want to shave while traveling.
Remington recommends charging the HyperFlex XR1370 for a full 24 hours before it’s first use.
After the first charge, the Lithium battery will give you 60 minutes of shaving time off a 90-minute charge.
If your shavers battery dies halfway through a shave, a 5-minute quick charge is all it takes to give you 3 minutes of shave time, just enough time to complete the average shave.
A common complaint is that the HyperFlex’s battery life begins to deteriorate quickly, holding less and less charge each time.
Unfortunately, 3 weeks of testing was not enough time to determine this and I found the charge times stated to match up with my real-world experience.
One thing I like about the HyperFlex is that it gives you a lovely feature that is generally reserved for high-end models:
It displays the remaining shave time in minutes.
In the above photo, the 14 on the indicator represents 14 minutes of shave time remaining.
The display serves as a great visual reminder as to just how much battery charge is remaining.
The Shave
Picking up the shaver for the first time I was impressed with the overall weight. The shaver feels comfortable to hold almost like a premium shaver double it’s price.
Unfortunately, that was the best part of using the electric shaver
Shaving with the Remington HyperFlex XR1370 can be summed up in a single word. Disappointing.
With a cough and a splutter the rotating blades spin into life. There just doesn’t seem to be any power behind them. If you have coarse beard hairs then you are going to require many passes over the same area to get an even remotely satisfactory job.
The shaving heads themselves do not glide all that smoothly over your face. This is a big problem since the shaver relies on you using small circular motions to slay those hairs and makes the experience that much more uncomfortable.
Then there is the length left behind. After reviewing and testing many different shavers I know that rotary shavers simply cannot shave as close foil shavers. But the HyperFlex XR1370 takes the cake. Straight after shaving, enough length is left that your face feels like a very coarse grain sandpaper. You simply cannot get a close shave with this thing.
Then there is shaving difficult areas like under the nose or near the sideburns. The curve of the plastic on the side of the head makes it nearly impossible to shave the hairs under the very base of your nose.
It’s a pretty terrible dry shave.
But as I mentioned earlier, the XR1370 is waterproof. So this means that you can shave in the shower with shaving foam.
The only way you are going to get a near satisfactory shave with this shaver is by lathering up the shaving foam and using this shaver exclusively in the shower.
Some of the problems I went over in the dry shave are missing when shaving foam is added to the equation. With the extra lubrication, the shaving heads do what they are supposed to and “glide” over your face rather than catching.
But even if you can get over just how impractical it is to use an electric shaver in the shower, using shaving foam improves the bad shave to just mediocre. And that’s not much of an improvement.
Cleaning the Shaver
After your shave, you are going to have to clean your shaver. Otherwise, you are going to be left with hair clippings and other gunk that can stop the razor from performing effectively (not that it does that anyway).
Rotary shavers are annoying to clean at the best of times. And Cleaning the HyperFlex is no different. It’s when you start to review the under $100 shavers that you really begin to miss those bulky cleaning stations that come with higher-end models.
After each shave, you must remove the shaving unit from the body, open it up and rinse each part out under running water.
But once a week you have to do a deeper clean, opening up the shaving unit and cleaning each individual razor blade as well as lubricating them with household oil (not included in box).
It’s a lot of work for a shaver that just isn’t all that great to begin with.
Final Thoughts
The Remington HyperFlex XR1360 really seemed like a winner, right up until I tested it.
It appears Remington has spent all their time making the HyperFlex look and feel premium, and for the price, you won’t get a better looking Rotary Shaver.
Unfortunately, the same time was not spent on making sure the HyperFlex could shave effectively. And at this price point, it’s pretty inexcusable.
If you are shopping around for an effective rotary shaver at a similar price, try the Philips Norelco 6100. It may not look or feel as nice as Remington’s model, but the shave offered is definitely superior.
If you are a sucker for punishment and want to try out the Hyperflex for yourself, You can purchase it on sale from Amazon: