I have been using this razor for a about a week with various blades - Astra SP's, Polsilver SI's and Gillette Yellows.
I have yet to get a bad shave from it. It is a mild razor but not as mild as the original.
The sweet spot for me is No 7. DFS easily in 3 passes with no irritation.
Although not as well built as the original (by a small margin) I am going to go out on a limb and say I actually prefer this one over the BB.
I found the BB to be a lot milder and couldn't get a decent shave on anything less than 9.
Would I buy one?
If I didn't have so many high end razors, then yes. It's a very good razor for a bargain price.
It will be posted to Andy on monday with a couple of extra soaps and some blades.
There are some decent soaps to try as well. I'll post a full list later and hopefully get some more on the pass around.
The black Jack is a good razor which I could find a place for in my man cave. I don't feel the grip on the handle is quite as secure in the hand as my original black beauty which also feels a bit more solid overall Gillette certainly built it's razors to last my 59 fatboy is testiment too this.
I also enjoyed testing some of the soap's provided of which xpec could make it on to my shopping list