6+ months in and I am still surprised by how good a shave I get. As close as any other razor I have tried but, most importantly, very face-friendly. With my other DEs and SEs, I would have to limit myself to 2 careful passes, paying attention to all the details, in order to get a smooth shave with some rough spots. With the R48, I use 3 passes and get smooth skin all over. The blade angle and pressure take care of themselves and I only really need to make sure that I am shaving with beard reduction in mind (i.e. only shave where there is lather) in order to get great shaves.