Great final write-up from
@slapo :
I had my final shave with the Jupiter on Thursday in a shave-off with the Carbon CX 316L Web ++ plate.
This one was a fairly easy win for the Jupiter for me - the ++ plate of the Carbon afforded too much blade flex and I found it to be fairly unfomfortable. I was surprised I did end up with only slight irritation on the Carbon side, though I think that's from the 3P soap (which I used way too much of) and from shaving daily for over a week, whereas I usually take at least a day or two of a break during a week.
The shave with the Carbon CX ++ was alright, all in all, but with the Jupiter, it was nice - smoother, just as efficient (if not more so).
The summary of my comparison shaves with the Jupiter:
- Preferred it to the Muhle Rocca, as the Jupiter was smoother and more efficient, if also a little more aggressive; It was a close one, though.
- Preferred it to the Alpha Outlaw Evolution, same reasons as with the Rocca, except the gap between the two in smoothness was wider than between the Jupiter and the Rocca.
- The closest one for me was probably against the RazoRock MJ-90A, which I ended up favouring by a slim margin. They feel different on the face - MJ90A has a bit more flex, but with its neutral-ish exposure, it's a tickle. Jupiter has less flex and manifests as a firmer "sproing" and when it manifests and the blade skips a bit, it packs more punch. I did prefer the feel of the Jupiter on the ATG pass, but prefered the relative harmlessness of the MJ90A overall.
- Very slightly preferred the Pearl Flexi, as it was possibly even a little milder than the RazoRock MJ-90A, and felt similar. However, the redundant lather channel splitter does cause the Flexi to leave some longer hair (growing for a few weeks) behind in the middle.
- Prefered the Jupiter to the Carbon CX Web ++ plate. Smoother, pretty much as efficient and actually had better lather flow-through. On the other hand, the CX Web is really light for a steel head, almost feels like shaving with an aluminium head.
With all the razor heads I compared the Jupiter to where it came out on top efficiency-wise, the difference was primarily in the first pass, and fairly slim. The exception there was the Pearl Flexi, but it caught up during follow-up passes.
As for Jupiter itself, in summary:
Likes:
- Well made, precisely machined.
- The razor's relatively hefty, but not too much.
- Clamps the blade well, and closer to the cutting edge of the blade than some similar designs (though still relatively far).
- Not much blade flex, despite being clamping point being relatively far from the cutting edge. I this it due to the top cap having a sharp-ish edge that yields very good support of the blade from that side, and I think the slight bend the top cap forces onto the blade past clamping point
- Fairly smooth even ATG.
- Not much blade feel (but some).
- Efficient for the amount of blade feel, particularly on the first pass.
- The handle is grippier than I'd thought it would be.
- The lack of support from the top in the middle of the blade means that pre-bending a blade can be used to make the razor a little milder.
- Like the angle guide on the safety bar.
Dislikes:
- It doesn't have much blade flex, but there is some, and mentioned above, when it manifests, it's quite a firm spring and I found that if it bites, it's a fiercer bite than with razors where the blade is less rigid. But it also means it feels smoother and there's less blade skipping for me.
- It's pretty smooth, but not quite as smooth as razors where the blade is more rigid (which is usually those clamping the blade closer to the cutting edge).
- The blade spring I mentioned above is something I felt ATG - it felt a bit like a cart to me as there was this velcro-like slight plucky feeling. However, as I said, it's slight, so while it's noticeable, it was only a bother when my hair was somewhat underhydrated or already a little irritated. It was fine otherwise.
- The grip on the handle is fine, and I had very few issues with it, but I'd still prefer knurling.
- The surface of the angle guide on the safety bar is quite small and becomes difficult to feel with fluffier and denser lather.
Blade exposure thoughts:
- I think it would be interesting to see a version where the top cap would impart slightly more of a bend to the blade past the clamping point. This could make the razor feel a bit milder without losing efficiency.
- An alternative tweak, perhaps there could be an insert that could be used to force more of the blade into the head, thus shortening blade exposure. It could, perhaps, be stored in the handle.
Angle guide thoughts:
- To feel the angle guide better with thicker/fluffier lather, maybe having the scallops more on the angle guide of the safety bar could help.
- Continuing the angle guide on the top cap, even if pretty small in surface, could work as well.
I like the razor enough to be quite likely to purchase a head if a head-only option becomes available as it is, though.
Thank you @Reggies Razors for letting me try the razor and thank you
@Boycie83 for organising the passaround.
