I am a straight razor user (as my screen name implies), but I do occasionally use my mach 3 when I am in need of a very quick shave. I have recently come across some of the chinese knock-off mach 3 cartridges and I am wondering how good they are or aren't. They are incredibly low cost in conparison, so I am curious. Has anyone one tried them? How does the quality compare to those readily found in department stores?
I use both the Dorco Pace 3 and Pace 4. The Pace 3 is similar to a Mach 3, some differences in the docking design make them no interchangeable, both shave as well as the Mach 3, cost far less, ship very quickly and are made by our ally not our antagonist. You might want to look up dorcousa.com.
I wouldn't touch counterfeit products, I have seen some new generic carts. One of the UK subscription sites sells them.
Counterfeit blades will absolutely rip your skin off. There are threads on ebay complaining on this matter. If it was possible for copy cats to produce equally good cartridges, Gillette would have been out of business by now.
It looks like the patent on the Mach3 has expired, so previously this was not possible for triple blade carts. The twin blade non pivoting carts were heavily copied but never seemed to dent Gillette's market share.
I've tried other triple bladed cart razors (equate, exacta and dorco) but none of those lasted long enough or gave me the same comfortable shave like mach-3 does. Hydro-3 is an exception in this case but still, there is a long way to go for knock off manufacturers to actually be able to copy mach-3 in terms of comfort (spring loaded blades) and longevity (at least 10 shaves). And let's not forget that Gillette has recently decided to upgrade their mach-3 blades as well (I'm super excited to see how new mach-3 will perform) http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160725005615/en/Gillette-Upgrades-Iconic-MACH3®
Here in Canada (don't know in US of A), the price of M-III carts have fallen quite a bit. You can purchase a pack of 5 blades for $15-$16. The price now seems quite comparable with DSC's executive plan when you compare the mileage and price per cartridge.
Comparatively, however, the chinese carts are around 4 for $2. Of course safety razors blades are even cheaper
The Dorco Pace 3 carts are $24 USD and some change for 24 carts. I get 6-10 shaves with the Dorco carts, can't remember what I got with Mach III, too far back in time but I don't remember them being any better.
The patent on the Sensor expired years ago, but we have yet to see a true knock-off generic version. There are generic carts that will fit Sensor handles, but the spring-suspension blade design has not, to my knowledge, ever been copied by another company. An article I read some time back (I think Saad posted it) said the manufacturing costs are too expensive for other companies to use cheaply enough to undercut Gillette's price point. If that's true, we won't be seeing any real M3 knock-offs, either, despite the lapse in patent protection.
Edgewell is producing the Mach 3 compatible Torq3. I have only viewed photos online but it appears to be similar to the Hydro 3.
At the risk of necro-ing a thread... I've been noticing that most of the stores near me seem to now carry private label Mach3-compatible carts which, I'm pretty sure, are made by Edgewell. Interestingly, the Walgreens near my house has put them on Clearance for $2.50 for a pack of 5. Since I still have my old Mach 3 handle, I picked up a couple of packs out of curiosity, though I haven't tried one yet.
Please post your thoughts when you do. I bought some because they were so cheap I had to find out. I discovered they actually don't work badly, they just don't seem to last as long. I amsure there are tons of knockoffs by many companies, so YMMV
Do they faithfully emulate Gillette's floating blade design, or are they fixed blade knockoffs made to fit an M3 handle?