7 Days of Utopia (Chrome Razor Back in Stock)

For 7 Days I have been testing a Double Edged Razor that was brought to light by Misphit. He had seen what appeared to be a heavy handled razor with an price of 9.99 U.S.D. at Amazon.com. That price included free shipping (within CONUS) and a pack of 10 Orange Derby blades from a seller going by the name Utopia Deals. He bought one and discussed on the forum that he had purchased it and like it, so I went ahead and bought one for myself to try.

When the razor arrived it came in a slender black box with an open cellophane window showing the head. The front of the box (below the cellophane) was printed in the center in nice grey faced font, “UTOPIA Double Edge Safety Razor.” At the bottom of the front of the box was additional printing, “A Luxury Shaving Necessity” and on one side was printed “Made In Pakistan.” Overall a surprising nice presentation. The packet of 10 Derby blades was included in the shipping box.

I did some research on the seller of the razor Utopia Care which is also listed in Amazon as Utopia Deals and Utopia Towels. I found that the company is a New York City based distributor with the primary emphasis of towels, terry cloth products, sheets, scissors, and personal grooming items. It appears that the products being distributed all have the commonality of being produced in Pakistan so it would be a logical step to introduce this razor as an additional product line. After receiving an email from Utopia-towels requesting me to a product review on Amazon, I decided to look a little further into the background of the company before making any product review. Here are the links that discuss the company in further detail..

http://www.manta.com/c/mwz2jk1/utopia-towels-inc

http://www.nycompaniesindex.com/utopia-towels-inc-28y7u

This, along with the Amazon links provided a good overview, of the distribution company and the products they sell.

When I opened the box I found a very heavy handled razor. The handle was very well plated in Chrome and was made of solid Brass. The handle measured almost 4 inches long, ½ inch in diameter at the grip, with a slightly larger diameter end for weight and appearance. The handle alone was well worth the price of the purchase. I tried a few of the usual heads that would be fitted such as the Edwin Jagger 89, the Mühle R41 2013, the Gillette Tech and all of them fit this particular handle. There will be combinations that will not match up (some FaTips come to mind) but if the head will configure to the original handles of these three razors, then they will configure to this handle as well. The handle is well balanced and has moderately deep knurling which makes it attractive and also very efficient in gripping while wet.

Next came the head. It is a clone of the Edwin Jagger 89 / Mühle R89 style head. It is made of Zamak. Zamak is a family of metal alloys with a base metal of zinc and elements of aluminum, magnesium, and copper, at varying mixtures depending on the specific standard class rating of Zamak. Zamak goes by many different names based on the alloy standard and / or the country of manufacture. Unlike the Mühle R89, and especially the Edwin Jagger DE89, that have exceptionally well plated Zamak heads made to very high mechanical tolerances, the head on the Utopia is not as precise in tolerances. The plating is more spotty in places, especially the inside of the head where it is not seen when assembled. At the price of this razor I am not expecting that the head be the same tolerances as an EJ or Mühle even at twice the purchase price.

Now what is important to note is that this head, as with all the heads I have experienced of this price range and source of manufacture has some slight to even major blade alignment issues. Now this one fortunately has only a small amount of misalignment. That was remedied by making sure when the head was loaded with a blade and the head was being tightened to the handle, that the non cutting sides of the head were held very securely using the thumbs so that the blade was parallel with the guard. That will for many cases eliminate the issue of misalignment. If it cannot align up truly parallel with the guard nicks and scraping will occur and that head should simply be discarded for a replacement such as one from an EJ, Mühle, vintage Gillette DE. Most people will opt to replace the head in normal use. For this product the handle is obviously the item of greatest interest.

I decided to use the head that came with the package for testing purposes. Overall the razor with the head weighed slightly more than 4 ounces so it is a heavier combination than many razors. The razor was well balanced and had a good solid grip and feel in the hand. The razor from the exterior only had one small blemish that was really noticeable to the camera so visually it remained attractive. The first blade chosen was the Big Ben Stainless for the first two days of testing to get accustomed to the razor. In my experience the Big Ben Stainless is not noted for its absolute sharpness but is a very smooth razor which fits well when I test a new razor that I am not accustomed to or with a very aggressive razor to allow a good shave without cause me to have weepers due to an overly aggressive/sharp combination.

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The first day brought a highly efficient shave with the mild smooth Big Ben. A 2 pass BBS was achieved to the face and a 2 pass DFS was achieved on the head. The weight of the handle and head combination was excellent and allowed for the razor to do the work without needing any extra pressure outside of the razor weight. All in all that was a very good maiden voyage of the UTOPIA.

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The second day brought an equally efficient shave with the mild smooth Big Ben. A 2 pass BBS was achieved to the face and a 2 pass DFS was achieved on the head. So for day three a change to a much sharper blade which would determine whether the combination would be usable as is, or was a different head required.

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The third day brought an even more efficient shave with the Rapira Swedish SuperSteel blade. The shaves were now more aggressive but still smooth with no issues with weepers that can come with a blade that has a bad edge or a blade that is so sharp that the head will cause a mismatch. The first pass in places was BBS and only a light second pass was needed to make a 2 pass BBS shave that lasted well into the evening with a level of stubble that suggested another shave would be in order to be acceptable for an evening activity. The head shave was also a 2 pass BBS. Very smooth and efficient.

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The fourth day brought almost a carbon copy shave as day 3. It was 2 passes to get BBS on the face and 2 passes to get BBS on the head.

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Day number five was a different shave not due to the razor or the blade but due to the lack of protection provided by the Portman Square Cream. I was pulling back somewhat on my neck area and I had to go over it again to get the final BBS due to a lather that felt inadequate. The shave was a 2 ½ pass BBS on the face a 2 pass DFS on the head. I enjoy the scent of the Portman Square Cream, but I have never really gotten great shaves using it.

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The sixth day found me using one of my favorite soaps in stick form. The Wilkinson Sword Stick handled magnificently as usual and produced an excellent lather that allowed for great protection and slickness. I had a solid 2 pass BBS and a solid 2 pass DFS on the head.

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The seventh and final day found the Rapira beginning to fade slightly. I was still able to get a 2 pass BBS on the face and 2 pass DFS on the head. I could have extended the blade another day and more than likely could have gotten a DFS shave all the way around but there was no need to go any further. Another wonderful shave and the blade was disposed of and the UTOPIA cleaned and ready for the next use and at this point I considered the testing complete.

My overall impressions of this razor is that it is a very good purchase for the dollar. The razor and head are heavy enough that the razor can do the work of shaving very efficiently. The head is sightly more aggressive than an EJ89 or an R89 but much less aggressive than the R41 2013 version. The problem is I cannot recommend the razor head as a stand alone item due to the variability of tolerances as I could a product from EJ, Mühle or Merkur. Now as an overall package it is an absolute great deal for the handle alone. So much demand was made that as of the date of this review the razor has completely sold out on Amazon. The product also has 30 reviews so I decided to do more in-depth reviews on forums instead of placing one on Amazon. With all that being stated, I have a question as to how this distributor could continue to price this product at the initial pricing level. In fact this razor as offered seems to me to be a classic loss leader product, or loss leader promotion, in which the first round of sales produces a large amount of interest and then the price goes back to levels that could support a reasonable return. Shipping cost alone and a pack of blades would render the price of the razor itself around at best 5 U.S.D. So if this returns to Amazon I do not know whether or not it can be at the 9.99 U.S.D. price, but for those who took advantage of this promotion got an incredible deal on a very nice razor. At the present time it is available on e-Bay at the same price (Buy It Now) as it was on Amazon but for how long is anyones guess.

Oh and one last thing. Thank you Misphit for the tip on this razor it was a very good one.




Edit to review 5-3-2014: As stated in a later post, the distributor has raised his price on e-Bay today to $99.99 BIN. What was the highest value razor on the market in one day has become the lowest value razor on the market. Incredible!

 

Very nice review! Thank you for doing this for us.

 

Very good review. It echoes my experiences well. I have had no real issues with blade alignment...just minor adjustments and tweaks. Overall, I really like the razor and will continue it in my rotation as is.

 

You're welcome!

 

Thank you for taking the time and effort for such a comprehensive review, Gary!
My findings are consistent with your experiences with the razor—although you have many more shaves with the head than I have attempted (2 shaves).
The head probably won't seem much action in my rotation, but the handle has been a nice addition. I keep it on my 2011 R41.
Regarding the exceptionally low price at which the razor was offered: I'd be surprised if the second round of razors being offered is not at a higher price point. The distributor has put his toe in the water with this first go round,sold out, and my guess is, it is time to up the asking price. Can a $29.99 price tag be far off?

 

Big thanks for the review, I honestly bought the razor for the handle but will give the head a go tomorrow if my blades Grimm dosent come.

 

Super review. This razor is out of stock on Amazon.

 

Thanks! The head is simply the wild card in the deal as it is with all razors in this class (pricing and source). That is why I cannot recommend it stand alone.
Past about 18-20 U.S.D. the distributor is going start to face solid competition from Maggard, RazoRock, Cadet, Matador, and some others who sell in this range but will either QC out bad heads or have a better stock head to begin with. At 29.95 this razor just becomes one of the crowd as a razor but still would garner some sales for the handle. UTOPIA may have set the bar too high price wise for future sales.

 

Really comprehensive and wonderful review. Thanks for posting it!

I have one sitting in my Amazon shopping cart and have been meaning to ask... Will the head from a FH tech fit on this handle? I had a vision of replating mine, saving the small handle for travel, and marrying it to this beautiful moose of a handle for home use...

Again. great review

 

Awesome review and is much appreciated. Much more detailed and complete than I could accomplish as my current near novice shaving experience. Alway nice to have a veteran take the time to do things correctly.

 

Great review. I do think though that 50%+ of people bought this razor for the handle alone

 

I just bought one off of the bay. Like I need another razor.. Maybe a handle?

 

Yes, that is what I said about this as well.

Thanks. I fit a Gillette Tech head to the razor so I would say yes your FH Tech head should fit it.

 

Great review!

 

Thank you. Very kind of you to check for me. I am off to EBAY to order one...

 

Gary-Thanks for another excellent review with your superb attention to detail.

 

I am wondering if the seller now has delusions of grandeur and/or if you guys got the benefit of a typo of some sort.

I logged on to EBAY this morning to pick one up and it is now listed at $99.99!!!

Shipping is still free though

Will have to keep an eye on this. In the meantime I am back to trying to decide between the R41 Grande or a slant as my next purchase

Bummer......

 

Follow up. I just asked the seller directly and will post the answer I get.

 

What was the highest value razor on the market in one day has become the lowest value razor on the market. Incredible!

 

well fellow shavers...... amazon says they are all " out of stock" on the $10 Utopia razor !!!! and don't know when they will be getting any more in stock......