Soap - VDH Luxury Brush - Escali Blade - Gillette Wilkinson Sword (4th shave) First of all the packaging is very nice. The handle has a decent amount of weight and knurling that feels good in the hands. It took me a minute to align the blade, which normally only takes a few seconds in my other razors. The first WTG pass felt very nice. The razor is a bit more aggressive than my Merkur 33c and probably on par with my EJ DE89, although not nearly as efficient, smooth or pretty. Finding the cutting angle took no time at all. I reapplied my soap and went in for a 2nd WTG pass, and again it felt very nice. I decided not to do the ATG pass today. Sometimes I do it, and sometimes I don't. I finished off my shave with touch ups on the upper lip around the nostrils. No marks, burns, or blood whatsoever. Overall I'm impressed with this razor. Is it as good as my EJ DE89? No, but it's $8.99. For that price it's easily worth it.
I bought the same razor and had a very similar experience. I figured if the razor was junk the blades were almost worth the $9. After using it a few times my son started showing some interest in learning to use a DE so I gave it to him to use after teaching him. He took to it really well so I bought another one and turned a custom handle for it for him for Christmas.