I have noticed lately that there have been a rash of Mergress'es on sale lately everywhere? I have gotten rid of all my Merkur but is it the Progress or the ??????? that turns so many people off? I have had only marginal good luck with the slant w/ I sold in the merkur line. My HD was basically.....well a major POS. Are these mergresses or progress worth the $$$$ ?
I would say the Progress/Mergress is worth it! Very good shaver to begin with, and when modified into a Mergress (I would expect Cooncatbob's mod to do the same) it gets a new weight distribution which makes it even better! Mine is a keeper!
The reason you may be seeing more Mergress razors on the market is simply economics. They can get a decent price and many shavers are starting to weed out collections I'm thinking.
I might try to go back to the Merkurs but like the old phrase" if it aint broke, dont fix it". I get much better shaves with the Rocket, slim, fatboy, and techs.
I'm just the opposite. I consistently get a great shave from my Merkurs but struggle with the Gillettes. It is a typical YMMV situation. That being said, I like the Mergress and it is my favorite adjustable. However, I still use my HD and 38C more than the Mergress.
I actually found that the added weight to the end of the handle made this more off balance for me, taking too much weight away from the head. Without considering that issue, I didn't find the shave to be very smooth either.
I can't speak for the Mergress, as I don't have one, but it is basically a Progress, with cosmetic changes, and I can speak for a Progress. I have a vintage Progress, and it is one of my favorites. It sees a fair amount of use. My favorite adjustable by far.
The progress was (apart from my grandfathers tech) the only DE I kept after switching completely to straigts. If I had to chose only one DE-razor, the progress it would be.