I'm not averse to paying $300 (or even more) for a razor if I feel that it is worth the money. The OneBlade, while finely crafted, is a relatively simple design that is mass produced in China. In other words, it is being sold at a huge markup.
Then there is the website, which is one lengthy effort to justify the selling price. They claim to have spent a million dollars and a year's time to have discovered that the "secrets" to a perfect shave are blade angle, blade exposure and blade gap. Seems like it would have been easier (and cheaper) to spend a few hours reading forums such as this one. They also state that "WE discovered" that the optimal shave angle is 31.3 degrees, which sounds awfully close to the 30 degree figure that has been common knowledge among traditional shavers for many years.
They spend a great deal of time discussing "their" blade. They do not mention that Feather made them for a century old razor design and has been selling them for probably half that time. They have some questionable magnified images of the blade edge. I have a digital microscope and was unable to reproduce these - the Feather edge looks pretty much like any other blade edge. I can post images if anyone is interested.
The founder of OneBlade is a publisher of pricey investment newsletters who has been fined $1,5 million by the SEC. (He maintains that he did nothing wrong/illegal.) The president is a former CEO of Ronco. If you watch a lot of late night TV you are familiar with Ronco ("But wait! There's more!). If nothing else, this explains the tone of the website.
I wonder what will become of the Lifetime Warranty in a couple of years when these guys have moved on to the Next Big Thing.
I have also noticed that some of the OneBlade owners seem to take any criticism personally. Things get nasty and the mods have to intervene. It's frustrating to spend hours crafting brilliant prose only to see the entire thread deleted.
By nearly all accounts the OneBlade is a great shaver, but for $300 I have a lot of options.
--Bob
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