I own three and a half Gillette Tech razors, a gold ball end Tech, two Travel Techs, and, well, I'll explain shortly. The Tech by now has enough of a reputation that there is no need for another review. How about the little Travel version, though? These are readily available, often with the original travel case, for not too much money. With its dinky 1¾ inch handle, however, and a total length of 2 inches assembled, is this really a usable razor? The cynic in me says that this razor is more about marketing that a practical design for a travel razor. Yes, it disassembles and goes in a tiny shirt pocket sized case which will also hold a five pack of blades. Really, though, any safety razor is a travel razor. A normal ball end tech takes up very little room when disassembled, and you can always improvise something to put it in if you don't have a case. Why fiddle around trying to shave with something this tiny? Part of the answer is that it's only the handle which is under-sized. The head is just a normal Tech head which take regular blades, and works great if you put it on a regular length handle. That's what I meant by three and a half razors earlier. I have an after market iKon handle which I use with one of the Travel Tech heads; it handles great that way. It gives the shave you'd expect from any Tech, mild, but smooth and comfortable if you pay proper attention to technique. Shave with the travel handle, and you can still get that great Tech shave. The difference is that you really have to pay attention to what you're doing, but that's no bad thing. Perhaps this would be harder if you have really large hands, but I find that I can control the razor very well if I grasp it just under the head with my thumb and first two fingers, and rest the end of handle against my third finger. Using a light touch, it's very easy to control the angle of the head, and get all the hard to reach places, as well as the flat areas. You are almost forced to take very short strokes, but that's actually part of good technique, so no loss there. For me, the one real disadvantage was that, since I'm grasping the handle with just a couple of fingers, it is a little harder to keep control of it when it starts to get slippery. With practice, though, this is easy enough to deal with. Common wisdom is that you should use a sharp blade with a Tech, and I've used Feathers with them before, with good results. For this test, though, I took a couple of shaves with a generic grocery store brand that I have lying around, and a couple of more with a Lord blade. Both worked fine, got a DFS in three passes. I know of two styles of travel case for these. One of mine came without the case, the other came with a vinyl case with a snap fastener, cheap looking but effective. There is also a zippered pouch style which I've only seen in pictures. Both have places to put the head, the handle, and a small pack of blades. So in summary: • You don't need a handle this short for a travel razor. • If you do get this razor, though, the short handle works quite well. • The travel case, if you get one, is a neat little accessory that keeps everything organized and takes up little space. • The shave is mild, but with proper technique you'll get a close shave with little difficulty. • The head from this razor will work on a normal length handle. [Edit] This is my first, and maybe only review here. Just thought I'd add one thing. These razors should be available quite cheap. I paid $11.99 shipped for the one without the case, because it was only my second vintage razor, and I didn't know what I was doing. The one with the case is near mint, and I got it for $7.84 shipped. I'd bet you can find an even better deal if you're patient.
