I was tempted to post this in the joke forum...

Of the big names brands for carts/disposables, BIC actually provides the best value, with a relatively good shave (for carts) to boot. I mentioned in another thread that I didn't get along with the BIC Metal, but I do like their Flex razors.

Their Hybrid model (no, not a dual comp baseplate) was interesting as it came with one "disposable" handle and several carts. Most had Flex blades. The idea was to throw the handle away, but they were well made and would easily outlast the number of carts they supplied. I believe they've discontinued most of these, since I don't see them on their website, but I still seen the 3-bladed model (though not with Flex blades) in brick-and-mortars.

The Hybrid Flex came in 4 models -- Twin, 3 blade, 4 blade, and 5 blade. The only one that had carts sold separately, without a handle, was the 5 blade, but the carts separately were hard to find when they existed, and I only saw them for sale online. The 3, 4, and 5 bladed models also came in a fully disposable config -- an even bigger waste of plastic. They also updated them with Titanium blades, but whether or not this actually improved them is subject for debate.

I'm sure this made "green" people cringe, as it should. Why they didn't have a standard config of "buy the handle once, only buy carts going forward" for these Flex models , I don't know, although they do have the Unisex US razor that works that way. (and they did have the 5-blade carts avail alone for a short while.)

For Flex, they still seem to have the 5-bladed model, but only in disposables.

I tried all 5 of the Hybrids (which included the non-flex 3 blade) a few years ago, and I liked them. (I used to mix up my shaves between carts and DEs/SEs.) The one I liked best was the one they discontinued first (of course!) -- the twin blade Flex. If I stuck with carts full-time, and I could only choose between BIC, Gillette, and Schick, I would have chosen BIC, since I believe they provided the best value.

But the top choice for value are store-branded Personnas. I used them for years before even knowing about the Personna brand. My top-choice was the Atra-clones, but I also used their Magnum5 for awhile. As cost-effective as the Personna twins were in the store, I started buying them online -- 100 carts for less than $15 - which was 2 years of shaving for me.

Anyway, I still find it a joke because 1) they actually got a new patent for who-knows-what, and 2) it took them 5 years to come up with a what-the-heck-is-really-different design.

 

Hmmm...maybe a toggle lever that opens the head a bit for rinsing. Genius!

 

The Schick Slim Twin had a push button that would push out the stubble from between the blades. It was in my opinion one of the best cartridge razors because of this fact, which in turn improved the quality and comfort of your shave.

Sent from my SM-A526U using Tapatalk

 

It was almost the same cart that I mentioned earlier in this thread. They still make it as a disposable, but call it the Xtreme2.
I have a stock of over a 100 of those Slim Twin carts. The handle has a switch to stop it from pivoting if you like. The carts also fit on an Atra handle. They came with both the lube strip and without.