I pulled the trigger on a Progress on the bay last week. The guy had only used it 5 times and had bought it in December. It was the long handle one so I pulled the trigger and picked it up for about $45. It came yesterday and I disinfected it and loaded a Personna Lab in it for today's shave. I really like the heft of it in my hand and had no issues with it any where, including my head shave. I settled out on 4.5 setting which took care of most everything with only a wee bit of buffing on a 3. I found the shave akin to my beloved Fatboy and just less aggressive than the R41 who was biting me every time I use it lately. So I would have to give this razor 2 thumbs up and a whoop de do.
I love my Progress. Here lately, I have been setting it on a 7 setting. This, after having used my sons 41R. I do a 3 pass shave and come out with a squeaky clean shave that is most always a DFS and more times than not a BBS. I try and use only a Feather blade in it, which seems to work best for my taste.
I really like the Progress. If it weren't for that cheap crappy knob. I know it can get upgraded but still, you'd think for the money, they could eek out a metal knob.
I have a brand new, never before used, Mergress knob that fits the Progress XL. If anyone is interested, PM me.
My husband got the Merkur Progress about 3 weeks ago. He likes it quite a bit , and the plastic knob doesn't seem to bother him.
Last year I bought a metal knob from CoonCat Bob so I could retire the plastic one on my Progress. Like everything that Bob makes, it was a thing of beauty, gleaming, metalic perfection, and it made the Progress look great. But then I felt nostalgic for the white knob! I know it sounds crazy, but I missed it. I decided that the plastic knob was part of the character of the Progress and part of what I liked so much about it, so I put it back on the razor and sold the beautiful metal knob here on TSD. I really do love my Progress. For me it works great with a sharp blade like Iridium (I bought a stash of those while they were still available). It doesn't do as well with milder blades for me. I use mine on the milder settings, 3 for first pass on a 2 day stubble, then back to 1 after that initial pass. I have other razors, but lately I find that I use my Progress for a week or two, then my EJ DE89 for a week or two. My vintage Gillettes sit on the display rack.