The corded use is one tradeoff I’ll make any time and day of the week. I’d keep this one ahead of some of the rotary Philips Norelco Shaver shavers. Rotary shavers run the risk of pulling on your beard and skin while you go about your shaving routine.
If you don’t need any of those, the 5018s is probably the one to buy as it’s cheaper than the rest. It just clicks in place of the cassette, but that also means you’ll have to swap them every time. Instead, it comes with Remington Shaver a separate trimmer that must be manually attached when you need to use it. The new Series 5 50 sticks to the same 3 blade shaving system as before. The Series 5 is where Braun’s Electric shaving line up gets serious.
Since the Braun 5018s will only operate cordless, battery life is particularly important. And again I must mention the older models that came with the excellent Braun hard travel case. The up and down swivel of the head that we’ve seen on all Braun models from the Series 5 and up was actually very useful in practice. On the bottom of the razor there’s the typical Braun charging port. Like all the other 2020 models, the Series 5 also has a thumb rest on the front part. Its position is just right and it’s covered in the same rubberized material.
The only difference between the two shaving units is that the molding on the Series 5 shaving unit is slightly longer. Because of this, while the Series 7 shaving head will fit the series 5, that of the Series 5 won’t fit the Series 7. Despite this flaw, the trimmer works best for detailing (sideburns, goatees etc.).
People with large hands like me would find it rather easy to handle. But there are others who might consider this beefy Remington Shaver piece of tech to be overwhelming. In Braun’s defense, the 5190cc is actually smaller than the series 9 products.
If you can get the 32BT set and the overall price is still decent, I think that would be an even better solution. I personally like the 3040s better than the 5018s. The actual head is slimmer since there’s no foil frame surrounding the cutting elements and it feels more nimble and also glides easier on the skin. The replacement head is also cheaper and easier to find. I’m Ovidiu, the founder and editor of ShaverCheck.com.