Philips S9000 Prestige

Great shaver but building quality could be better – Using Philips shavers for many years. They are great and getting better and better with every new generation. Got my new Philips 9000 prestige recently - amazing wet/dry shaving quality, very comfortable on skin, battery lasting long. Though I believe the build could be much better for the premium product - feeling very uncomfortable when my shaver leaking water always trapped between the outer body and the inner shell. It even comes out of the electrical port. I know Philips says it's normal and safe, but it just doesn't feel great. For premium product I believe there are solutions how this could have been avoided by design. With my old Philips 9000 shaver, which I used for 7 years, I never experienced this.

BE CAREFUL - Misleading and Deceptive – This review is broken up into a number of sections that will give you the user (you) to use your preferred browser's "Find on page" function to skip to the area of interest. [The Summary] [The Product] [The Package] [The Pros(+) vs Cons(-)] [The Final Thoughts] [The Summary] As a notation, having owned a Braun S3 model in Blue for several years as part of the replacement to my previous Panasonic branded shaver. This review is intended to inform the reader, which is yourself, that the value proposition between the Braun S3 and that of the Philips S9000 Prestige is unfair based on the purchasing price and the subtle differences which is quite significant.

Furthermore, this review is not a part of the Ambassador Program nor is it part of a paid sponsorship. This product was purchased at a time when the Braun S3 stopped working effectively and I was not intending to spend a great deal of time nor money overall.

However, upon the day of purchase at the chosen supplier, there were several promotional sales wrapping up to the end of 30th March 2024; and the item I was looking at prior to the S9000 was a Philips 9000 or 7000 series. Unfortunately, the customer service I experienced on the very day was not fantastic and as a drastic irrational approach, I bought the S9000 Prestige just to avoid the annoying conversation where I felt intimidated by.

Hence, I would greatly advise that you DYOR before committing yourself as a potential buyer / consumer in looking at something like this but instead focusing upon your budget and shaving requirements. Preferably if you are able to, locate a supplier that has a variety of electrical grooming products to inspect and try before you commit to a purchasing decision.

[The Product] Not quite what I expected?? The unboxing experience is nothing out of the ordinary and once you get into the innards of the packaging, you’re greeted to a strange looking zipped box contained within a clear plastic bag.

Lifting it straight out of the box, you’re left with some information leaflets and a charging brick.

Though prior to purchase, I did my own research (DYOR) through YouTube; and initially assumed that the S9000 Prestige came with a QI charger or a Quick Cleaning Pod; though the marketing material from Philips as well as that from the supplier; were not clearly stated nor helpful. I literally had to jump back onto the Philips website to look up the model number and found that the pricing overall was misleading as well.

The website’s RRP for the model that comes with the QI charging unit is quoted the same price as the promoted marketed price from the supplier which upon face value for my purchasing experience…. Feeling confused and rather ripped off??

Even more so when DYOR for the 9000 and 7000 series where video marketing material showed that the shaver was plugged on-top of a round Quick Cleaning Pod unit, where upon operation that included water and a cleaning solution, would clean the unit.

Opening the zipped bag or pouch, you’re greeted with the S9000 Prestige in a polystyrene bag, several bundled shaving heads and a cheap plastic brush to for cleaning; and that is it. So for $499 on sale or $599 when not on sale. My final thoughts will provide further insight as to what I will be referring to which is between the supplier’s website and that of Philips’ Australia website.

The shaving experience in comparison with the Braun S3 is significant difference. Flat versus Multi-head. Now this is my interpretation, I’m sure there are other more technical jargon to explain the differences.

However, the differences are varied from person-to-person, physiology along with different skin types, and especially follicle hair growth. For me in this instance, I was amazed, as the product upon turning it on, is very, very quiet. The Braun S3 is not speed adjustable, it is loud and shaving using a flat single head did shave relatively well for a number of years. Although more recently the middle blade started to cut more than just hair and the experience became more and more unbearable despite attempting to clean and change the positioning of the middle blade… with no success.

My purchasing decision to move towards Philips is based upon my previous experience in using other Philips products and I am not a new consumer to the brand as I have reviewed other products on Product Review also.

The S9000 Prestige with its multi-head, feels different, as it wraps around the contours of your face and shaves accordingly. And because it is so quiet and light, the shaving experience is almost magical. It is hard to explain, but if you do manage to try out this model or a similarly priced version, you might experience similarly.

[The Package] Looking at the packaging like with all Philips marketing and cutting-edge information, is heavily included with pictures, eye attention seeking minimalistic information overwhelmed with images on the box.

The size of the box does not bold much confidence in terms of what you get, which is very little. And based upon the comments raised from [The Product], I felt I was literally shafted / ripped-off and I immediately wanted a full refund. I may well do so because the supplier’s information on the website did not clearly advise the consumer what the packaging included other than non-descriptive images. Hence the confusion was created and poor customer service experienced on the day of purchase. Though I would consider myself to be rather tech-savvy, the customer service experience however, felt as though I was being intimidated instead.

[The Pros(+) vs Cons(-)]

The Pros(+) - Very quiet with adjustable speed by pressing the minus (-) and positive (+) silver button underneath the power button - LED power % indicator – product does not need to be turned on to provide this information. - Connects to a Philips Application on your smart device via Bluetooth? - Quick charge (5 minutes or 60 minutes) - Bluetooth? - QI charging? - Very well-made - Made in the Netherlands - Very light - Water resistant rated IPX-7

The Cons(-) - Misleading marketing material from the supplier – recommendation for it to be written! - Very expensive for what it only comes with - Very light and though it does have a grip, I surely wouldn’t want to drop it especially the price it costed to purchase. - Silly Philips Application (Mobile) – Entering SP9830 does not exist on the database?? - Bluetooth capable? Good luck if you can get it working. I experienced it to be very gimmicky, the Philip’s App could not find my S9000 Prestige (SP9830). - SH91 replacement parts for the multi-head - $100?

The Cons(-) – Further Detail

Bluetooth capable? Philip’s website has an article dating very recently, imagine that?, 20th March 2024 concerning “I cannot connect my Philips Shaver to the GroomTribe App”. After reading into it, it did not solve the connection problem.

The information given “1. Ensure the phone and shaver are close to each-other” With an indicated range of up to 3 metres (M).

For my case and experience, my Samsung S20 FE 5G smartphone and the S9000 Prestige (SP9830) was less than 3 centimetres (CM) apart, NOT 30 CM or 3 M…. And even though the article indicates that the Smartphone Bluetooth version needed to be 4.1 or higher? It definitely did not pick it up nor did the item ever register once through my Bluetooth firmware version 5.0?

I further underwent my due diligence and double-checked the model number on my Samsung smartphone, SM-G781U1/DS, and verified the Bluetooth firmware specification to the manufacturer’s website.

To further add in case Philips is looking at this review; my Samsung S20 FE 5G smartphone was last updated on the 25th March 2024 in the late afternoon. And the firmware update released by Samsung was dated 1st March 2024. And upon today’s date of 1st April 2024, I checked to determine if my Samsung device’s firmware was up-to-date and was verified through.

Qi-Charging The S9000 Prestige apparently is only compatible with Philip’s proprietary HQ8505 unit. Having to have tested with a BenQ Qi Charger separately, it failed to register and charge.

[The Final Thoughts] Going back to my notes and initial thoughts earlier, this product and its entire line-up from Philips needs to do a better job in their marketing. Though I would place most of the blame towards the supplier which should do a better job to advise any potential buyer what on earth it comes with.

For what I purchased for this item, I assumed it came with either or both of the following items: 1. QI Charger (HQ8505 Model) 2. Quick Clean Pod

However, neither, as a result, I have heavily marked this item very very poorly. Due to the sheer misleading and deceptive conduct from the supplier and the experience I had on the very day. The product I was looking at, was buried in the bottom shelf at the store along with some really dodgy marketing labels and by no means did it have any of these items on display for a closer physical inspection or for testing.

So just to reiterate, the RRP from Philip’s Australia website as of writing this review today, 1st April 2024, if you type in S9000 in the search box, it only comes up with one (1) S9000. And clicking on the results given, the model number differs greatly. The one on the website is SP9863/16.

And has a crossed-out RRP of $749 and boasting a price not clearly indicating whether it is a promotional price anywhere? Instead, visually shows that the RRP price is now $599.

The supplier’s pricing, however, the model # upon purchase is: SP9830/26, with RRP of $599 but on promotional sale at $499.

Now, you're probably wondering, well, why didn't you type in the exact model number? Well after establishing this now factual difference; I entered the model number SP9830/26 using multiple variations and Philip Australia's website came back with nothing except for three products model #: SCD921/26, SP9863/16, and S9985/50. Overall, navigating Philip Australia's website for information in general is an absolute user-acceptance-testing (UAT) failure.

Here lays the dilemma, if you look carefully at the pricing difference; just on principal alone, it clearly feels that you as the consumer is being ripped-off.

Not to mention for the life of the product, replacing the multi-heads cost thereabouts makes no difference of $100.

So, where does it leave this tarnished review? If you a potential buyer looking for a product to serve your shaving needs and requirements, and you necessarily don’t have a budget and looking for something well made and reliable. I would suggest you look for something cheaper in the Philips’ line-up first and perhaps secondly if you are able to; hold the products in your hand; and thirdly do a side-by-side comparison before making any further purchasing decisions.

If however, you’re not bothered, I would avoid buying it directly from this supplier especially for shaving products and refer to another supplier that specialises in electrical grooming products and perhaps more descriptive brands along with more importantly exemplary customer service.

For further perspective, the supplier had a Braun product marked similarly to the S9000 Prestige but at a much dearer RRP; and based on that, I just could not justify the cost. However, does it do any justice with the S9000 Prestige itself that is slightly cheaper? No, it does not justify at all.

In layman’s terms, let’s use metaphors to compare, I like to use cars as for me, it is simpler to explain. The Braun S3 is comparable to a staple every-day known brand like that of the Ford, Holden or Toyota; whereas the S9000 Prestige is more in-line with that of Bentley or Rolls-Royce.

Thank you reading.