The original concept was already solid. The main body consists of a small trimmer and a shaver, which you can then add one of three plastic guards onto to vary the length of your human forest. The new design keeps the side trimmer and the shaver face intact, but adds a new dedicated trimmer head, plus two attachments with five lengths each.

Shaving with the main head is essentially unchanged. You can maneuver and 'Tokyo' drift around corners to get in close without doing damage to sensitive areas. If you like looking like a gigantic, ugly baby then that's the tool to use.

If you don't want your logging to go all the way to the stump, there's the new trimmer head. This, my generously follicled friends, is where the action is.

Cutting through swaths of hair like small arms fire through decayed zombie flesh, the trimmer takes at most two passes to undo what 11 years of nature prepared your body for. It's painless, not too noisy and much more sanitary than using the same trimmer you use on your beard.

So the only question you need to ask yourself is whether you want the original, which retails for $30, or the updated version, which hits you for $50. People that are "sometimes" shavers, those that are closer to space aliens than apes on the evolutionary scale, can make do with the $30 BG2020. But those "people" that would cause Alec Baldwin to exclaim, "that's one hairy dude," need to splurge on the upgraded Bodygroom BG2030. Anyone who has to look at you naked will thank you. [Philips BG2030 and Philips BG2020]

Let's sum up our experience in a few bullet points:

• The arcitec is beautifully designed, and its three lift-and-cut heads are situated on an unusual-looking articulating stalk.

• Each individual head can also tilt forward and back, in an attempt to get the heads to stay in more constant contact with facial contours.

• This thing is loud. It's not deafening, but it's about twice as loud as its predecessor, which makes a pleasantly soft whirring noise. This arcitec is a lot more shrill. It's especially noisy when shaving on the side of your face near your ears.

• Its pop-up trimmer is way too narrow and not as effective as the older models.

• It has a beautiful case into which it fits so perfectly it's like a little coffin especially made for it. But the case takes up more room than the razor by itself would, making it a little less convenient for travelers than previous designs, which just need a small head cover to protect them in your overnight bag.

• To remove whiskers and debris, each rotating head must be lifted individually to shake out the hairs, a lot less convenient than the older model which just popped up the three heads at once with a quick button push.

• A cool-looking blue LED display tells you precisely how many minutes you have left until you need to charge the battery again.

• The arcitec's charger works with electronic induction, similar to the way a lot of electric toothbrushes work, where there's nothing to plug in—you just set it down and it begins charging.

• This is by far the best-looking razor we've ever seen.

Summing up, even though Philips Norelco says these heads are newer/better/more advanced, we didn't notice any improvement in their ability to cut facial hair any closer or more easily. In fact, our old Norelco 9190 XL did a better job of shaving than this arcitec 1090, and that old razor's cutting heads needed replacing about a year ago. Nor was there any difference when shaving difficult areas such as the neck and chin. Those of us here who tried the arcitec were unanimous in our agreement that it's more of a pretty industrial design than an improvement in functionality. Overall, it's a disappointment hardly worth its $240 purchase price. [Amazon]

Look at that odd 360-degree head that makes it easier to get at those pesky hairs on your neck, staying in constant contact with the skin and giving you a better grip at the same time. This high-end Arcitec will be $249.99, and the lower-end razor is $79.99. Peep at the gallery and then jump for more details about the cool-looking blue one.

And check out this cool-looking blue razor, the $79.99 model 840, which will be released in July. It packs a week's worth of lotion-goo into a little reservoir, instead of using an old "sachet" system of refilling the stuff that Norelco used before. You can either get a little container of the smoothing lotion and refill it once a week, or you can buy a fancy $149.99 recharging station that also fills it up with the stuff while it charges. – Charlie White

The kit comes with three different combs for setting the length of the hair in question. I originally thought it was like a standard hair razor—the comb length would leave your hair at about 1/2" or so. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. Each comb sets the length to millimeters, not inches, and I did not want to use the metric system today.

But I did. I gave it the old college try. I'm sitting here now a new man, refreshed, rejuvenated, and with 1 full optical inch. The hype is true. My armpits are one inch deeper thanks to the body groom. But what about my schlingo? That also got a full optical inch. It works, friends. It works.

Because a number of known religious clergy frequent this site, we won't show the junk of which we speak here on the front page—that's for after the jump. Rest assured that the Bodygroom does what it claims to do. I just hope I don't start itching now. – John Biggs

Perv. But I'm honored you cared enough to look.

Groin:
Lets just say the "Bodygroom" is Shaft, Beanbag, and Starfish safe. No nicks or any pain...no worries...that does not mean go in there like a maniac...take your time...the two trimmers on the front and back(allow for push or pull stroke) knock down the forest while the foil on top produced nice smooth skin... Here is a word of warning, if you are a hairy man in the posterior / back (buttocks cheeks) region, I would not suggest going bald there

Product Page [Amazon]