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Is it actually charging??

by Bryan Brooks on March 10, 2023

For years, I have used a set of corded hair clippers/trimmers to shave my facial hair. I’m always in search for clippers/trimmers that are not as bulky as regular hair clippers/trimmers, but are still as effective, and have the power, and flexibility of regular corded hair clippers/trimmers.

Recently I was looking on Amazon at various different types of shavers and trimmers. I came across the Philips Norelco Multigroom 3000 13 piece all-in-one trimmer. It looked like it would be well suited for my needs and the reviews were pretty decent. It wasn’t too bulky, and had a few different styles of attachments. However, I was a little bit skeptical that it was rechargeable. A couple of days later I happened to be at Target and I decided to see if they had it in stock. They did, and it was actually slightly cheaper than on Amazon, so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. However, I was still skeptical given I have never had good luck with rechargeable trimmers and shavers in the past, but this one was boasting a lithium-ion battery with a 60 minute run time, and high-powered motor, so I figured I would give it a try.

Image from the Philips Norelco Website

The trimmer was very easy to learn how to use. It is very similar to other hair clippers/trimmers I have used in the past, with the attachments being easy to clean, and change. My mental model of how I expected the change of attachments to work matched the conceptual model of how they actually worked, leading me to more easily remember how to change them when I want to.

The biggest issue I encountered using the trimmer was when I went to charge it for the first time. It does not follow normal conventions when it comes to charging. The first time I went to charge it, I plugged it using the provided charging block and to my surprise, there was no indicator to let you know that it was charging. I thought maybe it was on the actual charger like some older style chargers, but no. If I were to not fully plug in the charger, it would not help me recover from that error. In fact, The only indication I had was that both the power brick and trimmer were starting to get warm which does not really help. All of my other devices that are rechargeable give you some sort of feedback as to if they are charging or done charging. This trimmer however, does not give you any indication whatsoever that it is charging/charged and is not very safe using the warmth of the trimmer or wall brick as an indicator of charging status.

Here is a view of the bottom of the trimmer.

Here is a view of the charger and the barrel jack style plug.

When it comes to how satisfying the trimmer is, it’s a mixed bag. On the one hand, I’m very satisfied with its run time, power, ease of changing of accessories, and quality of the trim, but I am not satisfied when it comes to how it charges. The few times I have had to charge it, I stop and second guess myself and have to stop and ask, “Wait, is it actually charging??”. This lead me to unplug it, and plug it back in just to make sure I did actually plug it in. I just wish they put even a single simple multicolored LED next to the charge port to indicate charging status.