The Philips Norelco Bodygroom Series 7100 BG2040 is one of the most popular body shavers available currently. It’s a mid market product that offers a premium experience at a medium price point. There’s no doubt in anybody mind this isn’t cheap, but there are certainly more expensive shavers out there. Similarly, this isn’t the absolute best body groomer that money can buy but it may just be the top choice for the large majority of us who aren’t willing to spend over $100 on a body hair trimmer but want a solid product.
The Series 7100 itself features a 3D pivoting head which allows you to easily follow the curves and contours of your body, this will prevent excessive skin tugging and leads to a more comfortable shave. This 3D head wasn’t featured on the cheaper Phillips models and this is one of the features that has lead to its popularity. The pivoting nature of the razors means a huge jump in comfort and also improves performance - ensuring that more hairs are caught in a single movement. No longer will you have to do a thousand small lines to make sure that everything is gone, simply follow the contours of your body.
At a deeper level you’ll notice that the trimmer itself is comprised on many rounded blades and combs which Phillips has decided to use to prevent any damage to the skin. Other shavers on the market use sharper pointed blades which if you’re not careful can drag and scratch the skin causing great discomfort. Phillips has been smart to use rounded blades and instead improve the product itself to ensure that even with rounded blades they are able to produce a quality shave that rivals and beats shavers with sharper pointed blades.
The Phillips Norelco Bodygroom Series 7100 allows you to select from multiple length settings from a clean shave all the way up to 11mm, giving you the flexibility to choose the look that you desire. The great thing about this product is that it’s all in one. It really can be used for your entire body which is exactly why the different length settings will come in use. You might want to keep your armpit hair longer than you’d want your pubic hair or your chest hair. With the series 7100 you have that flexibility. It’s becoming more novel to have this differing lengths but even so the Series 7100 has a lot more settings than many shavers at the same price point.
Like most shavers the Norelco Series 7100 is water-resistant so that you can use it in the shower or in the sink like a manual razor. Most of the time when shaving your body hair you’ll still want to ensure that you’re using some sort of shaving cream or foam to prevent any irritation or tugging on the hair.
With the dual design of the Series 7100 you can shave on the top and trim on the bottom. This is particularly useful if you’re always going to want to trim one part of your body hair but you may no want to then touch another part of your body with the same shaver.
The Bodygroom 7100 is fully rechargeable and cordless which is great for ease of use. It charges in around 1 hour which is far shorter than the earlier Phillips products in this range and beats out a lot of other brands. When you open the box you’ll find that it also comes with a convenient charging stand which is where you’ll also be able to store the product. It also comes with a cleaning brush. Again, this isn’t the top end of body groomers so you shouldn’t expect some sort of built in cleaning system, you’re going to have to use your hands and brush the blades clean every few weeks. It’s not difficult and shouldn’t take more than a few minutes but you save yourself $100 by not buying a luxury high-end product instead.
When you take the Bodygroom 7100 out of the box the first thing that you notice is that it’s a very attractive product. That’s rare to say for a shaver! Most body groomers are going to be ugly, that’s just the nature of it. But in this case you can tell that Philips but some serious thought into the design. It looks professional and elegant with a chrome and black finish, far superior to the old 3100 which looked like it should have been in a Tron spoof. Weighing in at 8 ounces it isn’t heavy but it’s also not the lightest shaver on the market by any stretch. It is quite large though with a height of 9.6 inches owing to the fact that it has a shaver on the top and another adjustable length trimmer on the bottom.
After you buy the 7100 you’re recommended to charge it for a full 24 hours before use which is a pain but it’s easily forgiven when you realize that it comes with a full 2 year warranty. Some reviewers have reported shortened battery life after 6 months and that’s common with rechargable products. It’s important that you don’t keep it constantly charging and remove it from charging when it is full. Similarly, use it until it completely runs out of battery if possible - this isn’t very easy with a shaver because nobody wants to be left mid-shave, but try and wear the battery down before recharging if you can.
Overall, this is one of the top body groomers and at this price it’s a steal. Dropping down in price leads you to purchase noticeably worse products whilst an increase in budget doesn’t lead to a significant increase in quality. The Philips Series 7100 fits in that perfect balance of quality of cost at a fair price for almost everybody. If you’re looking for an elegant, comfortable body shaver that isn’t going to break the bank and won’t break after 3 months then this is a great choice.
