I have used this style of Panasonic razor (old item ES4025) for the last ten years. Life of the shaver is about five years. I have been through two of them and now on #3. However, the shaver that I bought in March, 2013 just needed a new battery. I bought the battery on the Internet and installed it in about 15 minutes. That shaver now works perfectly, so I have one for travel and one for home. My beard is very tough and the other Panasonic shavers are made for pansies with thin whiskers. I shave dry after scrubbing my face with hot water and towel drying. The dry shave works out fine for me. I know that there are individual preferences and no two faces/whiskers are the same.

I added this:
Better than shavers costing six times that price. I have been using the Panasonic models identical to this one for almost 30 years. Panasonic has slightly changed the colors and minor design changes over the years but it has remained an excellent shaver. I have a heavy beard but this shaver does a good job. I shave dry with it and also use it in the shower. About once a year, I replace the foil and blades - BUT - the cost of those replacement items is almost as much as a NEW shaver! I have replaced the battery on occasion, but the battery is about half the price of a new shaver. Just for the record - I am 84 years old. Have been through the Panasonic expensive razors and discarded them as unsatisfactory.

I beg to disagree with some of the negative reviews. I too have been using low price Panasonic shavers over the past many years. I must say I am very happy with this one. After I charge it for the fist time, it lasted almost 4 weeks before I charge it again and I used it everyday. It also give a cleaner shave than its predecessors. Overall I am pretty happy with this one. Just remember that its a low price shaver so don't expect the same shave as you would from a $100 shaver. I normally use a razor afterwards to do the finish up.

Feels good, works wet or dry, looks cool, it's effective, and it's well priced. The charger is kinda dumb, as you stick in on the top (no cord), so don't stick it on the charger while wet cause the water will run down and get in the charger. Also, It must take a lot of power, cause my fuse has blown a couple times while plugging this in (just flip the switch to reset it, but still occasionally annoying).
Charger situation aside, good product and I recommenced it.

I've had a number of Panasonic single-blade wet-dry shavers over the past 20 years and have been happy with every one. This past December I bought the ES-RW30 because Amazon described it as "A newer version" of my previous model, the ES-SA40. I have found the new model to be vastly underpowered compared to its predecessors. Also, the trimmer is flimsy. Battery life is not as good. And most importantly, the entire razor simply doesn't do a good job shaving me compared to its predecessors. I was also surprised to find out (the hard way ... on vacation) the new razor does not clip into the old charger, though the older razor clips into the new charger just fine. Having a second charger is essential for allowing me to keep a charger packed in my travel kit and trust it'll work when I need it. This hasn't been a problem with all the older models.

The ES-SA40 was a much better unit and I wish I could go back to it or others like it. Panasonic should look into what made the older models so much heartier and take their designs back in that direction.

The good news is that it's cheap and does an adequate job of shaving hair. The drawbacks are that it has no way to run while plugged in, the battery takes forever to charge, the charge on the battery depletes quickly, and the charging brick is cumbersome to use (you need to snap the shaver directly onto the cube and then plug it into the outlet, it sits on the outlet, falls off easily, has no shutoff to prevent over-charging).