Andis BGRC Hair Clipper Review: Second Impressions

This is just a short update on the Andis BGRC hair clipper that I bought a few weeks back. I've since been able to use it a few more times and am still very impressed. In fact, I'm thinking about ditching my Oster Classic 76 on Craigslist and just keeping my Fast Feed as a back-up.

Close and Complete Cutting
If you aren't aware, I am not a barber: I am simply a head shaver. The two times that I did shave using a Mach 3 and electric razor, the results weren't that pleasing (my scalp turned into velcro), so I stick to a #000 (0.5mm) blade on hair clippers.

Andis BGRC Unboxed

The Andis BGRC has so far exceeded my expectations in that they cut closer to the skin than the Oster Classic 76 that I used for the year prior. Also, the Andis clipper seems to miss less hair on the first pass. It was mainly for the ease of maintenance over the Classic 76 that I got the BGRC in the first place, so this is all a nice bonus. With the closer and more complete shave, my usual method of going over each area twice doesn't seem necessary anymore. The last two times I shaved my head, I used an Oster Fast Feed to do a second "clean-up" pass, and there was very little hair to clean off the blade when I was finished. This may all be due to the new ceramic blade, but I honestly don't recall the Classic 76 ever cutting this close even when new -- both blades on the 76 and BGRC are labelled #000.

Maintenance
I'm still just oiling the blades, so nothing new here. However, without an oiler button on the BGRC like on the Classic 76, I have one less thing to worry about.

Body and Design
One thing I don't like about the BGRC is the blade changing system. It is the exact same design as the Classic 76 as far as I know, but the snap system isn't as smooth. With both clippers, I pop the blade back on its spring loaded mount to remove and insert it. The system on my Classic 76 pops in and out smoothly, whereas my BGRC seems to take more force and doesn't feel as smooth -- there's a lot more resistance. This is almost nitpicking though, and maybe it's just my unit.

The square body of the BGRC over the round Classic 76 is also appreciated. I find it a lot easier to orient the entire clipper when shaving my own head. A barber may find the round body better for control when working on a client though.


Related
Oster Fast Feed and Classic 76 Review
Shaving My Own Head with Clippers