Hair clippers are versatile devices that are widely used by both professional hairdressers and ordinary home users. With the help of such a machine, you can quickly cut and trim your hair, shorten your beard or mustache, shape your own neat hedgehog, “lighten” too thick eyebrows or cut sideburns.
The hero of our today’s review is the Remington X3 HC3000, which, according to the manufacturer, is suitable for “confidently creating a home haircut.” What does this mean in practice? The machine is clearly not intended for professional use, but it should show itself well for household use. Let’s find out if that’s really the case.
Characteristics
| Manufacturer | Remington |
|---|---|
| Model | X3 HC3000 |
| Type | clipper |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Warranty | 5 years + 1 year when registering the product on the official website |
| Service life * | 6 years |
| Number and type of knives | Self-sharpening Japanese steel blades |
| Number of nozzles included | 2 (2 adjustable telescopic combs 3-13mm and 14-24mm) |
| floating head | No |
| floating knives | No |
| Trimmer | No |
| Battery | No data |
| Indicators | LED |
| Waterproof | removable washable blades |
| Battery operation | up to 45 minutes |
| Power adapter operation | Yes |
| Accessories | cleaning brush, oil, charging station |
| The weight | 173 g |
| Dimensions (W×H×D) | 5×19×5 cm |
| Network cable length | 1.82 m |
| Retail offers |
* Contrary to common misconception, this is not the period after which the device will definitely break. However, after this period, the manufacturer ceases to bear any responsibility for its performance and has the right to refuse to repair it, even for a fee.
Equipment
The machine comes in a compact cardboard box, designed in a simple style: full-color glossy photographs of the machine itself and its main elements are shown on a white background. First of all, the manufacturer notes the presence of two nozzles for adjusting the length of the haircut and a powerful motor with “3x performance”.
On the side faces and on the back are photos of the control wheel, nozzles and metal blades. For all of them, a description is given in the main European languages, including Russian.
Contents are packaged in an additional box of technical cardboard, as well as in plastic bags.
Opening the package, we found inside:
- the clipper itself
- two plastic combs
- Charger
- cleaning brush
- bottle of oil
- instructions and warranty card
As we can see, the equipment of the machine is quite standard: the manufacturer made sure to put everything you need to start operating and caring for the device.
At first sight
When meeting, the clipper makes an excellent impression. There are several reasons for this: it is a stylish case made of black matte plastic and a well-thought-out design, which gives the impression of a “serious” device.
On the front side we see the Remington logo, above it is the name of the X3 model, even higher is the LED indicator.
The area under the knives is covered with a decorative “mesh”, which, on the one hand, facilitates the grip of the machine, and on the other, can become a potential place for collecting dirt.
On the back there is a wheel for adjusting the length of the haircut using nozzles (from 3 to 13 and from 14 to 24 mm), the selected mode is displayed in the window. The side of the wheel is also covered with a “mesh”, and it can be rotated both left and right.
At the bottom of the machine are inscriptions with the model number and technical information.
The grip area on the sides of the machine is slightly recessed and has a ribbed surface that makes it easier to hold the device in your hand.
The power switch is located under the thumb. It can be in two positions: on/off.
Now let’s look at the knives. The cutting mechanism Remington X3 HC3000 consists of two parts. The first of them is a movable metal knife, the second part is a fixed one. The material of the knives is “Japanese steel” (at least that’s what the manufacturer claims). The manufacturer also reports that over time, the knives do not lose their sharpness and do not require additional sharpening (“self-sharpening Japanese steel blades”). The width of the blade is 4.5 cm, the cutting part is 4 cm.
On the sides, next to the knives, there are recesses for installing nozzles. In the kit, we found two plastic nozzles – for cutting hair from 3 to 13 mm long and from 14 to 24 mm.
The nozzles are installed in the body of the machine with little effort and snapped (fixed) in the working position. The “legs” of the nozzles during installation must fall into the recesses intended for them on the device body. On each of the nozzles it is written for a haircut of what length it is intended. The inscriptions are in different colors. A similar color coding is used on the adjustment wheel on the body of the machine, making it easy to understand which window indicating the length of the haircut (in millimeters) you need to look.
The nozzles themselves look neat but, I must say, rather flimsy. We hope this is just a superficial impression. But both the legs and the long plates of the combs sag noticeably even with light pressure and require careful handling with all their appearance.
At the bottom of the machine is a round connector for connecting the plug of the power adapter. The adapter itself looks pretty standard (3.2 V, 1.5 A), but whether it will be possible to replace it with any compatible one is an open question. At least on the typewriter itself it is written that only a certified adapter can be used.
The length of the cord is 1.8 m, which in this case is of great importance – because the machine can be used directly from the network.
For proper care, blade oil and a brush for cleaning the mechanism from hair trimmings are included in the kit.
Well, everything looks pretty good. When we met, the device pleased us both with its appearance and with its complete set. Let’s see what will happen next.
Instruction
The User’s Guide is a compact booklet printed on black and white paper. The Russian language accounts for only six pages, having studied which we can get all the necessary information about the rules for operating and caring for the device.
It also contains recommendations on what length of hair is better to choose for different parts of the head, and in what order you need to cut your hair.
In general, despite the fact that there is not too much information here, all of it seemed useful and interesting for us to study.
Control
The machine has two controls: the power button, as well as the wheel for switching the length of the haircut.
Changing the length of the haircut occurs in steps, with a slight click. In this case, the nozzle extends from the device body (or vice versa – moves inward). You can rotate the wheel both to the right and to the left.
The set length is displayed as numbers in the boxes, and the color matches the color marking on the comb attachment.
Next to the model name on the case there is an LED indicator that lights up when the machine is connected to the charger, and also when the charge is running out.
Exploitation
Before using the device for the first time, you need to charge it for 14-16 hours (which, theoretically, hints to us that the battery used here is not the most modern). Subsequently, to extend the life of the machine, you need to fully discharge the battery every 6 months.
The device can be used both in wired and wireless mode. When running on battery, the developer promises us up to 45 minutes of work. But we are advised not to get carried away with the mode of use with the power cord – this reduces the life of the battery.
Wash, dry and comb your hair before cutting. You can choose the length of the haircut in the range from 3 to 24 mm in 1 mm increments, you can not use combs to cut hair close to the skin. In this case, the length of the haircut will be 1 mm, and if you hold the machine with the blades perpendicular to the skin, then 0.5 mm.
For an even trim, the comb attachment or blade must cut a path through the hair. No force is needed to speed up the process.
The developer recommends starting at the back of the neck (3 or 6 mm), then go to the back of the head (12 or 18 mm), then to the side of the head (3 or 6 mm), then trim the hair from above (24 mm) and finally , create a contour at the base and sides of the neck without a comb attachment.
During operation, we noted that the machine cuts hair clearly and accurately and never catches (does not pull). We did not meet any unpleasant sensations: the haircut process turned out to be as comfortable as possible for both the hairdresser and our test subject.
We rate the shearing speed as moderate, the quality as rather high.
Knives in the process of cutting need to be cleaned of accumulated hair from time to time: you can use a brush or simply blow the device.
Care
To ensure a long service life of the machine, you need to regularly clean the blades and the body of the device. After each use, the blades should be cleaned with a brush, and the body should be wiped with a damp cloth and dried immediately. The blades should be periodically lubricated by dropping a few drops of oil on them.
The blades can also be washed under running water, but they must first be removed. To do this, you will need to arm yourself with a hex screwdriver, remove two screws and disassemble the blade unit. The accumulated hairs will need to be cleaned with a brush, the blades should be lubricated with oil. After that, the block can be assembled back.
In general, maintenance of the device and daily cleaning does not cause any problems. It turned out to be easy to disassemble the cutting block (of course, you will need to find a suitable hex screwdriver in advance).
Our measurements
In the process of charging, the machine consumes very little: on the wattmeter, we saw readings of about 1-1.4 W, the charging indicator is on all the time while the device is connected to the charger. Thus, we failed to accurately determine the battery charge time: the laboratory wattmeter refused to record such low values of electricity consumption.
But we managed to discharge the battery without problems. As usual, we measured the battery life through a series of 5-minute starts (with pauses after each start). Our machine worked 11 full inclusions for 5 minutes. The operating time without recharging was 57 minutes, while it was declared 45 minutes. True, let’s not forget that we tested the device without load.
practice tests
We checked how the machine copes with cutting various parts of the head (beard, mustache, nape, temples) with different nozzles and recorded our feelings and subjective impressions. To start the test, we “armed ourselves” with rather long hair and a beard, which allowed us to make a full-fledged haircut. We tested two cars at once – our X3 and the older X6 model. Accordingly, we cut the right half of the head X3, and the left – X6.
Looking ahead, we will say that the general impressions of the haircut with both machines remained very similar, and the quality of the haircut in both cases turned out to be equally high – in some cases we are not even sure if we could distinguish the result “blindly”.
This is what our test subject looked like at the beginning of the test.
And this is what the beard looked like (the hair is already cut here).
Nozzle 24 mm
Well, let’s proceed directly to the haircut. 24mm is the maximum length available for the X3.
They cut it in two passes – the first one was rough, to remove the bulk of the hair, the second – more carefully, paying attention to problem areas. Then they walked a third time – to catch especially naughty hairs.
In just a couple of minutes, we managed to cut half of the head (in the photo – on the left). The back of the head began to look more neat (although the length of the hair did not change much).
From above, the hair was also cut neatly (on the temples and sides, we first went through the “six” to make the haircut look more expressive).
The overall result, as well as the impressions of the haircut, we were more than pleased.
Result: excellent
Nozzle 6 mm
We then moved on to shortening the hair at the back. The lower part of the head and neck was cut to a fixed length of 6 mm.
The machine coped with the haircut confidently. Despite the lack of a turbo mode (compared to the older X6 model), our X3 did the job just as well and did not fall far behind in terms of cutting speed.
In terms of the quality of the haircut, we could hardly distinguish the X3 from the X6: both the left and right halves of the head were cut equally neatly.
Result: excellent
Nozzle 9 mm
The next stage is the formation of the transition using a 9 mm nozzle. With its help, we cut the back of the head and the back of the head.
Both machines coped with this task equally well from one pass.
Result: excellent
Haircut without attachment
Finally, we took the clipper without attachment and cut off the excess hair on the neck, forming a straight line.
We also coped with this task quickly and without any problems. Of course, it would be better to use a razor, but we are testing a clipper!
Result: good
beard trim
Finally, we tested how well the machine will handle the beard. This was the original length of the bristles.
First we used a 6 mm nozzle. The whole process took about a minute.
The next step is 3 mm. Here the process went even faster – it was almost not necessary to catch individual hairs.
Finally, the minimum length is a haircut without attachments. Here we see the presence of some “errors”: not all hairs were cut equally short. The reason is obviously that we were not always able to keep the machine at the same angle to the skin.
On the whole, we were pleased with the result. We came to the conclusion that our machine is not very suitable for “shaving”, but it copes more than successfully with the formation of bristles of the required length.
Result: good
findings
According to the test results, the Remington X3 HC3000 clipper proved to be a high-quality and easy-to-use device. We were more than pleased with the cutting process: the hair was cut easily and evenly, and the knives did not pull on individual hairs (which often happens with more budget models).
Moreover, let’s not forget: we have before us one of the junior models of the series, which could not but affect the ease of use. In the case of X3, this is expressed in the need to arm yourself with a screwdriver to dismantle the knife block (only after that it can be washed under water), as well as in a not very capacious battery, which only lasts for 45 minutes of device operation (according to the manufacturer). Our measurements showed, however, that the device can work on a single charge for almost an hour. At the same time, the power of the motor seemed to us quite adequate for a “home” haircut of any complexity. Using the machine turned out to be easy and simple, we rate the quality of the haircut as high.
Pros :
- stylish look
- the ability to work from the network
- high quality haircut
Cons :
- knife block is removed with a screwdriver
- low battery capacity and long charging time
