Panasonic Cordless Men's Beard Trimmer With Precision Dial, Adjustable 19 Length Setting, Rechargeable Battery, Washable - ER-GB40-S (Blue)

Here is the bottom line on this trimmer for me - it works very quickly and leaves me with a trim and neat beard. The most important things that I wanted in a beard trimmer was something that would be quiet, work quickly and evenly, and clean up easily. This trimmer hits a home run on each of these things. My beard is multi-grained, pushing in several different directions, but I get an even trim every time with just a minute or two of work. Cleaning it up couldn't be easier, just run the whole thing under water. When I'm done, it sits on an attractive charging stand. I kept it plugged in for the first few days, but then I decided to see how long the battery will last on its own. It's been a little over a week, and it still seems fully charged, which is good news for taking it on trips! And the noise... well, there almost isn't any noise at all while you're trimming! I do have a couple of small complaints. First of all, while you don't have to worry about sharpening the blade, the instructions say you should oil it before and after each use. It took me a little bit to figure out exactly how to do that, because the instructions were unclear. It turns out that you just pop off the razor and squeeze a drop of oil onto the two coils and the one razor. Problem solved, although I irrationally find it annoying to take fifteen seconds to oil it after every use. However, I do have a problem with the comb on top of the trimmer. It is really difficult to get off, and in just two weeks I think that I've already broken the pieces that hold the comb down. On the other hand, now the comb slides off easily but still stays put while I'm trimming, so this hasn't been an issue so far. Overall, this is a great product. Because I've never used a different beard trimmer I can't speak to whether another trimmer might be just as good for less money, but I'm very happy with my purchase!

Bought this back in 2014 and mine FINALLY died in 2025. I only manually oiled it for the first year, but after that, just kept using it, rinsing it, and so on. I was able to bring this thing on 1-2 month vacations and it kept a charge, using it a few times a week. The only thing I wish Panasonic would have done by now is attach a USB-C port to their latest model as opposed to forcing every to keep their proprietary charing adapter handy, or at the very least, allow it's battery to be charged using an existing wireless standard and/or form factor. As someone who travels, I hate the idea of carrying around some bulky adapter the entire time simply to charge it once or twice. Great design team, excellent product, and while I'm excited to try the latest 2025 version of this, I do hope to see this design actually improved on and finally made smaller + USB-C.

I bought this trimmer over a year ago and am in the market for a new one. Overall it is a very functional beard trimmer, but there are 2 main things that have me looking for a new(er) unit. I keep my facial hair trimmed (beard & mustache, clean neck) and use this unit about once a week to do that. It trims well and is easy to clean. I've never used it in the shower though it is designed for that as well. Here are the 2 things that I have issue with on my unit: 1. When the trimmer is set to the max (10) the guard is VERY difficult to remove, and pretty much impossible to reinstall. It has 2 tabs that must fit in to slots on either side and at that max setting, it's a real bear to do. Sure, I just roll it down to the 5 or 6 setting, and it's easy. But if I forget and start to remove it, one side comes out easy while the other gets jammed, and now you just have to tug it and hope you don't break it. 2. Mine takes a VERY long time to fully charge. I would estimate it at 30 hours or more. I don't have to recharge often; maybe once every 6 weeks I would guess. So battery life is excellent. But that one time I needed to trim up before going out with my wife, and I had not trimmed in more than a week... and the battery died. I thought "no biggie, it should get enough juice in 1/2 hour.." NOPE. So now I drop it back on the charger every month to "top it off" and make sure that doesn't happen again. I do not keep it on the charger since I don't want to "overcook" the battery and shorten the life of it, but maybe I should. Overall, I'm satisfied with the unit. it does the job I need it to, and so long as I watch out for those two issues above, I've had no real problems. So why am I looking to replace it? Because those 2 "gotchas" really annoy me. My last trimmer didn't have as long of a battery life, but if I was "caught out", 20 min on the charger gave more than enough to get cleaned up. it also had changeable guards that popped on & off like a cover. It comes down to preferences, and having tried this unit and other, I prefer the removable guards. One last thing... the charging cradle is odd to me. With the way the trimmer gets inserted it just seems... backwards... a bit awkward... to me. I travel every 6 weeks on average and prefer a simple charging cord to carry, not this extra bulky cradle thing. Maybe the designers thought "oooohhhh, we'll make it look all fancy so it's on DISPLAY and guests can OOOHHHH and AAHHHHHH over the beard trimmer..." Sorry, I'm not that fancy. Function wins out for me 90% of the time. Panasonic has done a very good job, and they will never get everyone to like every aspect of their product. I don't hate it, but after 18 months of ownership I'm looking for those features that matter more to me.

Highest quality, reasonable price and powerful without a wire.

This thing worked exactly like I was hoping for. Cuts beard hair cleanly and effectively. Bunch of different settings for various lengths. Solid Panasonic, no mechanical problems. Works absolutely fine in the shower. I normally leave mine in the charger port so that the battery is always full, take it off when I need to use it, and have no problem with it running out of battery. Even comes with a little bottle of oil to keep the blade nice and rust-free, though I admit to not using it and still having a perfectly clean blade. Can use this for everything from a quick, daily shave to full on beard maintenance (if you're fine with very short stubble after the closest setting, then this will work for a shave. If you want a close shave though, you'd better stick with a razor). I use this to detail the edges of my beard sharply and to trim off any stray hairs, and it's awesome. Had my luggage stolen once with my Panasonic inside which was sad, but I had no delay in replacing this. I knew it was a quality product for an extremely fair price.

Works well for me. I trim for maybe 5 minutes at a time and maybe twice a week, so the 50 minute battery life is good enough for my use. I might charge after a few weeks to as long as maybe 1 month for a few hours. I followed the instructions on the initial use to charge for several hours but never bothered to keep the charging regiment afterwards and it has worked fine. I'm not sure why some of the other reviewers here are complaining about charging times; maybe lack of knowledge about how to actually maintain batteries? Like most NiMH powered devices, the charger is probably just a trickle charger to prevent damage to the battery if a user should store their trimmer in the cradle with the power always on; the long charge times should be enough of a clue to know this. There is a way to position the trimmer to prevent contacts from touching the charger if one cares enough to figure out how to do that. It has a very good shape for comfortable grip and is pretty light-weight for the medium~large sized hands. Easy to remove comb and blades for cleaning. Although a wet/dry trimmer, I don't bother rinsing or getting the device wet too often. Maybe every few months if I really want to give it a wash, I just think the blades and metals would rust/corrode sooner with frequent exposure to water so I don't do more than just use the included brush to remove hair trimmings. I find tissue paper works best for cleaning the blade. Of course, don't forget to oil; if you're not exposing the trimmer to water all the time, you can probably oil at every 2-3 uses. I would have liked for the trimmer to have a comb guard for 11~20-mm length, I prefer the look of longer hairs and 10-mm is too short for my preference. I guess that's why this trimmer is only $40 while the Panasonic GB60 is at $65. It is my first trimmer however, and for the value I like the product.

This trimmer is actually perhaps not nearly as bad as reviews suggest, it's basically a series of choosing the right 1 trick pony application and bending around it's awkward/not very user friendly limitations/backwards operation well enough to not break it in the process...in order to reap the uh...benefits? First off, the positives: 1.) The battery life is ridiculous, as in it's the longest lasting on a single charge beard trimmer I've ever owned. Although it's competition is notoriously weak, making this competition sort of sad. I still want this battery for my mobile phone. I've been through three Norelco's that after the first 1.5 years were pretty much pointless to not use without the charger frequently, then just leave it on the charger, wired all the time basically. 2.) It's sharp enough out of the box, but absolutely requires lubrication to stay that way. This will come in the form of a drop or two of the included oil (let's face it, most guys lose this pretty quick/can't be bothered to do it with much regularity me included) and a splash through good old fashioned H2O, water in the common tongue, and suddenly it works well, actually really well considering the next plus. 3.) Again as it's intended usage as a "wet trimmer" it's extremely waterproof, can dunk the whole thing and be fine. In essence this should be thought of as strictly a WET trimmer. Drop the DRY usage from your mind entirely, Panasonic commands us to do this by design. Splash it running under the faucet before you start, rinse a few times while trimming. This causes 89% or more of the trimmings to stick to the guard, also lubricates the blades enough for a surprisingly smooth trim as wet hair trims easier than dry...hence all the soap and water when using a traditional razor, which I do as well for the rest of my face (Personally don't keep a full thick grizzly Adams beard either). Then just rinse it off with most of the trimmings going down the drain, pull the guard off (when in the full down position!) and give it a quick hand scrub/rinse the last time. Once you get used to this sort of mind shifting routine....oddly...this trimmer starts to work...really quite well. Now, the negatives...which seem mostly design flaws to be "different" over function, not to mention introducing highly annoying learning curves...for a trimmer. 1.) By placing the height dial measurements on the back, somehow reacclimating the adjustments to Australian-toilet-crikey-blimey-flush-goes-the othaway-mate, everything anyone has learned about trimmers goes out the window. Up is down, down is up, the clock runs backwards, etc. Raising and lowering turns are opposite from intuition. You gotta look at the back now to see where you are at...and it takes an annoyingly long time to adjust to this if you have been using anything else. I frequently go between moustache and chin heights to no guide straight trimmer for side burns and mustachio over lip, so I adjust a lot. Making this frustration escalate to the point of wanting to smash it, then set is on fire. (Should have been listed as a positive, other than this critical frequently used piece, it's actually built like a tank) Even after finally getting all this right consistently, I still have occasional words with it, especially after a night of drinking. But's I'll say: it's very accurate and adjusts to the millimeter. 2.) Can't be over stressed. The trimmer guide requires you to Lower It All the Way before removing it OR YOU WILL BREAK it. Again, nobody is quite prepared for this, will think it's stuck at midway or highest and try to force it, thereby destroying it immediately or over short time wearing it down to break. Didn't think I had to read the freakin manual (RTFM) on a beard trimmer so much these days...but I do, otherwise you have to get your head around it prior (by reading this review perhaps) if you want it to last more than a a couple days. Then it might last 15 years. 3.) The charging stand indicator light is Red all week. Red when you first put it in. Red when fully charged. Red. Always and forever as long as the trimmer is in it. A Battle Star Galactica Cylon staring bright and deadly at you in the bathroom, ever vigilant, ever watchful. Amazing cheap efficient LED technology in strips for my computer for 14 bucks with a rainbow of colors that blink and breath at my command...this trimmer could not afford one LED with battery charge integration? Fortunately (and clearly by way of quirky cost saving design?), it won't be in the charger often, if you respect battery life/memory, I've gotten 20-30 trims off it without recharge. Even then it just goes a bit weaker but actually still works. Which out of common courtesy is when I finally place it in the charger overnight. Then it's good for another 25. Seriously, this thing almost rivals expensive Nicad power tool battery tech if treated as such. Can toss it in the bag for trips with confidence pretty easily without needing the charger even. Now that I've somewhat irreversibly altered my routine to suit this trimmer's design whims, is it fantastic? Not really. Is it actually a very good to great AWAYS WET trimmer when adjust carefully and operated per a design that rudely altered the way I trim and cleanup arguably for the better...well yeah...sorta did. Will I get another superior sensibly designed, better all purpose trimmer when I find it and leave this one in the shower (or in a cabinet for long periods of time) for random shower man-scaping needs? Yes.

After many clean-shaven years I decided to grow a beard this fall. I wanted to keep it relatively short but not stubble-cropped. I have always used a blade to shave and so hadn't ever used an electric razor. I wanted an ergonomically-designed razor. I also travel a lot on business so wanted something small that wouldn't take up space in a carry-on suitcase. The Panasonic ER-GB40 S model fits my needs exactly. I've been using it for three months and couldn't be more pleased. First, to address some of the complaints among reviewers here. I don't use it in the shower and I rarely flush it out with water. Whenever I do flush it and let it air-dry and then re-oil it. That's just common sense. It takes a few minutes and is no inconvenience. Also, please note that the light on the charging cradle does NOT go out when the razor is charged. The owner's manual specifically states (p. 5) that: "The charge indicator lamp glows and stays on until the plug is disconnected from a household outlet." So don't sit around waiting for the charge indicator to tell you when the razor is charged. Just leave it in the cradle for a couple days and it will be done. I have never run out of juice while shaving. And I only charge it every 5-6 weeks so far. I've recharged it precisely twice in three months. That's hardly an inconvenience. I just put it in the cradle for a couple days and take it out when I shave in the morning, then replace it. And then after two days I put the charging cradle away for another six weeks. Please understand that this is not a shaver for you if you want to maintain a long beard. The settings, in 0.5 mm increments, only go up to 10 mm (1 cm or 0.4 inches. That's more than enough for the beard length I want to maintain. I like, however, that the increments are 0.5 mm because I've been able during the past three months to experiment with a variety of short lengths on my beard and see what I like most. I'm particular about length so the small increments suit me. This razor is also a joy to use. It fits wonderfully in my hands and feels and looks great. It's short and doesn't take up much space in my suitcase when I travel. I'm careful to nest it so the pressure of adjoining items in the suitcase don't turn it on. However, because of the way the handle is curved, it's pretty easy to nest it so it won't turn on. It would be nice if it had a lock feature but it doesn't and that's fine. I've taken three one-week business trips since I bought it, during which I packed and repacked it several times on the trip, and have had no problems. I'm very happy with the razor and would buy it again if I were making the purchase today. It's a splendid product. UPDATE (February 2018): I've been using this for 1-1/2 years now and am still delighted with it. I travel on business overseas regularly (nearly three months last year) and have never had trouble packing this in my suitcase and having it inadvertently turn on in transit. I rarely have to recharge it, and I never have to worry about taking the charger with me to countries having different voltage systems from the U.S. It's a splendid product. I'm a thoroughly-satisfied customer.