We've reviewed some pretty wild, and expensive, trimmers and shavers here at Gamereactor, but we've never touched on the fact that they naturally grit when you use them. It's just an indisputable fact that is such an integral part of the act of trimming beards that it wasn't really worth mentioning.
But luckily there are still quirky ideas out there, even if it feels like those true "eureka" moments are getting further and further apart. Albaline is a Danish company that sent us an "Alba4Men Hurricane" to test, and while the packaging, physical design, and choice of materials ooze budget-friendliness (we'll get to that), it does have one rather key gimmick.
There's a small vacuum cleaner mounted behind the clipper itself, which, as you run it through the beard hairs, sucks them into a small container mounted just below the cutting blades. This means that as you trim, if Albaline is to be believed, you'll get far fewer beard hairs in the sink or on the floor during use, which could actually be a key selling point for some.
And it's a good idea, and it's an idea that broadly works too, especially if you're careful and make sure to go slow with longer beard hair. If you're imprecise or need to get it done in a hurry, the suction isn't strong enough to account for that, but all in all, this gimmick is a little more than that and it works.
While there's nothing directly wrong with the rest of the Hurricane, we feel that it feels and looks cheap on closer inspection. During testing, it was incredibly easy to rub off the "Alba4Men" logo in the centre, and the plastic used, the button used, it all reeks of being cheap in a super inappropriate way. No, we're not competing with a Philips 9000 Prestige here, but it's a lot more expensive than the wildest Philips OneBlade Pro 360 model with charging stand and multiple heads.
Furthermore, it didn't take much research to find competing products with similar functionality that were also slightly cheaper, but it seems that the key manufacturers haven't quite realised what Alba4Men can do here, and that's worth mentioning several times.
And even though the whole design is a bit too cheap, there are good specifications here. There are two spacers that range from 1-10 millimetres and 11-20 millimetres, it's IPX6 certified, which means it can get a little wet, and it charges via USB-C, which is also welcome.
Most importantly, it works as a trimmer, so it's certainly not a waste of money. But as a bit of a new player, we don't feel that the small vacuum cleaner is a reason to forgive a little too cheap build quality at a slightly high price, so either the Hurricane just needs to be cheaper, or it needs to be closer to the immediate physical level we know from the likes of OneBlade, which is hailed as a great alternative for good reason, even if it can't vacuum up beard hairs.