Braun all-in-one trimmer MGK7220

Braun all-in-one trimmer MGK7220 – beard styling has never been so good (review)

8.9

The Braun all-in-one trimmer MGK7220 is a 10-in-1 styling kit based on the Braun wet and dry 5544, rechargeable multi-purpose handle.

Sorry for the messy intro, but this device slices, dices, cuts, shaves, trims with five clip-on heads, four combs (including a 3-21mm adjustable), and throws in a Gillette Fusion 5 ProGlide blade razor for a close shave.

And that is both its strength and weakness. Let me explain why.

When I was a kid, we lived on acreage. The part around the home was manicured turf, the larger area was barely ‘tamed’ native grass and weeds, and the untamed jungle was down the back paddock near the creek. Dad had three mowers. A very fearsome looking petrol ‘clipper/sickle’ (for the ‘untamed’ bush), a Cox Mowmobile ride-on (for the bulk) and a Victa lawnmower (for the lawn). He explained, “Son, you need the right tool for the job”.

Well, I have been using the Braun all-in-one trimmer MGK7220 for about a month on a reasonably heavy growth COVID-CONVICT beard, and while I can highly recommend it, my dad’s words come back to haunt me. Can one tool do it all?

Braun all-in-one trimmer MGK7220 (may also be MGK221 in some stores)

WebsiteAll-in-one page here and product page here
Price$189
FromBraun online or Shavershop
Warranty12 months
ManufactureChina
CompanyBraun is a brand of Procter and Gamble along with Gillette, Oral-B and Old Spice. It makes male grooming, female hair removal and hair care appliances
MoreGadgetGuy Braun news and reviews here

Let’s look at the bits first

The rechargeable handle type 5544 powers an oscillating shaft that drives the clip-on attachments. It reads your beard 13 times per second and adjusts motor power to its thickness (resistance). In other words, all you need is an on/off switch. It has a 12V/.4A/4.8W charger and a charger base for 100 minutes run-time and a 60-minute charge.

  • Main clipper – Trimmer metal is a lifetime sharp 30mm clipper blade. This is for all comb attachments.
  • Body groomer head has a centre 35mm shaving foil and motorised trimmers on either side
  • Detailed trimmer head is a 15m wide trimmer
  • Mini-foil shaving head is a 15mm wide shaving foil
  • Ear and Nose trimmer head is a rotary hair cutter

Combs include

  • Sliding adjustable bear comb 3-11 mm in 2mm steps
  • Sliding adjustable comb 13-21mm in 2mm steps
  • Fixed comb 1mm
  • Fixed comb 2mm

All items are available as spare parts, which is why you buy Braun over any generic clippers.

How does it work?

A few initial observations.

First, I doubt if you will ever use all the heads or combs. Most bearded folk like to keep the one style. Our review model was an all-in-one trimmer for face, hair, and body with the addition of some higher-tech and wet/dry use. There is a handy comparison of beard trimmers and all-in-one here.

Second, given the relatively narrow clipper width (30mm), this is more a precision device (Victa lawnmower) than, say, the Remington Rapid Cut Turbo hair-clipper with 70mm blades (Mowmobile). In fact, to best categorise it, it is between a whipper snipper and a light electric mower.

Third, with so many cutting and length options, it is easy to make the wrong choice and remove too much or too little beard hair. While the 4.5mm setting on the Remington works well for me, the 3mm setting produces an almost naked face and the 5mm setting is not quite what I want either. So, I won’t be using it for haircuts.

On the overwhelmingly positive side, the Braun all-in-one trimmer MGK7220 is a precision device.

It is very good at

The 30mm trimmer with a comb cuts beautifully with very few stray hairs escaping. It is perfect for beards and lower neck trimming (electric mower). Use the trimmer without a comb to shave bald heads!

I don’t do designer stubble, but the 1 and 2mm combs are perfect for that.

The 15mm trimmer and mini-foil heads are perfect for edge trimming around the ears, under the nose and lips (whipper snipper).

The ear/nose trimmer is so good it makes me wonder why I did not buy one decades ago.

The body trimmer is excellent. The trimmer blades cut quite closely, and the foil is suitable for stubble removal. If you have not removed excess body hair before, it can feel quite strange/prickly when wearing a shirt, but the feeling soon goes away. Damn – it does not have a back shaving handle attachment!

Maintenance

A quick wash in under the tap. I noticed some ‘grease’ on the motor spindle that has the consistency of Vaseline, so make sure you lubricate that.

GadgetGuy’s take

Being relatively new to this beard thing (I grew it in protest to COVID-convict lockdowns in March 2020), I have been content to Mowmobile the beard’s 10mm a month growth and trim it with an electric razor trimmer where needed. But it was never ‘neat’.

I have used this twice, a month apart, and apart from the 3 or 5mm decision (beard length), it produces a cut you can be proud of. My wife does not even shy away now when the usually prickly bearded and moustached man seeks a kiss.

You may note that I have not mentioned the Gillette Fusion 5 ProGlide blade razor. Blade razors have little tech, and regardless of their disposable five blade and comfort strip design, most men own a razor or three. In fact, I use the Gillette Labs heated razor for a hot shave – it is excellent apart from its $10 blades.

Rating

We reviewed the Braun S3 combo beard and razor and gave it 8.8/10. This is more a precision instrument, and as such, it does most but not all things well. As a man’s beard and body hair trimmer, it is perfect.

https://youtu.be/I8CbxI_Xkm8
Braun all-in-one trimmer MGK7220
The Braun all-in-one trimmer MGK7220 is a precision bead cutting/styling device with a range of accessories for body and facial grooming.
Features
9
Value for money
8.5
Performance
9
Ease of use
9
Design
9
Positives
Large range of trimmers and combs - flexibility
Wet and dry use
Fast charge and quick charge
Best use – beard and body hair
Beardtouring - sculpt the beard to your face to accent or hide features
Negatives
Not really wide enough for hair cutting
8.9