Breaking News---Mach 3 Generic Heads

Maybe this isnt new news to some, but it is to me and I hadnt heard anything about it till I saw these last night. I thought that P&G put huge patent extensions on their intellectual property rights, and that of their razor handles to keep other mfrs from making knock-offs to fit them. Either way, they now exist, at your friendly neighborhood Dollar General Store. I thought about buying them just to see if they compare in any way to original Mach 3 heads. I would have to find my handle from 2009 about the time they lowered the quality of the Mach 3/Mach 3 Turbo heads to push consumers to the Fusion. Still a bit pricey for just 2 heads, but I bet prices will work their way down as their popularity increases.

A Chinese knockoff?

I would guarantee you that will underperform big time, they will probably be 60% of what the Gillette's are

Looks like a Mach 4 to me or is that top bar not a blade?

No Jeff, the top thing looks like a round bar of some sort leaving the head with only 3 blades.
Freddy, I looked all over the box for indications it was a Dorco head of some sort, but I couldnt find anything on it. I didnt have my glasses either so my memory of it is a bit fuzzy. There was the standard statement---paraphrasing---"this product is not manufactured by P&G, Energizer, or its affiliates...etc". The only indicator of manufacturer was a line that said "Manufactured for dolgen corps." No other indicator of its origins.

No Jeff, the top thing looks like a round bar of some sort leaving the head with only 3 blades.
Freddy, I looked all over the box for indications it was a Dorco head of some sort, but I couldnt find anything on it. I didnt have my glasses either so my memory of it is a bit fuzzy. There was the standard statement---paraphrasing---"this product is not manufactured by P&G, Energizer, or its affiliates...etc". The only indicator of manufacturer was a line that said "Manufactured for dolgen corps." No other indicator of its origins.

Interesting.  So these are manufactured at least for Dollar General, it would seem.

Yea, now to use my super google skills to find out who...

These are manufactured by Edgewell (Schick/Personna), they are based on or are the original Hydro 3 with a widget that is has now been branded as Hydro Connect. Gillette's patent for the Mach3 have expired.

I bought a pkg but since I refuse to use carts anymore, my wife is a willing guinea pig. Her review of this product is "It seems to work alright, its less scary that the Atra blades, and I have to make less passes".

Here are some pics I took of it hooked up to my now "vintage" Mach 3 Turbo handle. The fact that the patent has now run out seems to explain the over-abundance of Mach 3 Turbo commercials I saw during the marketing campaign during football season last fall. I think I even questioned here on this site why Gillette was marketing such an old system when it was obvious the Fusion was their new money-maker. It was just an effort to hook the last few users before the patent well run dry.

What irritates me even more is the fact that you saw them at the "DOLLAR" store for $2.75. That gets under my skin (no pun intended). It's a dollar store and many things are way more than a dollar LOL. The one that kills me the most is .99 Cent ONLY stores.... it says "ONLY" yet many things are way over a dollar. Kills me