OneBlade vs TwoBlade

I recently bought a OneBlade (V1).  I tried one for a week on a pass-around when they first came out, and wasn't impressed.  But I was convinced to give it a 21 day trial, before rejecting it.  I got it at a reasonable enough price, that I could flip it without losing money (an important consideration).  But before my 21 days were over, I bought (separately) a new Schick O Type Clone & a pack of 10 Japanese Schick Twin Injector Blades.  Today I tried them, and man was I impressed.  I've been familiar with injectors since the 1960s (my first razor was a Pal adjustable), but I'd never tried twin blades. So I interrupted my 21 day OneBlade trial, with a Chinese razor and a Japanese blade, and I'm glad I did.  Now for the comparison.

Both razors are made in China.  The OneBlade costs $399 new; the Schick O Type Clone costs $35 new.  They are both of good build quality; the OneBlade of course is better.  The OneBlade weighs 90 grams; the Schick clone weighs 40 grams.  The OneBlade uses an expensive proprietary blade (Feather FHS-10), but can be made to get by on a despined Gem blade.  The Japanese Schick Twin blade (which I used) is even more expensive, but the razor works fine with (much cheaper) singles.  I can only get 2 shaves from an FHS-10.  I don't yet know how many shaves I can get from the Schick Twin, but I'll bet it's more than two.  

I have never been able to effectively shave under my nose with the OneBlade.  Whereas I can shave just fine under my nose with any SE or DE razor I've ever tried, except for the OneBlade and the Occam's Razor.  Lastly, and most importantly, I got a cleaner shave from the Schick Injector Twin-Blade than the OneBlade, and it was just as smooth and irritation free.

I'm goin to keep my OneBlade for a few more weeks, so as to keep my bargain with myself.  But after that I'm pretty sure I'm going to flip it.  What I'm really curious about, is how many good shaves I can get from those (very pricey) Japanese Schick Twins.  At 10 blades for $30, I hope to get 10 shaves. That's probably wishful thinking, but we shall see.

10 shaves with a Schick twin is not wishful thinking. I have about seven shaves with the one I loaded in my Type O clone and it is still very sharp. The OB works better with a Gem blade. I am able to get about 6-8 shaves with them.

Great write-up & comparison. What causes you the difficulty shaving under your nose with the OB, as well as the Occam's? Some, myself included, have difficulty biting the bullet to buy the expensive twin blades. I will someday, but for now, I'll be watching this thread to see how many shaves you get the twin blade.

What causes you the difficulty shaving under your nose with the OB, as well as the Occam's?

With the Occam's Razor (V1), it's the length of the guard.  I understand they corrected that in the second iteration, called the O. R. E. N.  
With the OneBlade, I think it's the thickness of the head, that won't let me position the blade directly under my nostrils, leaving me to finish my shave with another razor.  I expect better from a $400 razor, than to have to use another razor to touch up the spots that it leaves behind unshaven.
Maybe my standards are too high, but I don't think so.

You can get the same quality injector shave by buying an older Schick injector model on Ebay and you won't have to pay thru the nose for the Big $$ twin injector blade packs.

With the Occam's Razor (V1), it's the length of the guard.  I understand they corrected that in the second iteration, called the O. R. E. N.  
With the OneBlade, I think it's the thickness of the head, that won't let me position the blade directly under my nostrils, leaving me to finish my shave with another razor.  I expect better from a $400 razor, than to have to use another razor to touch up the spots that it leaves behind unshaven.
Maybe my standards are too high, but I don't think so.

Thank you. I agree with your statement about the design & cost. Your standards aren't too high.

I’m not sure this is a fair fight. One Blade, at least with the low end model, is into v. 2 which reportedly runs a good race against the $400 model. The least expensive one retails for $80 and I bought one. After I used it I bought a second one to make sure I wouldn’t have any difficulty finding a replacement for any reason I might need one. The shave was that good - very close, very smooth, no worries about sharks showing up in the sink. I don’t make recommendations, but Sharpologist does and he nearly bursts into song when he takes on the topic of the One Blade.

First let's clarify terms, then we'll get into the differences.

There's the original OneBlade (V1), the OneBlade (V2) which is now called the Genesis, The OneBlade Core (V1) & (V2), and the OneBlade Hybrid.
The Core is made of plastic. And if you're not careful with the V1 you can slice off the blade stops when inserting the blade. They reportedly fixed that problem with the V2. The Hybrid has a metal head and a plastic handle. Both the Core and the Hybrid utilize the OneBlade V2 head design.

The functional difference between the V1 and V2 head design is this: The V1 will accept de-spined Gem blades, and the V2 will not. The blade is secure in the blade vice on the V1, and sits loose in the blade vice on the V2. The loose fitting blade is marketed as an improvement. I've never used a V2 OneBlade, but I'm skeptical. I think it was redesigned to keep people like me from using the cheaper and more robust Gem blades, instead of the expensive and fragile proprietary Feather FHS-10 blades, which they sell.

The Gem blade costs 25¢ and is good for 6 shaves, whereas the Feather blade costs $1 and is good for 1 or 2 shaves. Also OneBlade continues making money selling you proprietary Feather blades. They make nothing if you use de-spined Gems. I purposefully bought a V1 so I could use Gem blades instead of Feathers.

I have been using the OneBlade almost exclusively since my comparative experiment. As I gain experience with it, my shaves have been improving.
At this point, I think I will keep it.

First let's clarify terms, then we'll get into the differences.  

There's the original OneBlade (V1), the OneBlade (V2) which is now called the Genesis, The OneBlade Core (V1) & (V2), and the OneBlade Hybrid.  
The Core is made of plastic.  And if you're not careful with the V1 you can slice off the blade stops when inserting the blade.  They reportedly fixed that problem with the V2.  The Hybrid has a metal head and a plastic handle.  Both the Core and the Hybrid utilize the OneBlade V2 head design.  

The functional difference between the V1 and V2 head design is this:  The V1 will accept de-spined Gem blades, and the V2 will not.  The blade is secure in the blade vice on the V1, and sits loose in the blade vice on the V2.  The loose fitting blade is marketed as an improvement.  I've never used a V2 OneBlade, but I'm skeptical.  I think it was redesigned to keep people like me from using the cheaper and more robust Gem blades, instead of the expensive and fragile proprietary Feather FHS-10 blades, which they sell.  

The Gem blade costs 25¢ and is good for 6 shaves, whereas the Feather blade costs $1 and is good for 1 or 2 shaves.  Also OneBlade continues making money selling you proprietary Feather blades.  They make nothing if you use de-spined Gems.  I purposefully bought a V1 so I could use Gem blades instead of Feathers.

I have been using the OneBlade almost exclusively since my comparative experiment.  As I gain experience with it, my shaves have been improving.  
At this point, I think I will keep it.

You can use de-spined GEMs in the V2, but you have to clip the back corners too.  This thread shows how to both de-spine and clip the GEMs.  I find the clipping is quick and easy enough, although it took me five or ten attempts to get the hang of it, and care is required to clean up the clippings.  I tried three tools, and wound up using the nibbling tool recommended in the thread.  OTOH seating the GEM blade requires extra care, and I, too, would prefer a tighter, "easier to get right" blade fit.  Other than that though, I love the razor - under the nose and all - and I have experienced only first class customer service in my few dealings with the OneBlade folks.  I eventually went back to the FHS-10 blades because they are fine while they last and because they require less care when inserting than the GEMs.  And FYI I found FHS-10s for $0.70 a blade at Maggards.

Good luck.  The V2 head change is annoying, but it is still a great razor IMO.

I haven't tried the injector type O but I was highly disappointed with the oneblade. personally I think the oneblade is an absolutely gorgeous razor, but the shave I got was just too mild for me, and then you factor in the cost of blades... plus I had serious QC issues with the oneblade I bought direct from them and then the replacements they sent out all had QC issues as well. I tried the core and promptly sent it back..