How do these Dovos compare?

[zib]

As far as I know, it's just a matter of personal preference with those razors. Dovo makes a quality blade, and SRD is the way to go. You can ask Don at SRD directly if he feels one is better than the other. I think the steel is basically the same, carbon steel. I'm not sure about the "silver steel". The price difference between those razors appears to be in the scales.

[JohnG10]

I've used several on your list in an attempt to figure out which one I liked best from a shaving performance perspective. The ones I tried included the Dovo Soligen (Bone handle), Dovo Silver Steel (Ebony handle), Dovo Special (Tortoise handle), and Dovo Best Quality (Plastic handle). After seeing a couple of examples of I decided that IF there were any performance differences due to blade steel or blade model, that those differences were smaller than the random (and small) variation between hand ground blades. In fact, I'm pretty sure the best quality, special, black star, and soligen (bone) all start with the same blade blank and then receive different graphics and handles.

ps: The current Dovo best quality doesn't have a rough unpolished "ground" look, or a stamped name in the tang. It's a polished blade and lazer engraved tang. It's handle looks as good as utilitarian plastic can look and is sturdy. The Silver Steel and Tortoise were both very nice looking in person.

pps: I found that bone handled razors made it harder to control my angles when going around the corners of the chin and jaw. The handle was heavy enough to rotate the blade in my fingers if I used a light grip. (Light grip was to prevent nicks if I hit an obstruction). The Ebony handle was about the same weight as the plastic on the Best Quality, and the Tortoise handle was a teeny tiny bit lighter.

The important thing is to buy it from someplace that hones them to "Shave Ready" (they are rough honed only from the factory). SRD is reputed to have the best honing out there (I haven't tried elsewhere, but I can verify SRD's honing is great) - and some very competatively priced razor / strop / brush packages.

[markevens]

I have the Dovo Prima, #2 on your list, and it is my favorite razor.