Thread: Which Dovo?

You know, I just realized that all of these other new razor websites (CS, VB and others) are CRAZY not to offer this "lifetime sharpening" deal. This fellow is about the 10th person I've encountered here who is buying specifically from SRD because of the lifetime-sharpening offer.

Now I haven't been doing this as long as many people here, but does an offer of lifetime sharpening even cost SRD very much? The customer still has to pay for all of the shipping, and SRD presumably does not have to pay a honemeister $20 per blade (like the rest of us). It seems like they may have to hone each razor they sell maybe once or twice a year at a cost of $5 - 10 per customer, and when the customer sells that razor or moves onto something else, the obligation is basically over.

Anyway, to the OP, everyone here has lots of opinions, but you are the one shaving with these razors, so by all means, buy what you love!! Some here (like me) might suggest getting not so many Dovos, because variety is the spice of life, and every razor brand seems to have its own personality, which makes it more interesting in the morning when you're shaving. But you might be one of those guys just in love with one great brand, in which case no one should talk you out of it.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is this -- the lifetime sharpening thing is a gimmick, and a very good one at that. I have no doubt that it will be useful in the future, but it probably wouldn't lead me to buy just one brand if that isn't what I was already looking to buy. To put it another way, getting a lifetime of free sharpening for your razor is NOT like buying a car with a lifetime of free gas in the tank. It's more like buying a car with a lifetime of free tire rotations. Yes, it is useful, and probably something you will end up doing about once or twice a year, but I wouldn't use that to decide which brand of car I liked better.

Lynn, who is one of the two guys at SRD (among other things ;-p), does the honing at SRD, so all it costs him is his time, and gas to the post office and money for packing materials. Keep in mind, as of now, the lifetime free honing is a sale, not a constant deal they offer.

Thanks for all the replies gents

Originally Posted by gugi

so you want the most bling for the buck? I guess for me that puts the MOP and BL pretty much at the top. I do have a thing for natural materials over plastic though, the later has been and continues to be enough for me to part with dorkos, pumas, ducks, bokers, and other great and highly sought after razors.

the renaissance has different blade than the 41, but they're both stainless.

I have owned dovo 41 both current production and from the fritz bracht times, the later is clearly superior, but that's neither an option for you, nor does it match your criteria.

I appreciate natural scale materials too, but it doesn't mean I'm adverse to snthetics. I want to make some carbon fiber scales someday, but the plain plastic scales are kind of boring. I bought the cheap Boker from SRD with the intention of rescaling the blade down the road. I just wanted to try out a Boker and have it be sharp for life

Originally Posted by Stuart74

I recently purchased the Dovo BL from SRD and I must admit it does give a really nice shave.

I also have a cheap 5/8 razor, and the Dovo is far superior.

I also purchased a Bismark with black scales from SRD and just got it in the post today.

I will shave with it later today and let you know what it is like and how it compares to the BL.

I'm sure which ever razors you get you will be very happy with them.

Stuart.

I'm looking forward to hearing how they compare. We're actually not going to order for another few days. I'm not in a hurry. I have until the 31st to decide.

Originally Posted by JeffE

You know, I just realized that all of these other new razor websites (CS, VB and others) are CRAZY not to offer this "lifetime sharpening" deal. This fellow is about the 10th person I've encountered here who is buying specifically from SRD because of the lifetime-sharpening offer.

Now I haven't been doing this as long as many people here, but does an offer of lifetime sharpening even cost SRD very much? The customer still has to pay for all of the shipping, and SRD presumably does not have to pay a honemeister $20 per blade (like the rest of us). It seems like they may have to hone each razor they sell maybe once or twice a year at a cost of $5 - 10 per customer, and when the customer sells that razor or moves onto something else, the obligation is basically over.

Anyway, to the OP, everyone here has lots of opinions, but you are the one shaving with these razors, so by all means, buy what you love!! Some here (like me) might suggest getting not so many Dovos, because variety is the spice of life, and every razor brand seems to have its own personality, which makes it more interesting in the morning when you're shaving. But you might be one of those guys just in love with one great brand, in which case no one should talk you out of it.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is this -- the lifetime sharpening thing is a gimmick, and a very good one at that. I have no doubt that it will be useful in the future, but it probably wouldn't lead me to buy just one brand if that isn't what I was already looking to buy. To put it another way, getting a lifetime of free sharpening for your razor is NOT like buying a car with a lifetime of free gas in the tank. It's more like buying a car with a lifetime of free tire rotations. Yes, it is useful, and probably something you will end up doing about once or twice a year, but I wouldn't use that to decide which brand of car I liked better.

I agree with your post, it is a great marketing tactic. It has certainly influenced my purchases some

However you're analogy doesn't exactly describe my situation. A car is a much larger investment. You typically don't buy several makes of cars and maybe multiple models to see if you like them. To carry on the analogy though... I'm not sure which brands I prefer yet. I'm not even a 100% sure what blade types I like. I might even be making a mistake purchasing several new blades this early in my straight shaving journey. The lifetime honing is just too good a deal to pass up.

It is very likely that I would have purchased a new Boker and Dovo at some point. All this offer has done is to cause me to change the schedule a bit. I know I would get a new Dovo at some point, so why not now during the promotion?

I fully expect to learn to hone razors at some point. Heck, I hope to get really good at it, but I still like the appeal of having 2-3 razors that are a sharpness reference point.

I probably would have spent the same amount of money over the same time period. Buying a couple Dovos now just means I'll be putting off buying some stuff to do restorations (something I'm very interested in).

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I will say that all this discussion has made me reconsider getting 2 Dovos. I think I let myself slip into that idea because I was having trouble deciding on just one. The Mrs thinks the MOP one looks the nicest, but I'm partial to that blade on the Bergischer Lowe

Hayduke, this is the kind of "problem" that we all love to have, so like I said, by all means pick whichever one "speaks" to you, and I think you can be sure that these Dovos are all really, really excellent razors.

As it happens, I have more than 30 SRs, but actually no Dovos at all, so I've got no specific recommendations, but I AM kind of curious to hear what you end up with. I've heard others mention the BL, so I guess that must be a pretty well known model. One other question for you, though -- have you considered getting one Dovo in carbon steel and one in stainless, like the linen micarta inox (very cool looking razor)? Anyway, I've always liked the look of that razor, so maybe I'm just biased.

Any, whatever you buy, PLEASE PLEASE come back and tell everyone what you think after you use them. You said above that you don't really know which brand or model you like the best. Guess what -- no one here does until you get a chance to actually try it OR someone reports back here about what his experience was. So try them and then enlighten your friends, and we will do the same!

Originally Posted by JeffE

SRD presumably does not have to pay a honemeister $20 per blade (like the rest of us).

As far as I know Lynn has a constant influx of razors to hone, so it does cost honing of another razor instead, which is $20 according to the pubished rate.

Originally Posted by JeffE

Some here (like me) might suggest getting not so many Dovos

...and it would be wise to ignore the advice of such newly born experts who have no idea what they're talking about.
As you noted you have zero experience with any Dovo and about 30 razors of varying brands, honed in a completely different manner, so your opinion about 'brands' should be taken with a big chunk of salt.
And just in case you question my disagreement with you, I have owned 15 different Dovo razors, and probably over 100 different brands altogether and I have honed practically all of them.

Originally Posted by JeffE

the lifetime sharpening thing is a gimmick, and a very good one at that.

It's very interesting that you chose to call this a 'gimmick' as it goes beyond ignorance to bordering malice.
Once you become a 'honester' and complete 500 free honings, come back and let us know how does the gimmick work for you.

The SRD offer is certainly not a gimmick considering that it does have value. A gimmick is a marketing ploy to get more people to purchase from a certain place in ways that don't offer anything special to the buyer. If I wasn't flat broke due to Christmas, I'd take them up on it in a heartbeat and likely pick up a nice Bismarck.

That said, I don't see how Lynn does it. He's already inundated with razors being sent to him otherwise, now he's offering free honing if you purchase a razor this month! It's a very generous offer and will definitely take up a lot of his free time.

Um, gentlemen, please. I don't claim to be an expert, just a beginner with a few razors.

Gimmick does not mean bad or deceptive -- look it up before you tear into me. It is a device to catch someone's attention for the purpose of making a sale. If that makes someone buy razors from SRD, then it is effective and I do not have any problem with that, and if SRD honors its promise of lifetime honing, then everyone has made out well. So what is the problem? Offering customers free financing with a car is a sales gimmick. Offering free shipping to the first 100 callers is a sales gimmick. Offering free lifetime honing for people who buy razors is a sales gimmick. Sheesh.

Next, Hayduke asked for OPINIONS from the group, so my offering my two cents is no more or less meaningful than all of the other advice that was given here. Lots of my advice was the same as that given by others, only they did not get "flamed" by the more "senior" members.

Anyway, it's true that I haven't been a member here as long as some others, but if being a long-time member entitles you to put down others who are trying to offer an honest opinion to a member who has asked for it, then maybe that's a good thing.

Jeff,

Since you said gentleMEN, I'm assuming you mean more than one person, and since gugi and I were the two to bring this up, I'm assuming you're referring to me, as well...

I wasn't trying to flame, Jeff, not at all. All apologies if I came off that way. My understanding of "gimmick" is a marketing ploy that doesn't benefit the customer, but is used to generate sales and even to deceive said naive customer. I looked it up to make sure and Wikipedia seems to agree with me, not that they're the end-all/be-all of definitions.

Sorry again, JeffE.

Actually flaming you was due to your lacking the relevant experience to back up your opinion. If you notice the other posters talked about razors they own. You also made some speculations about how businesses are run and what costs are involved, which tells me you're pretty clueless, yet post like an authority.

I'm a new member too. I've been at this for about two and a half years. Not sure how you infer that gives me some special rights.

In any case, as I said, my problem is with opinions that are based on nothing, as it is a coin toss whether they are useful or harmful and only serve to decrease the signal to noise ratio.

There are plenty of websites and forums where self-proclaimed experts spread misinformation and I would rather SRP remain a place where people can find reliable information and not hype or somebody's secret agenda. And one of the reasons SRP is such a place is that members post out of their own experience, not from speculations.

Allen, my apologies to you as well. Merriam Webster defines gimmick as a marketing ploy to attract customer's attention, but if you felt some negative connotation in my choice of words, then clearly I chose unwisely. My fault, and I will be more careful in the future. My point, I thought, was pretty clear -- that the free honing offer appears to be amazingly effective in attracting customers to SRD, judging by comments here. I still think the other sites are crazy not to offer it, as the increase in sales and attention has to be worth far more than absorbing the cost of additional honing. And that is no insult to anyone invovled.