Well, it finally arrived on June 2nd, over a week and a half later. I'll cut them some slack 'cos there was a weekend and a bank holiday inbetween, but still: Scotland to Germany for over
€15 postage? Royal mail / Deutsche post snail mail, and it arrived somewhat (!) battered too: it looked like someone had played football with it.
In fact, along the way, somebody had welded the cardboard box into a thick plastic bag for extra protection, but, when I unpacked it, the display box for the razor was toast anyway. I threw it away immediately after unpacking it as it was so creased up. Luckily I'm not a picky collector.
To the razor itself: it weighs a tad under 113g, and is slightly ( 2mm? ), shorter than a long handle Progress. The satin chrome finish is faultless, and the blade gap is the same both sides. The handle is very grippy, with well-executed machine knurling. The adjustment is in 10 steps, and the settings are easy to see and set.
Basicly, it's an evolution of the Mercur Progress, ( to say copy would be a little unkind
), with design features taken
( borrowed? ), from the Futur, made by the the same company. The bottom half of the head has four slots like the Futur, and the rest of the head is a copy of the Progress. In fact, the removable part of the head is interchangeable with the Progress, same thread and everything.
You could say, it's what the Progress could've ( and should've ), been from the start. If I was looking for a modern adjustable, and had to choose between the Variant and the Progress, it's a no-brainer, the Variant every time. It's even slightly cheaper than the long handle version of the Progress too.
As far as shaving goes, think Merkur Progress with better grip. I've tried it with all my usual favorite blades: ASP, Polsilver, Nacet, and Rubies, with the razor set at 2 or 3, and it performs faultlessly. I wish it'd been on the market last year when I spent a fortune on all the other adjustables I have, I could've saved a lot of money. But hey ho
Like they say here in Germany: the money isn't gone, it's just that somebody else has it now...
