Braun Series 7 vs 9: If You’re Confused, That’s Understandable. Which Series is Better?

There are thousands of foil shavers out there for home use, but Braun is largely considered one of the most popular manufacturers.

Their product line is huge, though, and when it comes to the brand’s more prestigious offerings, it can also get a little confusing (to say the least).

In this article, we’re going to compare the Braun Series 7 vs 9, and explain how they’re similar, how they’re different, and which shavers in the two series really stand out.

Let’s jump in:

Series 7 vs 9—A Quick Summary

Both the Braun Series 7 and Series 9 are considered to be at the top of Braun’s range, along with the Braun Series 8. These are not simple or entry-level options—instead, they’re fancy, high-tech tools with some very cool features.

And honestly, we find that both perform really well! There are, however, a few things to consider:

Your hair type: How coarse or wild does your hair get? If it’s very coarse and tends to grow every which-way, the Series 9 may have an easier time handling your growth. If your facial hair has medium coarseness and grows mostly in one direction (maybe with just a bit of variation), both series will probably serve you well.

That said, you may also want to consider a rotary shaver since the spinning blades often do best against wilder beard types.

If you don’t shave often: You may find that the Series 9 shavers do a better job with longer growth compared to Series 7 shavers. Both should be able to handle your facial hair if you forget to shave for a few days in a row, but the Series 9 will probably end up giving you a more comfortable shave, especially if your beard is quite coarse or if the hairs grow in different directions.

If you shave every day or every other day: For frequent shavers, it makes less of a difference. Both Series 7 and Series 9 offer excellent shavers. There are a few other considerations, like batteries, wet and dry shaving capabilities, and other add-ons, which we’ll discuss in more detail below. There are also variations within the two series that you’ll want to take into account since some models offer things that others do not.

With all that said, if you’re after something accessible, Braun still has some other shavers for you. Both Series 3 and Series 5 have some nice, simple electric shavers that still perform exceptionally well. We discuss them in more detail and make some recommendations in our article about the best Braun shavers.

OK! Let’s get into more detail:

What’s the Braun Series 7?

The Series 7 from Braun is incredibly popular, especially considering that it’s a slightly more premium line of shavers that isn’t necessarily accessible for everyone. It’s not Braun’s most high-end offering, but it’s up there, while models like the Series 3 and 5 are more entry-level.

There are a few types of shavers in the Braun Series 7, including flexible-headed ones released in 2020, and one with more stationary heads that were originally released in 2010.

Best Braun Series 7 Shavers

There are a lot of great Series 7 shavers, but these are our favorites:

Series 7: The Braun 7027cs

Let’s start things off with one of the more simple Braun Series 7 shavers. The Braun 7027cs is one of the newer models, as you can tell from the Flex Head design.

This electric razor has a really nice, modern look, with a slimmer body that we find is very easy to hold and handle. The foil head itself has three cutting elements, as do all of the other Series 7 shavers. The center cutter is our favorite detail because it allows this foil shaver to cut longer hairs that old-school foil designs usually can’t handle. This means you can get away with skipping your morning shave for a couple of days, and the foil is likely not to struggle.

The increased flexibility in the head allows the shaver to move comfortably along the unevenness of the face and may help protect your skin from accidents. The foils themselves are nice and wide, which makes it really easy to shave a large face, although may give you some trouble over harder-to-reach areas.

This shave is designed with what Braun called “Autosense Technology,” which means that it’s meant to adapt to facial hair coarseness by varying the speed. It’s hard to notice this feature while shaving, but we do find that it works comfortably even over coarse areas, as long as our stubble isn’t too long.

Whether this newer model is actually better than earlier ones is a controversial question. While we do enjoy the increased flexibility in the 7027cs shaver, it seems to be made with slightly less complex plastic components which may have been a cost-cutting decision rather than a performance decision. Despite that, it’s still a fantastic-looking shaver that can provide a gentle, close shave.

While this is one of the more simple Series 7 shavers in our Braun Series 7 vs 9 match-up, it still comes with a couple of nice add-ons: a trimmer head for tidying up smaller areas, as well as two plastic guards should you want to do a bit of facial hair grooming or in case you forget to shave for a long time and need to trim some facial hair down before you can shave it.

If you want even more added features, the Braun 7085cc Shaver comes with a SmartCare Center that can save you the need for maintenance, since it cleans, lubricates, and charges all on its own.

Finally, let’s talk battery. Braun doesn’t disclose the exact charging times, but in our experience, we think it took around 1 hour to achieve a full charge. That correlated for us with about an hour of use—Braun says that can be up to 3 weeks of shaving, but that strongly depends on how often you shave. There’s also a 5-minute quick charge, which we like a lot since we can be kind of forgetful and there’s no corded use option.

Series 7: The Braun 7865

The Braun 7865 Shaver is one of the earlier Series 7 releases (it came out circa 2016), which means that it’s a high performer with a slightly less impressive aesthetic—at least, to our eye.

Like the 7027, it also has a cutting implement in the center to deal with longer hairs, in addition to the two main foils. What’s really cool is that the foil cutters and the central cutter are synchronized to one another, which makes for a more optimized shaving experience. While this sounded a little gimmicky at first, we do think this technology results in a really quick, easy shave.

There are also multiple speed settings, which give you more control. You can change the speed based on different beard coarseness levels and skin sensitivities. This feature has fallen out of favor with newer Braun models, but some men still love it.

Instead of a removable trimmer head, this Series 7 model has a pop-up trimmer. It’s not quite as versatile or useful as its predecessor, but we think it’s more than enough for quickly tidying up the mustache areas.

It’s designed for wet and dry shaving, which can be useful if you like to shave in the shower or if your skin occasionally needs extra help from shaving cream.

Finally, this model also comes with a Clean & Charge station, which we think can be a fantastic bonus, especially if you’re a busy person. Clean & Charge stations are usually only something that comes with more premium shavers, and they can make life really easy. You just plop your shaver in the station, and it charges it while also cleaning and lubricating it. In our experience, this also compensates well for our forgetfulness—we may forget to plug our shaver in, but we rarely forget to put it in the cleaning station.

Speaking of charging, this shaver is about on par with the 7027cs, which means it provides 50 minutes of use after about an hour of charging, and there’s also a quick charge. Nice.

Series 7: The Braun 790cc

The Braun 790cc Shaver is extremely similar to the 7865. The main difference is that it’s a slightly older model, so it’s not designed for wet shaving. Otherwise, it has the same kinds of foils, pop-up trimmer, and cleaning station, so it can still be a great option. It’s not just an excellent Braun shaver—we actually think it’s one of the top-performing foil shavers out there, in general.

If you never wet shave with your electric razor, you may even prefer this model over the 7865. Electric shavers designed for wet shaving normally have a safety mechanism that makes it impossible to use them while plugged in. With dry shaving-only models, such a risk does not exist, so you can just plug them in and go to town if they happen to run out of battery.

OK! Now let’s switch gears, and discuss…

What’s the Braun Series 9?

At the time of this post, the Series 9 is Braun’s most high-end line of shavers. Braun’s most major upgrade to the Series 9 was adding another central cutting implement to the shaving head. More cutters mean the Series 9 shavers may have an easier time handling longer growth.

Recently, Braun also released the Series 9 Pro, which is an even more prestigious, brand-new technology when compared to the existing Series 9. Since it’s quite different and not that popular yet, we didn’t focus on it much in this review.

Best Braun Series 9 Shavers

Of the Series 9 models currently available to buy, we think these are the models that really stand out:

Series 9: The Braun 9330

To start, the Braun 9330 Shaver is probably the most accessible of the Series 9 shavers. It doesn’t come with extra add-ons like a cleaning station, but it’s still a very handsome, sleek tool.

As we already touched on, the Series 9 shavers have 5 cutting implements—two foils, and two central trimmers that deal with the awkward hairs that the foils don’t handle easily. These two implements are called the Lift & Cut trimmer, for flat laying hairs, and the Direct & Cut trimmer for hairs that grow in different directions.

The fifth cutting implement that Braun advertises is actually the Skin Guard, which doesn’t cut, but instead protects the skin from cuts and irritation.

The foils are smooth and comfortable, while the blades themselves are designed to move in a synchronized manner, which leads to a very easy shave. We find that this complex combination also does a remarkable job of dealing with hair even if we’ve gone multiple days without shaving, and the combination of implements, as advertised, seems to succeed at cutting down even the wildest hairs.

The shaver is also designed with a sensor that adjusts to the coarseness of your hair, much like the 7027cs, but once again, it’s not really a feature that we think the average guy will notice while shaving.

There is a pop-up trimmer that does a decent job of refining outlines or cleaning up sideburns. This is yet another similarity to the Series 7 7027cs shaver.

The battery is designed to offer an hour of usage on a full charge (which also takes an hour), which is a small jump up from Series 7. Since you can also use this shaver less often, that could correlate with a lot less frequent charging.

Series 9: The Braun 9370cc

The Braun 9370cc Shaver seems identical to the 9330 model at first glance. Indeed, both models do have some big similarities. Both are fitted with the same kind of shaver head with synchronized cutting implements, which results in a very versatile shaver that can work well against a really wide range of hair types as well as deal with slightly longer growth.

Initially, we were confused about mixed reports regarding this shaver’s battery life, but as Braun confirms, the large lithium-ion battery operates for a full hour of use.

With this out of the way, we come to the biggest upgrade you get with this shaver: a cleaning station called the Clean & Charge System. It’s a sleek-looking station, and while it has the same name as the station that comes with the Series 7 7865, it’s a little different.

This new Clean & Charge System has a much less informative display, and yet, it boasts a major added feature: drying capability. In addition to cleaning, drying, and charging your shaver, it’s also designed to dry it. This may correlate with better longevity, which is important with such a prestige tool. If you’d like to save yourself the hassle of cleaning your shaver yourself, we’d say the 9370cc is a fantastic option.

Series 9: The Braun 9390

Finally, we have the Braun 9390 Shaver model, although this will be a short one since it’s almost identical to the 9330 and 9370 models. It comes with the same cleaning station as the 9370, and nearly the same shaver.

The only difference is the display. The bottom of the shaver is designed with a thorough performance tracker. Not only will it let you know when the battery is running low and it’s time to charge, but it’ll also notify you when the shaver needs to be cleaned or when the foils need replacing.

Braun Series 7 vs 9: Comparing Features

We’ve already touched on some of the differences in our reviews, but for the sake of simplicity, here is a detailed break comparison of the Series 7 vs 9, with a bigger focus on some of the most relevant decision factors and features.

Shave Performance

Fundamentally, both the Series 7 and Series 9 shavers perform incredibly well. That said, they also perform somewhat differently.

Because it has more cutting implements, the Series 9 shaves a little faster and closer. If you’re after the smoothest shave, it has a slight edge. The Series 9 shavers are designed to offer 40,000 cuts per minute, while the newer Series 7 shavers are advertised as delivering 30,000 per minute. Considering the one less cutting implement, this makes sense and doesn’t make an extreme difference.

The added cutting implements also allow the Series 9 shavers to handle long hair and multi-directional growth with relative ease. The Series 7 is still adept at cutting 2-3 days of growth, and it can also handle some multi-directional growth, although it may require a few more passes.

Additionally, the fewer implements on the Series 7 make for smaller shaver heads, which might be more comfortable for men with smaller faces. It’s easier to maneuver under the nose or below a sharp jawline with a smaller shaver, while a larger one offers quicker results over the cheeks and neck.

Lastly, let’s touch on speed settings. The Series 9 shavers and the newer Series 7 models don’t have any speed settings. Instead, the shavers are designed with a feature that senses beard coarseness and adjusts power accordingly. Some men like putting all of their faith in the technology or choosing a tool that goes at max power, while others prefer the older Series 7 models that give more control—it’s totally up to you.

Battery and Charging

One of the things we like about all Braun shavers is that they tend to have well-made, durable batteries. With other brands, we sometimes have issues with batteries failing after a few months, but we’ve rarely seen this issue with Braun.

When judging the batteries on the Braun Series 7 vs 9, Series 9 has a small edge. They’re designed with larger batteries, which leads to most shavers in the series having a full hour of operation. In comparison, most Series 7 models have a 50-minute run time.

That’s a difference of 10 minutes, which, for most men, correlates with one or two extra shaves. If you ask us, that’s not a huge difference, and it’s not really much of a deciding factor, but we know that for some men, it might be important.

Smoothness and Comfort

Another important element of shaving with an electric razor is comfort. Many men switch to an electric shaver because it’s less irritating to the skin.

We find that both Series 7 and 9 perform well when it comes to shaving comfort. If you shave on a daily basis or every other day, we think you’ll find that none of the Series 7 vs 9 shavers irritate your skin. In our opinion, both are well-designed, with gentle foils and sharp enough blades to cut quickly while gliding comfortably over the skin. That also makes them an option that’s often good for older gentleman, as well.

The differences are only notable for men who don’t shave too often. We find that on 3 days’ growth, the shave with the Series 7 models can be a little rougher on our skin, while the Series 9 shavers are much more forgiving.

It’s also worth mentioning that for men with severely sensitive skin, a good sensitive skin shaver can help a lot, but the most gentle shave often comes from combining an electric razor with shaving cream. For that, you’ll need a tool designed for wet shaving—on that front, all recent Series 9 shavers qualify, as do most—though not all!—of the Series 7 models.

This mostly has to do with the date of release, though. Some early Series 9 models were only designed for dry shaving, but those older models are increasingly hard to come by these days.

Durability and Design

Both the Series 7 and Series 9 shavers can hold up extremely well over time, so it’s fair to say we think they’re pretty durable. In fact, there’s probably more variety between the slightly older models vs newer ones, as opposed to in between the two series.

For example, the newer Series 7 models have a bit more plastic in them, so they’re not quite as robust as either the older Series 7 shavers or the Series 9 shavers we’ve tried.

That said, even with the plastic components, Braun’s manufacturing is still carried out to a pretty high standard, and we’ve had models last for years (although we must admit, we take very good care of them!).

Other Add-Ons and Features

While we’ve covered all of the main differences, here are a few other add-ons and special features you may want to know about.

Cleaning Stations: Both Series 7 and Series 9 are available for purchase alone or in sets with a cleaning station. The Series 7 cleaning stations will charge, clean, and lubricate your shaver, which is highly convenient if you’re not a fan of manual cleaning.

The cleaning stations that come with the Series 9 have a more minimalist design that we think is sleeker and sophisticated. Despite that, they’re able to do everything the Series 7 cleaning stations can do as well as dry the shaver.

Trimmers: The newer Series 7 shavers also come with removable trimmer heads that accept guards, which makes for a shaver that can double as a decent facial hair trimmer. We definitely prefer this over both the newer Series 7 models as well as the Series 9 models, although it’s only useful if you like to use a detail trimmer often or if you maintain some facial hair that needs grooming.

Display: Another minor feature worth considering is the display. The Series 9 has a more robust display that conveys a little more information than the Series 7, but both will let you know when the battery is running low.

Lock Mode: For frequent travelers, all Series 9 shavers come with a travel lock that’ll help you feel safer when traveling. With the Series 7, which doesn’t have such a feature, we’d recommend draining the battery before packing away your shaver to avoid it accidentally turning itself on.

Variety Within the Series

Braun is the kind of brand that upgrades and changes things every year, both by adding new series to its line as well as by updating the existing series and adding new models. As a result, there can be a lot of variety both between different series as well as within them.

At the time of writing, there are some major differences between newer and older Series 7 models, both of which are currently on the market. It’s very possible that some of the earlier models will become more scarce in the coming years, so if you like what one of them offers, you’ll want to pick it up sooner rather than later.

Within Series 9, the shavers themselves are largely interchangeable, but this is because the earliest Series 9 models are no longer easy to find. The only differences are either minor cosmetic ones or the performance of the cleaning stations they come with.

Why Is 7 Afraid of 9?

Because seven ate nine, of course.

That was truly awful, and we apologize about that.

Anway! The Braun Series 7 and Series 9 include some really fantastic shavers, and in our humble opinion, it makes sense to consider one over the other based on how often you shave. Frequent shavers will probably be happy with the Series 7, while men who like to space out their shaves will probably have a better time with the 9.

Otherwise, the differences are minor, and for the most part, these two collections are more alike than they are different.

We hope that helps! We’re big fans of Braun, and we’ve had great experiences with them. In the meantime—be good, have fun, and happy shaving!