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Anybody got the Yaqi Telstar?

Peyk

Peyk

I just ordered a Yaqi Telstar head from AliExpress. I have no idea what to expect. Yaqi doesn't say anything about the blade gap. I just thought it was cheap ($48.40) and it looked cool - kind of a RazoRock Lupo but different.
Anybody tried it? Pictures are from AliExpress:

Telstar01.jpegTelstar02.jpeg
 
Graydog

Graydog

Biblical Innards
Peyk said:
I just ordered a Yaqi Telstar head from AliExpress. I have no idea what to expect. Yaqi doesn't say anything about the blade gap. I just thought it was cheap ($48.40) and it looked cool - kind of a RazoRock Lupo but different.
Anybody tried it? Pictures are from AliExpress:

View attachment 1392004View attachment 1392005
Click to expand...

Kevi from kevi shaves from YouTube just did a video on it , He is a member here on B&B
 
richy240

richy240

One of the reviews on Aliexpress says it’s of medium aggressiveness so I’ll probably pass, but it is a good looking razor head for a decent price.
 
muzichead

muzichead

Iridian said:
I watched Kevy's shave, he came to the conclusions "like a Rocca/Blackbird" and "mild", I was hoping for a bit more info.
Click to expand...
Its interesting that the words "Blackbird and mild" are never used in conjunction with each other....ever!! This is probably part of the reason I never watch video reviews because most times the reviewer hasn't got a clue and usually says what they think the viewer wants to hear!! I can personally vouch that the Blackbird isn't a mild razor at all or even close but it is one of the most efficient razors on the market...
 
nav

nav

I don't have the RR Lupo so I can't compare but the Yaqi Telstar is an impressive razor!

Full stainless steel with a beautiful machined/brushed finish.

It is an efficient razor, and fairly comfortable.
The shave reminds me of the karve D/E plates.
It has a medium/high blade feel but despite this, the blade control is good, with fairly low blade chatter.
 
H

Hammond Cheeseman

Only had 2 shaves with mine so far. Looks nice. There's some fairly generous tolerance with the cap and baseplate. Prior to inserting a blade and tightening the handle there is substantially more movement allowed between the 2 - I can slide the cap parallel to the baseplate a little. Enough to see the 2 misaligned...maybe .3 to .5mm (compared to my GCs or 3One6 where the range of movement is barely visible). Once the blade is in and handle tightened though everything seems to line up ok. It covers the tabs likely. I've only used Dorco Primes so far. Decent shave but a few small nicks. Should improve when I get a bit more used to it I hope.... More efficient but not as smooth as the 3One6 which is currently top of my pile. Definitely have to concentrate a bit more when using it. Apart from the issue mentioned above looks well made. For the price of this and add one of the Yaqi or Maggard stainless handles it's decent value and competent but I suspect will not quite reach the level of some of thr really good razors out there and while close enough to be competitive I feel that its hard to argue for it being better value or a better shave than offerings like the SS RRs etc. As usual YMMV.
 
Peyk

Peyk

I shaved with the Telstar today. And I'm a bit torn on this one.

My initial impressions were not that good. I thought Yaqi did a sloppy job on the finish. The steel is full of very rough machining marks and the edges of the guard is unpleasantly sharp. I was very concerned about the steep angle the blade sits in the head. There is a lot of wiggle between the cap and the baseplate although it locks in place when the handle is screwed tight. And since the cap is very thick I found the head to be much heavier than it needs to be.

But the Yaqi Telstar did give me an excellent shave with a Gillette Wilkinson Sword blade. I got much smoother with two passes than I usually get with three passes with a lot of my other razors. Maybe because I was very cautious. Maybe because it is so agressive. I immediately felt a lot of blade and I didn't feel like pushing my luck with a third pass. To my surprise there was hardly no alum sting and my skin feels great.

That being said I don't think I can recommend this razor because I can't figure who it's for. If you're a beginner this razor is much too agressive. It will punish your mistakes. If you're experienced chances are you've already got better razors in your den. And you'll probably won't be satisfied with the quality of the fit and finish.

Telstar.jpg
 
M

Medivh

My experience with the Chinese razors is that they are more like imitations of something than anything else. They are suitable for shaving, but most of them have that odd feeling like the engineers and people behind them didn't spend any time testing their razors to see which blade angle and exposure are going to make it more optimal. Instead, they just try to recreate the base plates and the top caps as close as possible to anything that already exists and to make sure that the blade inside is somewhat even on both sides and that's it.

The only Chinese razor that I still have is my Yaqi AC, since I've got it for free and it's my only AC razor and I really have no interest investing in the AC style razors and their absurdly expensive blades. The Yaqi in question is a decent shaver, but the blade exposure and angle are a bit too odd and for a free razor I can't really complain and the reason I've got it was because I wanted to dip my feet and see what's all the rave and hype going on with these razors.

The Yaqi (synthetic) brushes are very good though. I've bought one almost 2 years ago and unless anything happens to it I'm not going to buy anymore brushes.
 
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