Clarification about Israeli Personna

Hey, newbie here saying hi from Israel.
I've seen many posts around B&B about Israeli Personna and other Israeli blades, and just thought I may try and contribute to the discussion.

I've spoken with the factory that makes the blades, and asked about the various market names they use. They confirmed that all of their blades are exactly the same and produced in the same manner- just targeted for different countries and markets. For example, in Israel they cannot sell under the name Personna.

This is a list of blades made by the DE factory in Israel:
ROYAL- Eddison- Viking's Sword- TOMY- QBALL- Crystal blades (sold in US)-
Red personna (sold in US)-
All exactly the same- words of factory and supplier

Nice pics, quite convincing. Thanks for the great info!

Thank you for the info and welcome to B & B.

I'll buy that.

That's not completely correct.
I live in Israel and both read about the work that's going on in the factory from Israeli sources, spoke with the factory and the suppliers many times.
All of these sources are prone to give you misleading, incomplete or contradicting information.
I don't want to end up with a wall of text here, so I will just address one specific issue. Not all of their blades that are sold in Israel are the same. Some of them are. I am inclined to think that "Royal", "Tomy", "Eddison" and also blades they sell in bulk in little white boxes without any writing on them are the same, but "Q-Ball" and "Viking's Sword" are different. "Q-Ball" are just "Crystal" in different wrapping, and "Viking's Sword" is another sort of blade. "Royal", "Tomy" and "Eddison" also look quite similar, while as "Q-Ball" looks different and exactly like "Crystal", and so is "Viking's Sword" with it's "Polymer Coating", etc'. They also feel different for me and other users as well.

Here is another sort of their blades sold in Israel you haven't mentioned:


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Peculiar, why would the factory and supplier have any reason to hand out false information?

I doubt it's intentionally false. Unless you're talking to someone who is directly responsible for knowing what goes on those blades, they may just be guessing since they do all look about the same. Honestly, I'd wonder how many of the workers at the plant even use the product they are making. Most of them probably get up in the morning and shave with their Fusion before going to work and shipping those blades off elsewhere.

Space_Cadet said:

Here is another sort of their blades sold in Israel you haven't mentioned:


View attachment 551185

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I have a box of those, but mine have no writing on the box nor blade.

Boge said:

I have a box of those, but mine have no writing on the box nor blade.

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Those look like the HEMA blades.

Another point to consider is that "exactly the same" may really mean "made to exactly the same specification". Here on B&B we tend to be pretty demanding and discriminating about our blades. Sometimes I notice significant differences within a single pack of blades. So I find it easy to believe that two blades made to the same specification could feel very different.

This ties into the other Personna debate: blue lab vs med prep. Apparently both blades are made to the same specification, except that the med preps get an extra final cleaning. Oh, and they are made in different parts of the factory, maybe by different crew. Or look at the experience we had with Feather blades from two different lots: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ather-blades-blind-test?p=5903870#post5903870.

Modern DE blades look pretty simple, but they are complicated to make. Every production batch may be the outcome of slightly different steel, various tweaks to production processes, different crew with different skill levels, etc. This also helps explain why a blade will be very popular for a while, then appear to go downhill. People liked one batch where the factory got everything just right. The next batch was not quite as good — but it still meets spec.

Bump...
Today i tried satinex2000 another personna blade.
It was similar to personna platinum.
It was not similar to vikings sword nor unnamed uk personna blades(q ball/crystal?).
I'll check again to see if they are the "platinum's" rebranded.
They had the blue wrapper that qball or Tomy blades have.
Till now viking's sword are the best.

Good to see someone's still beating this dead horse.

Lord Greystoke said:

Good to see someone's still beating this dead horse.

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+1. The most confusing company on Earth IMHO!

Hello and welcome. Great to have you here. Thanks for the on-site dope.

BigJ said:

+1. The most confusing company on Earth IMHO!

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That is correct but it's a shame.
They offer great blades imho but the prices vary from blade to blade.And some of these variations are for the exact same blades.

rhtoras said:

Bump...
Today i tried satinex2000 another personna blade.
It was similar to personna platinum.

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Those are made by Personna for an Italian company based in Rome. It is very possible that those are simply rebranded Personna platinum. I never seen them in Italy personally, I guess those are for professional use.

mata_66 said:

Those are made by Personna for an Italian company based in Rome. It is very possible that those are simply rebranded Personna platinum. I never seen them in Italy personally, I guess those are for professional use.

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They are similar with personna platinum chrome blades but the inside wrapper is the same as Tomy blades.
If they are not Personna platinun then they might be tomy blades.