the best epilator i have tried but the battery sucks [SEP] update it is extremely effective almost as effective as waxing the braun is far less painful than other epilators i successfully cleared my legs in one session the massaging head really does help reduce pain i have tried it without any head with the basic pivoting head and the massaging head it does not eliminate the pain but it does greatly reduce it the pain reduction is definitely noticeable once you clear an area keeping up with it is painless the light makes seeing missed hairs extremely easy it is fully washable a major win since oil buildup is the bane of epilators the shaver is okay i tried it on my underarms even with the i am timid to try epilating there it really does work very well in the bath shower steam room as far as epilators go the braun is very quiet note the power supply is an odd size wall wart wall warts are evil as they cover other outlets when in use if anyone at braun is reading this wall warts are the devil even as well as this unit reduces pain if you do not keep up with an area and let it regrow it will be more painful than if you keep up with it this con is not specific to the braun but to epilation in general the price i now regret going with the a little over a year after purchase battery life significantly decreased and now a few months later i am lucky to get a couple of minutes on a charge i opened it and found it uses a li ion cell so i searched for it online sanyo and i cannot find any reliable sources for the battery and i am not going to pay brauns inflated price for spending less than five minutes to replace what should be a battery pack what a fraking waste of moneyi emailed them and included my update above oh and finding a link or form to email them was not very easy or obvious on their site you need to drill down through support faqs then say no it did not help then you finally get a form which gives you neither feedback nor emails you a copy of your inquiry so obviously it goes into a black hole where it will be ignored hint replacing the battery pack takes less than five minutes remove two torx screws pull unit apart replace battery pack grease seals with either dielectric grease or vaseline reassemble in reverse order the only problem the battery cell is a nonstandard voltage and i cannot find the exact battery nor a compatible size voltage match anywhere