SMF

Saw this at my local grocery store yesterday.

$20 seems like a great price - IF it's as good as the original

‘IF it's as good as the original’

And that’s the crux of the matter.

The price shown is closer to the QShave and Ming Shi 2000 Futur clones than to the original Merkur Futur.
About 20 years ago, I regularly used a Merkur Futur for some time and became curious when the clones appeared around 2017.

I ordered one, just to see how it performed (which was easy enough at a less than $20 investment) and found that with noticeably slacker tolerances the QShave was not up to the same level of precision and craftsmanship than the original.
It was not bad, but just not quite up to par…

Did you look at the packaging to see where this one is made?


B.

The back of the box says -- Universal Beauty Products, with offices in the US and London.

My guess is as good as yours, but a price only slightly above the Amazon QShave and Ming Shi 2000 (but well below the original Merkur Futur) level and absence of any reference to ‘Made in Germany’ or ‘Merkur’ make me think that this is not the ‘real McCoy’.

As I said earlier, the QShave that I bought to compare against my Merkur Futur was not a bad razor, just not on the Original Merkur level - or on a level where I would trade any of my other safety razors in for.


B.

It wouldn't be an actual Futur made in Germany by Merkur. it's undisputedly a copy of the original but probably worth the modest price. Van Der Hagen's well known for their inexpensive shaving accessories offered to the mass market.

My thoughts were that it might be a knock-off of a Futur, or maybe it was a company that bought and remarketed factory seconds or refurbs that they got cheap from Merkur. I am tempted, in any event, even though I have never been particularly fond of any shave a Merkur has provided me (but I have only ever owned 4 of them).