I have a very, very tough beard.  

I change my blade every 5-6 days (Sensor; Mach III is too big for some parts of my face).

I shave in the shower.  

Best practice:  Trumper's English shave cream after 20 minutes in the steam. ;)

Doesn't happen. I shave sleepy and fast with some crappy gel from Costco. Welcome to my life.

Looking into electrics again.  I had Braun and Norelco in the 1980s.  Didn't work for me.

Are the new units any better? Reflex, etc.  Recommendations from the tough-bearded'd be appreciated.

Thanks!

I recently purchased a new electric shaver hoping that the technology has gotten a little better. It hasn't, I shave in the shower too as this is a wet/dry shaver. It's useless with more that a days growth or so. Still the good ole disposable razor for me. The electric might be fine for a quick shave if your beard is really short.


I hate shaving  

I have an extremely tough and thick beard so I can sympathize.

About three years ago I switched to an electric, wow what a difference.

Still get ingrown hairs, bumps etc. but much less.

I use one with the straight foils not the circular ones.  The straight foils allow
you simply stroke the shaver against the grain and get most everything in the first
pass.  With the circular one I wind up having to move it in circles over -and -over
and it still doesn't do as good of a job.

Biggest secret is to keep it immaculately clean and lubricated and you'll get excellent results.
Get a can of the spray/cleaner /lubricant or get one of the self cleaning ones.

My mother sent one of the self cleaning Braun units for x-mas.  I had never bought one
thinking it was just an un-neccessary gimmick.  Boy was I wrong.
That thing is awesome.  The cleaning refils aren't any more expensive than the spray stuff.

ETA: Don't bother with the cheapie disposable travel shavers, they are a joke.
Look to pay $50-$100 depending on features.
And +1 for Remington they replaced the circular model shaver I purchased even after I had used
it for six months and told them I preferred their straight foil model that I still was using.

the shave i get from an electric is comparable to a day's growth after a blade shave.

blade shave is worth it