(MONEY Magazine) – Men have grappled with their beards for thousands of years, but never has a razor been hyped like the new Gillette Mach3. Having spent seven years and $1 billion to develop, make and market it, Gillette will ask consumers to shell out up to $6.99 for the razor and two cartridges and another $6.79 for four replacement cartridges. But is the Mach3 worth 35% more than, say, Gillette's SensorExcel razor and blades? After all, how much better can a shave really get?

This is not a trivial question. The average man consumes 3,350 hours of his life shaving what would amount to 27 feet of whiskers. It would be nice, during that time, to keep irritation to a minimum. Thus the march of progress from the times when our Neanderthal predecessors plucked their whiskers using seashells as tweezers. Flint blades and pumice stone gave way in the 19th century to the straight razor, then to the safety razor of King Camp Gillette in 1901. In 1921 came retired Army colonel Jacob Schick's magazine repeating razor, which stored replacement blades in its handle. Twin blades and pivoting heads followed. Gillette's Sensor, launched in 1990, introduced independently spring-mounted blades; Gillette's 1994 SensorExcel added more improvements.

And now the Mach3, which sports three thinner-than-normal blades, each one progressively closer to the skin; Gillette says this setup reduces the number of strokes it takes to shave without creating any more discomfort. Curious about this claim, we assembled a panel of experts--well, a panel of guys who shave--to compare premium shaving systems. We used the Mach3, the SensorExcel and two Schick offerings: the Protector and the Tracer FX.

The first cut was the easiest. Our panelists were almost universally unimpressed with the Protector, complaining of cuts and hard-to-clean blades and making a lot of smart remarks about its goofy red handle. They were nonplussed by the Tracer FX, whose blade bends in a way that might be useful for shaving a bowling ball but not a human face. So the SensorExcel faced off with its would-be replacement, the Mach3. Our panelists were united in purpose--to compare these razors on the basis of both effectiveness and value--but divergent in visage. Here are our conclusions.

The Bleeder, prone to cuts, naturally places a high value on avoiding them--and the Mach3 beat all competitors on this front: not a nick in three weeks. Score one for the Mach3.

Heavy Beard could easily shave a wide neck-to-cheek expanse twice a day. His beef about the Mach3 was echoed by others: It's initially tough to handle accurately. "The floppy positioning of the head made me feel like I had no control," he complained. So Heavy Beard decided to pass on the Mach3.

The Speed Shaver, who just wants to get it over with, liked the Mach3's easy-rinsing cartridge and the way its wall of blades mowed large swaths of beard. But difficulty in precision maneuvers--the sideburns, the soul patch area--forced Speedy to conclude he had no time to switch razors.

The Problem Face has always had trouble negotiating certain features and has tried many razors. The Mach3 gave him trouble below the nose, but "seemed clearly better on tough places like my chin." Another nod to the Mach3.

The Every-Other-Day Guy concedes that "the Mach3 has a nice feel." But he too complained that the blades are hard to maneuver. He concluded the new razor isn't worth the extra money.

The Head Shaver needs a razor with wide pivoting motion to navigate his Michael Jordanesque dome. After early struggles with the oddly placed blade cartridge, he grew to love Mach3. "It's easier to use and it hasn't cut me."

In view of this split decision, we turned to Eric Makal, who owns the Art of Shaving, a barbershop/spa in New York City. He told us that with proper technique--use hot water, lather, shave with the grain--all the razors we tried could give as close a shave as the straight-edge razors that are the shop's specialty. Okay, but what does he use? The Mach3, it turns out: He says it cuts down irritation for him. With that, we had enough to name the winner of our multi-razor shave-off: the Mach 3, by a whisker.