Years ago, as a college job I groomed dogs at one of the national pet stores, but for many years now I've only done my own small dog and a few friend's dogs. My old pro clippers are barely limping along but I really didn't want to drop $$$ to replace them, plus I wanted something that was smaller anyway for easier use on my tiny fluffy guy. I figured for the price of these might as well try... and I LOVE them! The built in light is genius... so nice for doing paw pads. The different size blade heads are so great for the face and pads. The nail grinder attachment is the only thing I'm not impressed with and won't use, it's not nearly as powerful as my dremel but that's to be expected. Pleasantly surprised that the plastic guard combs work about as well as the nicer metal ones for my old clippers. Tips for home grooming and 'response' to some complaints in other reviews - 1) Your dog must be FRESHLY washed and then FULLY dried for the best looking cut and the life of your clippers - dirt and/or wet hair will dull any blade extremely quickly and give an uneven cut. Give them a bath the day before you plan to groom if you don't have a pet dryer (no hot air!) or time to wait for them to be *completely* dry. 2) Your dog must be fully brushed with a fine/medium tooth comb to use guard combs. A slicker brush is not enough, it won't fully untangle all the way to the skin - it must be combed. They won't work or it'll look like a jagged mess if you try to use them on a tangled or matted coat. This is true of any quality of clipper. If your dog is matted, you'll need to have them shaved down and grow their coat out - with regular brushing to prevent matting again! (I recommend taking them to an actual groomer for this if you can't get the smallest guard comb through their hair and you don't have other clippers with a #9 or #10 blade - the blade on these is equivalent to like a #30 and that is very, VERY short, your dog will look bald and be prone to sunburn.) 3) You have to shake it out every couple of passes when using the combs and turn them off to fully brush off the blade every couple of minutes. Again, this is true for any quality of clipper when using combs. Keep the clippers on and just give it a quick flick of the wrist to shake out every other pass. You should be doing long passes, almost from head to tail, so it shouldn't take too many shakes or brush outs to do your whole dog. 4) Shave with the grain of the hair - towards the tail over the back area, down the side/belly angled toward tail, and straight down legs. Going against the grain causes a shorter cut. 5) After every use clean completely with the little brush provided and oil the blade.
