I'm happy with my Braun Series 7 electric. No electric gets as close as a blade, but it gets way closer than any other electric I've owned (I've owned an older, similar Braun model, as well as a Remington and a couple of Norelco rotary jobs.) With the exception of the Norelco rotaries, which all sucked, the other foil shavers could get pretty close if I kept at it, but they would take many more passes to get close enough, which led to a lot more irritation. The Series 7 still requires a few passes around the neck area, but can basically take care of everything else with one or two smooth, steady passes, which means my face isn't as red and it doesn't take nearly as long.

The one drawback is that the cleaning refills are expensive and wasteful (non-recyclable plastic), so I'm going to start refilling them with Everclear (190 proof grain alcohol) to avoid the expense/waste once the ones I have run out.

I don't know for sure that there's anything tangibly better about the Series 7 than the other lower-end models, but I got a really good deal on the Series 7, so I went for it.