I broke down and got Italian Barber’s new stainless steel Mamba razor, which arrived last night. I loaded it with an Astra Keramik Platinum blade. On this razor (as on a few others, like the Pils) the alignment studs are on the baseplate and not the cap. Since you load the blade onto the alignment studs, that means for this razor you load the blade on the baseplate, as the description at the link points out.
As you see, I got the Halo handle—the ribbed Stealth and Baby Smooth handles work very well—grippy even when wet—and this is the same idea.
Phoenix Artisan Solstice is a favorite shaving soap, both for its fragrance and for its lather, and I used their redoubtable Green Ray synthetic brush to make the lather. Totally satisfactory in every respect.
Then I set to work with the Mamba. The Halo handle currently has a curious feature: the base of the handle is threaded, so you can remove the base entirely, making the handle a bit shorter if you want. However, the difference in handle length is negligible, and I found the feature not useful (and IB said I am not alone, and that feature will be discontinued). The threads were very smooth there, but initially the threads at the other end, cap and handle, were a bit rough, but that was easily overcome and I imagine will be no further problem. It is probably just caused by a small burr, and once that is gone (and I could lubricate with a little mineral oil), I expect no further problem, especially since it is machined to a tolerance of 0.002″.)
The shave is very like the Black Mamba predecessor, though perhaps this stainless Maba is a bit more efficient (with no loss of comfort). Based on my shave today, I would put it in my top razor category (very comfortable and very efficient), and paying just $50 for a CNC-machined stainless steel razor strikes me as a great bargain. I would note that Father’s Day is in June, and I think most men would be delighted to receive this razor. (If they don’t already shave with a DE razor, a copy of my Guide might be useful, but don’t take my (possibly biased) word for that—check out the reader reviews.)