So thanks to the wonders of Amazon Prime, my Merkur already arrived, along with some shaving cream, so I gave it a shot with the stock blade (the Feather blades will arrive tomorrow). Smaller than I thought, and I did use shaving cream, when most of the time I'm just shaving in the shower with some soap on my face. Easy shave, once I got used to the angle, which isn't hard. Not the closest I've had but close enough and an even shave at that. When I look at this in terms of ease of use, cost, etc, it seems like a no brainer to keep going this route. Plus, as indicated earlier, it's extremely manly.
The blade threw me for a loop. Almost thought that maybe it wasn't in the package, as it's not exactly huge, and is so flexible that I thought it may have just been wrapping at first. These aren't your stock razor blades that you buy at Wal Mart for getting the vehicle inspection sticker gunk off your windshield.