A little late to the party, but I gotta get my 0.02 in.
I've been doing the safety razor thing for a while, and fwiw, no two experts give the same advice. Personally, I prefer a Merkur Progress razor loaded with a Feather blade. I own a few nicer Gillettes, but for whatever reason I keep coming back to the Progress.
I've tried multiple recommended Gillette razors, ('59 Fatboy, '61 Flairtip SuperSpeed, '64 Slim Adjustable, 82 Black Beauty) with almost every blade on the market. Of the ones mentioned, the '61 SS and the '59 Fatboy were the best for me.
A Head and Shoulders above all of the Gillette razors was the lowly Merkur Progress. Dialed in at 1.5 ~2.0 with a Feather blade, I get shaves as smooth as the inside of my elbow with ZERO irritation. If you want to get a nicer looking Progress, go to bullgooseshaving.com and get a Mergress (same razor, just pimped, I have one in my collection ).
If you want to save money and get a great shave, though just get a Progress on Amazon and find your favorite blade. I love Feathers, but Persona Reds are a very close second.
Hope this helps, and good luck!