Oral-b Braun electronic toothbrush problem

I bought my Sonicare in about 2000 for about $80, didn't start using it until 2003 and it is still going strong. I use it once a day and miss a day sometimes. I usually run it for the pre-programmed 2 minutes plus another quarter or half-cycle, so about 3 min per day. As Meat Plow reported, I see no indication that the charge capacity has been reduced.

Normally I put it right back in the charger after I use it but I have left it out of the charger for up to a week before I had to recharge. The charger is in another room so sometimes that is more convenient.

I don't know how all the other electric tooth brushes work, but the Sonicare uses a magnetic signal generated by the handle/battery pack to make the brush oscillate very fast. I don't know the actual speed but I would estimate 50 - 100 cycles per second. You would be brushing for an hour to get the same number of strokes by hand and I can't believe Consumer Reports still preferred a manual brush. The Sonicare does an amazing job of cleaning my teeth and I knew the first time I used it that I should have started using it sooner. My teeth felt totally smooth like after the dentist cleans them.

I have never submersed the battery pack in water because it doesn't look waterproof, but it is at least water resistant because I clean the cavity where the magnets go thoroughly a few times a year using water and have never had any problems doing so.

I bought my Sonicare in about 2000 for about $80, didn't start using it until 2003 and it is still going strong. I use it once a day and miss a day sometimes. I usually run it for the pre-programmed 2 minutes plus another quarter or half-cycle, so about 3 min per day. As Meat Plow reported, I see no indication that the charge capacity has been reduced.

Normally I put it right back in the charger after I use it but I have left it out of the charger for up to a week before I had to recharge. The charger is in another room so sometimes that is more convenient.

I don't know how all the other electric tooth brushes work, but the Sonicare uses a magnetic signal generated by the handle/battery pack to make the brush oscillate very fast. I don't know the actual speed but I would estimate 50 - 100 cycles per second. You would be brushing for an hour to get the same number of strokes by hand and I can't believe Consumer Reports still preferred a manual brush. The Sonicare does an amazing job of cleaning my teeth and I knew the first time I used it that I should have started using it sooner. My teeth felt totally smooth like after the dentist cleans them.

I have never submersed the battery pack in water because it doesn't look waterproof, but it is at least water resistant because I clean the cavity where the magnets go thoroughly a few times a year using water and have never had any problems doing so.

Fascinating!

Per (PeteCresswell):

Well, I finally got off my butt and performed the due diligence that I should have performed before buying.

Turns out there is something to the price diff.

The cheaper one that failed had a significant feature set diff. Battery life, number of strokes per minute, pressure warning light, and maybe more.

The bottom line I came away with is that I should have sprung for one of the even more expensive ones that had the sonic cleaning feature - which users report leaves the teeth feeling like they do right after a professional cleaning.

What comprises "sonic" cleaning is a matter of opinion. However, the current Oral-Bs, and all the Sonicares, do/did a sufficiently good job of cleaning that your teeth are "squeaky" clean -- runbbing a clean, dry fingertip over them produces sound.