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Somewhat related: my 10 year old Sonicare is starting to shit the bed so I started to look for a new one. Back then there was 2 models. Now there's like 8, each

Somewhat related: my 10 year old Sonicare is starting to shit the bed so I started to look for a new one. Back then there was 2 models. Now there's like 8, each with several variations and fucking phone app integrations and are several hundred dollars. It was headache-inducing to read through.

culturestate 3y ago
I just went through this too, and I ended up with a Philips One. Its only smart-ish feature is the vibrating quadrant timer, it feels like it cleans more or less the same as my old Sonicare, it uses a normal AAA, and best of all it was like $30. There's no real third-party ecosystem for heads yet, but I'll happily trade that for something that just works.
- beebeepka 3y ago
  I bought the simplest one. No app, no 1000 "different" vibration patterns, no charging glass, no nothing. To me, it looks like they are charging more for increased inconvenience. What a crazy world
  - exmadscientist 3y ago
    Also, consider the Kids model. It's the real deal, just with a kid-friendly sticker on it (designed to be interchangeable by kids, so easy to remove). It's got the full-featured, full-power previous(?) generation Sonicare resonant motor, no NFC, no stupid "pressure sensor" button, and no BS. If you can stand that sticker!
- cwilkes 3y ago
  Expect that to change as Phillips bought SonicCare in 2020. Maybe soniccare will be the high end model and Phillips will be the one with “special offers” aka making you listen to a jingle about mouthwash while brushing your teeth.
  - culturestate 3y ago
    Philips has owned Sonicare for as long as I can remember, at least 15-20 years. My toothbrush is actually branded “Philips One by Sonicare,” but I won’t pretend to know what their strategy is with that.
johnchristopher 3y ago
> my 10 year old Sonicare is starting to shit the bed so I started to look for a new one. Back then there was 2 models. Now there's like 8, each with several variations Electric toothbrush marketing designations are out of control. When I was looking for one I found a website that went out of its way to identify which models were behind marketing wording and numbers and what their specs were (mainly: movements per minute and pulsations per minute). Companies love to rebrand the same models with different numbers based on how many additional brushes they put in the package but they rarely put those specs on their own websites. Anyway, oral b 2700 still looks good. > is starting to shit the bed Off-topic but... language, please ?
- exmadscientist 3y ago
  > movements per minute and pulsations per minute According to an ex-Sonicare senior engineer I work with, this is not actually what's important at all. The key thing they looked at (and still do look at) is the amplitude/travel distance of the bristle tips, and how that changes under load. It should stay strong under light load, but collapse under heavy load (so that when you mash the thing way too hard into your gums, power transfer stops and your gums don't get brutalized). It's a surprisingly delicate balance. We recently had cause to look at a few of these devices (sorry for the vagueness, you know how it goes) and most of the non-Sonicare ones are pretty awful. The rotary Oral-B ones aren't bad at what they are, but they aren't the same. There is one Sonicare clone that really impressed though, and it's not expensive.
  - johnchristopher 3y ago
    > The key thing they looked at (and still do look at) is the amplitude/travel distance of the bristle tips, and how that changes under load. It should stay strong under light load, but collapse under heavy load (so that when you mash the thing way too hard into your gums, power transfer stops and your gums don't get brutalized). It's a surprisingly delicate balance. Isn't that what the pressure sensor is supposed to be for ?
    - exmadscientist 3y ago
bredren 3y ago
We have a pair of 2019 Sonicare that need battery replacements. I picked up a compatible battery but haven’t taken the time to pull it apart yet. It does require soldering. The company scrambled the model numbers and it’s not easy to figure out which are similar or even the same. The obfuscation of product differences, release dates and nerfs to longevity are all over consumer goods. I hope open product designs + micro hyper local manufacturing capability will deeply erode the power of companies creating these wasteful, capital-driven artifacts.
userbinator 3y ago
I'd pay several hundred for a toothbrush that had easily replaceable batteries and other components like shaft seals (with them being standard commonly-available parts), and was designed to last many decades. I don't want any of the "app" crap.
throw0101b 3y ago
> It was headache-inducing to read through. So what did you decide on?

culturestate 3y ago

I just went through this too, and I ended up with a Philips One. Its only smart-ish feature is the vibrating quadrant timer, it feels like it cleans more or less the same as my old Sonicare, it uses a normal AAA, and best of all it was like $30. There's no real third-party ecosystem for heads yet, but I'll happily trade that for something that just works.

beebeepka 3y ago
I bought the simplest one. No app, no 1000 "different" vibration patterns, no charging glass, no nothing. To me, it looks like they are charging more for increased inconvenience. What a crazy world
- exmadscientist 3y ago
  Also, consider the Kids model. It's the real deal, just with a kid-friendly sticker on it (designed to be interchangeable by kids, so easy to remove). It's got the full-featured, full-power previous(?) generation Sonicare resonant motor, no NFC, no stupid "pressure sensor" button, and no BS. If you can stand that sticker!
cwilkes 3y ago
Expect that to change as Phillips bought SonicCare in 2020. Maybe soniccare will be the high end model and Phillips will be the one with “special offers” aka making you listen to a jingle about mouthwash while brushing your teeth.
- culturestate 3y ago
  Philips has owned Sonicare for as long as I can remember, at least 15-20 years. My toothbrush is actually branded “Philips One by Sonicare,” but I won’t pretend to know what their strategy is with that.

johnchristopher 3y ago

> my 10 year old Sonicare is starting to shit the bed so I started to look for a new one. Back then there was 2 models. Now there's like 8, each with several variations Electric toothbrush marketing designations are out of control. When I was looking for one I found a website that went out of its way to identify which models were behind marketing wording and numbers and what their specs were (mainly: movements per minute and pulsations per minute). Companies love to rebrand the same models with different numbers based on how many additional brushes they put in the package but they rarely put those specs on their own websites. Anyway, oral b 2700 still looks good. > is starting to shit the bed Off-topic but... language, please ?

exmadscientist 3y ago
> movements per minute and pulsations per minute According to an ex-Sonicare senior engineer I work with, this is not actually what's important at all. The key thing they looked at (and still do look at) is the amplitude/travel distance of the bristle tips, and how that changes under load. It should stay strong under light load, but collapse under heavy load (so that when you mash the thing way too hard into your gums, power transfer stops and your gums don't get brutalized). It's a surprisingly delicate balance. We recently had cause to look at a few of these devices (sorry for the vagueness, you know how it goes) and most of the non-Sonicare ones are pretty awful. The rotary Oral-B ones aren't bad at what they are, but they aren't the same. There is one Sonicare clone that really impressed though, and it's not expensive.
- johnchristopher 3y ago
  > The key thing they looked at (and still do look at) is the amplitude/travel distance of the bristle tips, and how that changes under load. It should stay strong under light load, but collapse under heavy load (so that when you mash the thing way too hard into your gums, power transfer stops and your gums don't get brutalized). It's a surprisingly delicate balance. Isn't that what the pressure sensor is supposed to be for ?
  - exmadscientist 3y ago

bredren 3y ago

We have a pair of 2019 Sonicare that need battery replacements. I picked up a compatible battery but haven’t taken the time to pull it apart yet. It does require soldering. The company scrambled the model numbers and it’s not easy to figure out which are similar or even the same. The obfuscation of product differences, release dates and nerfs to longevity are all over consumer goods. I hope open product designs + micro hyper local manufacturing capability will deeply erode the power of companies creating these wasteful, capital-driven artifacts.

userbinator 3y ago

I'd pay several hundred for a toothbrush that had easily replaceable batteries and other components like shaft seals (with them being standard commonly-available parts), and was designed to last many decades. I don't want any of the "app" crap.

throw0101b 3y ago

> It was headache-inducing to read through. So what did you decide on?