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| Brand: Philips Sonicare
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $32.95
You Save: $7.04 (18%)
New (10) from $32.95
Rating:  90 reviews
Sales Rank: 9579
Color: Orange
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 1 x 1 x 10
MPN: HX3551/02
Model: HX3551
UPC: 075020803344
EAN: 0075020803344
ASIN: B000FED5E4
Release Date: July 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
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| Customer Reviews:
Nice but some MORONIC design flaws!!! October 28, 2006
Vivify (San Francisco, CA)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
As a former owner of a Sonicare 7500 Elite, I can tell you definitively that this unit is LESS powerful, but in and of itself, plenty sufficient to keep your pearly whites plenty pearly white. It actually (on the surface) has some advantages: My 7500 died after about 3 years. It seemed that it could no longer hold a charge. This unit uses replaceable AA batteries, and being quite fond of rechargeables, this for me is a good match. (Another reviewer mentioned she had problems with 1.2V rechargeables vs. 1.5V standard batteries. I have had no such problems with my 1.2V's. Been running on the same set (same charge) well over 2 weeks now and still going strong. Curious. Hmm...).
That being said, I absolutely CANNOT believe some of the MAJOR design flaws that are absolutely MORONIC and baffling. 1) The battery cap at the bottom of the unit does not seal very tightly. The interior black ring is made of some slick "plastic-y" material instead of a better sealing "rubber-y" material. 2)(And THIS is the incredibly MORONIC part) At the bottom of this orange battery sealing cap, there are 2 HOLES! YES, REALLY! Somebody on the Sonicare/Philips industrial design team thought it was a good ideal to design into this "sealing" cap TWO holes so that water can get into the battery chamber when you rinse the foam off of your electric toothbrush everytime you use it (presumably every single day).
Does water actually leak into this battery chamber? I took my batteries out and tested it. Yes indeed water gets in here. Now, it blows my mind that this can pass the designers, the execs, the production line and everyone in between and after, and reach you and me, the consumers. It blows my mind that someone got paid a goodly amount of money to make this happen. Then again, MORONS in high places seems rather commonplace these days (ha ha). Now, what does this mean to me and you. I'm fairly sure that 1.5 Volts won't ZAP! us into a coma, but I think we all know that batteries and water = NOT GOOD ... or even = RATHER BAD. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or even a highly paid toothbrush designer ...
My solution so far has been to use some very sticky tape over this area. It makes the otherwise fairly spiffy design a tad less pretty, but I'd rather have that than rusty and leaky (and useless) rechargeable batteries (they aren't cheap! ... and after all, the point is "re-use-ability" and "re-new-ability", is it not?). Even with this precaution, I check this chamber now and then, and water still gets in (and toothpaste foam, too). Not by the buckets full, but enough noticeable traces to make one wonder.
Now, I know it's not a matter of prohibitive cost, because I have used [...]-pola Crest battery toothbrushes that have found a better way of sealing off the batteries. What I suggest is that we all rather politely let Sonicare/Philips know of what we all now know, and ask them to design a new cap, and quietly send them out to all current owners. No need for a Ford or GM major recall type scandal. Just get it done and send us that piece that will cost Sonicare/Philips less than 50 cents to make and ship.
Thanks reading, and be warned. Also know that with the right precautions, this can be a good little enamel scrubber. Except for this one major issue, it's pretty nifty and nicely priced (about 1/3 of the 7500 Elite).
Cheers!
 A Real Disappointment December 2, 2006
Mary M. Dennison (Bothell, WA USA)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
This item worked wonderfully for about 1 month, then water must have gotten into it or the battery connection went bad. I would have to change the battery every week, later, realizing it was not the batteries but the connection.
A cheap replacement for the real thing.
 Nice while it lasted November 11, 2006
George T. Merriman (Madison, WI USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
For the two weeks or so that it worked, the Sonicare Xtreme e3000 did a nice job cleaning my teeth. Then it stopped working. The problem seemed to be in the on/off switch. I sent it back to the company, which refunded my purchase price a couple of months later.
 perfect September 13, 2006
Dwight (USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
This product was introduced quickly after the airline scare banning many carryon items. I wonder if it was only a coincidence that Sonicare finally has a toothbrush that uses regular batteries. This powered brushing does a much better job on my teeth than I could do manually. However, I also own a Sonicare model with the dedicated/integral battery and I know from owning both that the battery operated is not as strong a brusher. After the batteries died, I switched back to the rechargeable sonicare. This one will go with me on trips because it still does a better job than I can manually.
Great for travel and dorm life December 7, 2006
L. Benjamin (NYC)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
We bought this toothbrush for travel because we didn't want to carry the charging base from our other Sonicare toothbrush. It has been great. Uses the same brush heads, just operates on AA batteries. The batteries last long enough for a 2-week vacation - I don't know how much longer they'll go. My son took one to college, too, so he didn't have to worry about recharging one more electrical device.
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