Item : B00186BWUC Customer Reviews Check shipping costs before you order.... by .. M. E. Mahan (Lynn Ma) I bought into the free shipping membership here and am very tired of getting wacked for shipping $13.38 seems a little outrageous for shipping this item. Why bother to join with the perk of free shipping when not all items are covered. My days as a very satisfied Amazon customer are so over! Sonic And Brush Action by .. Harry Ploss () I have the Sonicare Elite and the Ultreo. This unit is an improvement on both. You get the soft Brush action on your Gums and the Sonic vibrations of the Ultreo, giving you the cleanest feeling on your gums and teeth. Really helped my gums feel much better. It is 115/220v so it is great for traveling. It has a small case for your carry on luggage so you can use during those 30 hour multileg international flight to Asia. I buy every electric tooth brush offered over the last 25 years, since it is smaller cost than the 4 times visit per year to get my teeth cleaned by the Dentist and Periodontist. This is the best. The Best Sonicare Models Yet! by .. diljs () I've been using an older Sonicare model, the "Essence 5300" on which the switch was beginning to go out. I decided to upgrade to a Flexcare model and am very glad I did. The Flexcare has been a great improvement all around. Pros: -New Lighter, Slimmer Handle This is probably the first thing you'll notice if you're coming from an older Sonicare handle, and it is a very welcome improvement. The FlexCare handle is small and feels much better in the hand than my old bulky 5300 handle. The unit is actually longer than my old brush, but that's not a big deal at all. -New ProResults Brush Head system The new heads are great. Sonicare moved the tuning fork from the head to the handle, which means smaller brush heads than on the old models. A 3 pack of the new heads is the same price as a 2 pack of the old heads, making them actually a better deal for a superior product. -No More Crud in the Handle! The biggest problem with my old brush was that old toothpaste/drool/water tended to collected in the space where the handle connects to the brush head. It would get all moldy and gross if you didn't clean it out regularly. Thankfully, this problem is completely gone with the Flexcare handles. -Lithium Ion Batteries I've waited a long time for Sonicare to upgrade from inferior NiCd batteries, and they finally have. With Lithium Ion, you don't have to worry about battery capacity decreasing over time, or a memory effect. The new batteries charge faster, too. -UV Sanitizer Included UV Sanitizers for toothbrushes are relatively new to the market, and a great idea. I always felt a little gross letting my brush sit out on the counter, even with the cover that comes with sonicare heads, and then putting it in my mouth. Scientists actually recommend that a toothbrush be kept 3 feet from the toilet due to "airborne particles" from the flush - yuck! A UV sanitizer will kill anything that might land on your brush, as well as things such as cold germs that might have come from your own mouth. Using the sanitizer is easy, just pop the brush head(s) in, press the green button, and wait for the UV light to kill the germs. I store my brush head inside the sanitizer until I need it next. The Charger is integrated with the sanitizer, although a separate travel charger is included. -Quadpacer This is basically a beep that goes off every 30 seconds while brushing, reminding you to switch to a new area of your mouth. It has appeared in previous models (not my 5300 though), and is nice if you'll use it, but I tend to go at my own pace as I focus more on problem areas in my mouth and less on others. -5 Total Brushing Modes/Routines There are 3 selectable "modes": clean mode: (2 minutes broken into 30 second segments), sensitive (a "gentler" clean mode) and massage (the brush pulsates for gum stimulation). Go Care Routine shortines the standard 2 minute clean mode to 1 minute, while Max Care is a longer, 3 minute cycle that includes both clean and massage mode. I set the brush on clean mode and tend not to use the other options, but some may find them useful. -More Environmentally Friendly Although buying a new product of any sort will always have a negative environmental footprint, these new brushes are better than the old models due to their Li-Ion batteries, reduced bulk, and lower waste in the smaller replacement brush heads. Cons: -Price Let's be clear on this: a Sonicare toothbrush is a luxury product. You're paying a lot more up front, and you get to keep paying more every time you buy replacement heads. Surprisingly, heads for Flexcare units are actually a cheaper than the older models; you get 3 Flexcare heads for the same price as 2 of the old heads. The per head price is still several times what it would cost to buy a new manual brush; but for me the superior cleaning is worth it. Noise -Flexcare models are louder than older models. I'm not sure why this is, and supposedly vibration has been reduced in exchange, but the noise can be too much for some. The UV sanitizer also makes a quiet electric "hum" when plugged in with the door closed, even if the UV bulb isn't run. -Buttons can be depressed while brushing A couple of people have complained about accidentally hitting 1 of the 2 buttons on the handle while brushing. It hasn't happened to me, but for completeness I'll include this as a possible con. Overall: This brush is a vast improvement over my previous brush, and has fixed most of the problems I had without introducing any significant new ones. The fact that replacement brush heads are actually cheaper than on my old brush is a big plus. I highly recommend the Flexcare brushes as a great upgrade to any toothbrush, electric or manual, that you're currently using. Buy it. Use it. Love it. Your teeth & gums will thank you. by .. Caroline Edwards (Redmond, WA USA) My husband & I purchased this product after many recommendations from friends. He'd always been a fan of the disposable electric toothbrushes and I of the regular old toothbrush. We had NO idea what we were missing! When they say you get that "just from the dentist" clean feeling, it is no exaggeration. My teeth have never felt so clean from brushing and I actually look forward to my sonicare time every day. I've always had a problem with tartar buildup between dental cleanings, even when using tartar control toothpaste. That's now a problem of the past! Even better, this product has produced noticeable whitening of both my and my husband's teeth. That's just using the regular routine and regular toothpaste. Awesome. As for some of the complaints about this model's noise/vibration, I can't comment on the comparison to other models since this is our first. But I will say it's not uncomfortable in the mouth or the hand at all; and the noise only seems loud to the user - outside a closed door you just hear a mild buzzing. P.S. If you're confused about the "FlexCare" part (aka all the cleaning modes), here's the skinny: there are 3 - 2 minute routines of varying intensity(regular, sensitive, and massaging), a 1 minute quick clean (regular intensity), and 3 minute max care that combines the 2 minute regular clean with 1 minute massaging (broken up into four segments, so each quadrant of your mouth gets 30 secs clean + 15 secs massage). All modes feature the quadpacer so you know when to switch zones. [...]. Can cause gum erosion and remove tooth enamel by .. Wings42 (San Diego, CA United States) I believe that the extremely vigorous action of this brush can damage gums, especially for people with periodontal disease. The "sensitive" setting reduces the vigor of the action, but only a little. The brushes are too hard for safety, even when the lightest pressure is used. Softer brush heads are not available. In spite of a mouthful of dental work, my gums are extremely healthy and firm with no recession or puffiness. Using this brush doesn't cause me pain but the vigorous action with a medium hard brush is just what our dentists warn us about. Philips is aggressively promoting this brush with dentists, and possibly providing kickbacks. I asked my dentist if he actually used this brush, and he hadn't. When I told his hygienist about my concerns, she lit up and enthusiastically agreed with me. She said that she refuses to let the advertising provided by the Philips agent in her room. She recommends water-pick type products, or the cheap battery operated rotary brushes with the softest heads available instead. Both are easy on the gums while doing a superior job of flushing plaque and bacteria from the gum pockets. I agree with all the other reviews here about the robust construction and improved battery of this brush, and superior cleaning that electric toothbrushes in general provide. My concern is safety with this particular model, especially with long term use. Gum damage is the primary cause of tooth loss. First and foremost, keeping our teeth is more important than that fresh and clean feeling, which any electric or battery powered brush can provide. To illustrate how aggressive this toothbrush is, I'm using old brush heads with this unit to clean tile grout. With Simple Green or other cleaner, no tool or brush I've tried works better. If that were the use this review were for, I'd give this toothbrush five stars.