Braun Toothbrushes

[DerbyBorn]

Are all the different models basically the same motor / battery / drive units with just the odd gimmick and different heads added - or is there a step change somewhere in the range?

[Dan S. MacAbre]

The missus has a more expensive than usual one that beeps and pauses every fifteen seconds so you can move on to the next quarter, and flashes the handle red if you push too hard against your teeth. These seem a bit gimmicky to me, but I suppose it's someone's job to think of these things. Having had to dismantle a few to change the batteries, I'd suggest that the motor and gears are actually the same. We have a few ordinary AA battery-powered ones, too, and the batteries last far longer than a charge does, but the action seems a bit weak.

[Scott]

I would say to make sure you get one with a lithium ion battery. Maybe they all have now, but it is vastly superior to the previous NiMH.

[newshound]

I've just upgraded to the cheapest "timer" model, as far as I can see the mechanics are the same. (Battery on old one was dying). I used to like the round brushes with the little rubber paddles, but the new one has a more traditional elongated shape brush, which I also like.

Just what the Phillips? Panasonic? Which best-buy at £200 can do different, I would really like to know.

I find the timer models motivate you to brush for a bit longer.

[Andy Burns]

Aren't they ultrasonic, rather than sonic, by that point?

[Dan S. MacAbre]

I tend to brush for a very long time. Probably much longer than they'd recommend. But I don't often use an electric one anyway, I think you can do more with an ordinary brush - certainly when it comes to getting the bristles into the gaps. My teeth are too close together to get floss in, but we got one of those water flossers, which seems to work well.

[DerbyBorn]

Scott [e-mail]> wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Can we tell?

A problem I have had is wear on the spigot that then lets the whole head oscilate - losing movement of the actual bristles.

[Scott]

My box was prominently marked lithium ion battery.

I have never encountered that. The battery has always been first to go..

[alan_m]

Braun/Oral B All the same with price premium gimmicks.

[tabbypurr]

a mildly annoying feature that only wastes time

Useful if someone is unusually careless

I had an AA one, it died very soon due to corrosion. Can't recommend it.

NT

[Michael Chare]

The water flossers are not cheap!

[Michael Chare]

I got one like that at a good price from Amazon. I do find the timer very useful.

[Scott]

I find the timer very useful also I liked the visual display in the past but there is really no need for it (especially as I could not really see it properly without my glasses!).

[DerbyBorn]

.

I reckon it may have been a slightly poor moulding.

[Dan S. MacAbre]

We got one for £35. I don't know if that's cheap, or not; but it does get a lot of bits of food out, so we're happy with it. It's a bit of a shock in Winter when the cold water is very cold, but then we use the mixer tap to fill it with warm water. :-)

[alan_m]

Every so often the top of range ones do seem to go on special offer from various on-line and major supermarket retailers making the price of the multi-feature models the same or similar to the basic models.

[tabbypurr]

Perhaps a 0.3l squeezy bottle & nozzle-cap might work?

NT

[newshound]

It would be asking too much for Which to descend to that level of technical detail. But yes, I suppose that could be it. Our local dental practice now has both a "mechanical" and an "ultrasonic" hygenist.

[alan_m]

That is for cleaning teeth in a different way to brushing. It is often to remove material that brushing alone cannot do.

Brushing and flossing can be regarded as a preventative process but with a hygienist the work undertaken is often remedial such as tartar removal.

[Brian Gaff]

Its a bit like fridges, a lot of the innards of stuff like this, food processors, shavers and the like are built by other companies with only minor changes, its the outside bits that alter I think. Brian