Z-Reviews || Hardware || Other Gadgets || Review

Let’s face it: most people don’t pay much attention to their toothbrush. At best you might buy a new one every half year at the super-market while on the way to the candy bars. If you do, what do you look for? It better have bristles, nice pointy ones if possible. A heavy duty neon colored rubber kung-fu grip is a must. Finally, the brush must look like an alien spaceship, preferably with at least four wings. That’s it, sounds like the perfect toothbrush to me!

I had one of those, a few in fact. They weren’t bad, until I bought my first electric toothbrush, what a difference. The logic was, if the dentist uses an electric toothbrush, shouldn’t I? Well, I sprung for an el-cheapo $20 Braun (now Gillette) Oral-B brush, and I was convinced it was the best thing since sliced bread. I even bought another one after I shorted out my first one on a trip to Europe, woops! But finally after years of loyalty to me, my Oral-B decided to sputter up and die. So, instead of buying yet another budget electric toothbrush I decided to spring for the latest and greatest, the Philips Sonicare Elite 7500.

The Sonicare Elite 7500 has tons of cool features. Besides giving you that patented sonic technology you know you need it also reads your mind, well, sort of. The brush is smart enough to break you in. Say what? You see the brush is so powerful that most manual-brush users aren’t used to the intensity of the Sonicare, so, the brush doesn’t achieve maximum power until after the 12th brushing. After that, the brush will always be at maximum power on the normal setting, cool huh?

My favorite feature is the “Smartimer,” which is simply a 2-minute timer the brush has built into it. After two minutes, the brush shuts off, and you know you’ve done enough brushing. Not only that, but the 7500 also has a 30 second interval built into that same timer. So every 30 seconds of the 2-minute brushing session, the brush will stop for a second so you can switch to another area of your mouth. I don’t really utilize this feature because my brushing style tends to conflict with this concept as I don’t stay in one section of my mouth for very long, but the idea is welcomed.

Unique to the 7500 is the dual speed control, which adds a low speed mode to the brush. The idea is to use low speed in sensitive areas, pfft, whatever. Also, the 7500 has a very comprehensive recharge indicator which shows the battery charge status and battery level. Another fairly useless feature compared to the lower model which simply blinks when charge is low, especially since most of the time you’ll be recharging your battery once finished with your brushing session anyway.

Finally Sonicare gives you a special brush head with a combination of soft and super-soft bristles for your mouth mesmerizing experience. The Advance (as opposed to the Elite) line of brushes only come with a standard brush head.

My experience with the Sonicare brush has been exciting so far. It really does feel like a mouth massage. At first I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle all the crazy-vibration, but soon learned to let the brush do its thing. Let the brush work, don’t hold back. However this doesn’t mean that you just jam it in your mouth and take a two minute nap. You do have to move it around, and you should treat it as if it were any other brush. The difference is that while you do so, this brush is moving around in your mouth at an even more furious pace than even you can work up, and it’s kicking some germ ass to boot.

There is one thing I have to mention about using any electric toothbrush, especially the Sonicare. One has to be very careful about rubbing the back (plastic) of the brush itself against ones teeth while brushing. If you make contact with your teeth, with the other side of the brush, you will definitely get a most jarring sensation. This is not one of the “features” of the brush, and is something you learn to avoid after using the brush for a while.

It really feels awesome. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but there’s something un-mechanical about the experience of brushing with the Sonicare Elite.

If you’ve always wondered what an electronic toothbrush will do for you, then don’t hesitate to jump into a Sonicare model today. If you still think your old wooden brush is doing the job, it isn’t, and after trying this thing you’ll see why. The only thing intimidating about the Sonicare line is the price. But have no fear, the base models start around $60. Sure this is more expensive than a standard toothbrush, and it’s even more expensive than the base Oral-B model by about $40 dollars, but, they don’t do sonic technology. The mind-numbing experience sets the Sonicare apart from the rest. Best of all, after using it for a month they claim your teeth will be whiter and your gums will be healthier. Who can argue with that kind of money back guarantee?