Philips Sonicare Essence 5300 Power Toothbrush

My husband and I got our first Sonicare over 10 years ago and it is still going strong. We've always kept our brushes in the charger plugged in and have never had a problem. On vacations we take it with us and it has always worked fine. I feel we certainly have had our money's worth. We've used the it so much that the Sonicare name has worn off the unit. I know one of these days it will bite the dust but we will definitely buy another, probably this model. I feel the Sonicare does an excellent job of cleaning the teeth & gums. Our oral health has much improved since those years of using a regular toothbrush. We highly recommend the Sonicare. Skyland

I first received a Sonicare toothbrush several years ago. It was a gift from a dental hygienist friend, and it was the Sonicare Elite e7300. I used the brush every day for about five years until it finally died, due to the button which turns it on finally wearing out completely. I have nothing but praise for the Elite e7300, but I now use the Essence 5300. I have been using the Essence 5300 for about two months and I have not noticed any differences in quality or effectiveness between the two brushes. The Elite e7300 had additional features such as a LED battery indicator and a 30 second interval on beeps (which helps you to distribute time spent brushing among the four sections of your teeth), but while those features are useful they aren't something that I even really care about or miss having. Anyhow, the Sonicare toothbrushes clean incredibly well. I cannot go back to regular toothbrushes now. The difference is like night and day. The Sonicare brushes clean extremely thorough... Read more

I've never had much experience with electric toothbrushes, but my two years with this model has been trouble-free so far. It charges easily and quickly and takes over a week to lose its power. That's with me AND my girlfriend brushing morning and night for two minutes at a time. Not bad, not bad at all. When we go on vacation, we don't even take the charger. It's also handy that the attachments come color-coded. That way we don't use each other's brush. An easy to overlook bit of convenience, I must say. Thanks for that, Sonicare. As long as you keep the bases nice and clean instead of cruddy, you probably won't have much to complain about with this item. I just can't see myself giving it 5 stars without ever having any other electric brush to compare it to.

My teeth feel really clean when I use Sonicare. The problem lies with the hassle associated with trying to recycle the base unit.

I bought this toothbrush on the recommendation of my dentist. I've been using it for almost 5 months now, and I have to say, I'm not sure it's working as well as it should be. I seem to be getting more plaque, and in spots I didn't get plaque before. Plus, I can feel that my teeth aren't as "clean" and smooth as they should be in the back. I've started using a regular toothbrush on them afterwards, which solves the problem, but I thought the Sonicare was supposed to be a super cleaner. Also, I agree with other reviewers about the brush heads. Mine looks very worn at this point--in fact, it began looking that way after just a couple of months. I bought one for my kid as well, and his teeth are also showing more plaque (and the brush head looks even worse than mine, though he's been using it for about 4 months instead of 5). So I'm not sure this is worth it--I'm going to talk to our dentist and dental hygienist at our next checkups. (No problems other than that, by the way--the ... Read more