The purchase of this Philips Sonicare Diamonclean stems from my recent obsession with my smile! As I had my teeth whitened the next step is trying to preserve my smile, and my new whiter teeth?
I have had my Oral-B brush for 6+ years, and although it generally still works, it certainly doesn’t have the same power that it used to. So I wanted to purchase something that would really keep on top of things for a long time to come.
Why this model?
I eventually settled on the item I am going to review for Kitchen Geekery, which is the black Philips Sonicare DiamondClean HX9352/004 toothbrush – more of a mouthful than the toothbrush itself is thankfully!
I also really liked the inclusion of a USB charging mode and its inductive travel case. The last thing which sounded more gimmicky, but I do still like, was the induction charging glass.
I did have a look into similarly-priced Oral-B toothbrushes , but they really did seem a bit too clever for my liking; Bluetooth connectivity, or partner Apps aren’t really what I want from a toothbrush. At least the added features of this toothbrush were things I would actually still care about in a few weeks time!
What was it like?
The electric toothbrush market appears divided between Philips and Oral-B, and it seems that most retailers or dentists tend to have a huge preference for one brand over the other.
There are few notable differences between the brands; Oral-B seems to favour the little round heads my old toothbrush used, and the Philips that use a more traditional narrow head shape. In practice I found this had some pros and cons; the narrower Philips head was easier to clean my teeth with, and I could get it around my wisdom teeth easier – as seemingly I have a small mouth, must to everyones surprise! What I am not yet used to is the Philips toothbrush is much, much softer and although my gums are in good health, I think I preferred the sensation of a firmer brush.
Oral B has several different kinds of brush head, some with rubber caps, coloured tips and all manner of nonsense, I couldn’t actually ever notice the difference between them in any way other than the cost difference! The Philips toothbrush seems use one type of brush, and that just seems better to me.
The induction charging is pretty cool, but deep down, is not really any different to how almost all other rechargeable brushes work; the only difference being instead of placing the brush on a stand, you have a little glass (New models have a plastic glass) to put it in, and as long as the brush is touching the bottom of the glass it will charge just fine, you don’t need to care about alignment.
I do think that as nice as it is, this isn’t really hugely beneficial – generally rechargeable products last longer if you allow the battery to drain before recharging, so that means you should really only charge this every few weeks. Especially if you want your (big) outlay to last as long as possible. That said though, this does mean it’s very hard to forget to keep it charged, and the glass can be used as a normal glass (for mouthwash/water/whatever) – but it’d really bug me if I broke it, so I just leave it stationary!
What’s it like to clean?
The Philips Sonicare Diamondclean gets its moniker from the very high frequency at which the heads rotate (31,000 times a minute), but it’s actually much quieter than I expected, and quieter than my old toothbrush, and it does clean very, very well. A word to the wise though, my old toothbrush I could use with my mouth open, with this one, thats a risky endeavour that usually results in my bathroom mirror looking like a snow storm.
It does come with 5 modes, including a standard clean, an extended clean and a sensitive option. I find the toothbrush feels quite gentle, so I don’t use the sensitive mode and I tend to use the 2 minute standard cycle only. My teeth feel extremely clean and my gums are nice and pink, thankfully this toothbrush has never made my gum-line bleed.
As is common with higher-end brushes, it does pulse after 30 seconds and at the end of a full brushing cycle.
Is it value for money?
Now this is an expensive item – in-fact it’s one of the most expensive toothbrushes on the market, but I guess when comparing this against the cost of actual dental work, it might represent some long-term value. But even so, the RRP appears to be a bit of a gimmick price, it’s RRP is £250/$400, but I could find this quite easily for around half of that. Even so, thats a big outlay for a toothbrush… so what do you all get with it?
My biggest complaint about the Philips Sonicare Diamondclean is the fact it came with one head – no thats not a spare one, but one. I think for the retail price, they could surely provide a second toothbrush head. That big complaint aside, the travel case is strong, and has a USB adapter which makes travel much easier, there is a power adaptor (shaver socket only) and the induction charging glass – it feels a bit like the toothbrush you could imagine buying in an Apple Store.
The Verdict
A visit to the dentist isn’t cheap, but if it means I can go a little longer between visits to a hygienist, then it will be money well spent. The design of the brush is cool, and the extra travel case was of huge appeal to me.
At the commonly discounted price I would very happily recommend it. If it was only available at the full RRP then I would have to really have a think about it – although I always think with teeth, eyes and so on, that money invested in those is money well spent.
At the promotional/online price I would give it a 9/10, based on the full RRP, it would probably be an 8/10. It is also a perfect present for anyone who really is a health geek or a foodie, and it can be bought in black, white or a fairly tasteful pink option.
* It does sound like these are meant to come with two brushes, but I certainly only had one in the box.
** I was going to buy this toothbrush anyway, but after hearing I was going to review it, Philips provided me with a free one, but that doesn’t affect how I review things. Ever.
Update two years later
The toothbrush is still going strong, any degradation isn’t noticeable, but it is still noticeably stronger when its been fully charged recently, but my teeth feel the cleanest they ever have. So still very happy with it and would replace with the same model.
