Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

According to specs, all Sonicare toothbrushes are essentially the same - they all vibrate at the same speed (31,000 strokes per minute) and can all use the wide range of available brush heads (except for the older Essence line). That is to say, they are all incredible at cleaning your teeth and if you've never used one, you are in for a real treat. The difference between models is sometimes negligible, and often more than a little vague - all the bells and whistles are of dubious value. Often, the simpler the toothbrush is, the better it is - there's less buttons to break and less to pay for. In practice however, there are some features that may be worth paying for, but it really depends on your needs and the openness of your pocketbook. I have been through several Sonicare brushes, and the model I was using prior to this one is the 2 Series, pretty much the barest-bone model there is. I really like it, but I prefer this new HealthyWhite Plus (AKA Series 5) - not because of the buttons or features, but because I think it is actually built better. Moving to the Series 2 from the model I had before, I had noticed (as had many other people) that the brush had a loud rattle (or buzzing) when it wasn't in your mouth. It was a little distracting, but I honestly thought it had to do more with the brush head than the handle. However, I immediately noticed with this new brush that the buzz is almost gone - and if you look at the photo I've attached you can see that the brush head sits significantly closer to the top of the handle than on the Series 2. I tried them both with a variety of brush heads, and always got the same result: the new model is much quieter. It's nice, but I really don't know if it's worth twice the price. This model has a few superior features as well. It has a "Quad-pacer" which alerts you every 30 seconds to change to another area of your mouth. All the brushes have a 2-minute timer, and you can definitely do without the 30-second alerts, but it is nice just to note the passing time. It also uses a Lithium battery instead of the NiMH battery, which gives it three weeks between charges instead of two. Obviously that's better, but honestly, going two weeks is fine. This model also has three power levels and a whitening mode. Whitening is really just an extra 15-seconds of brushing that get tacked onto the end of the 2 minutes, and unless you have sensitive gums, you will probably never use the lower power settings. Philips touts this as "6 different modes" which is a really just the math of 3 power levels x 2 cleaning modes, and it's really nothing to write home about. I really like the new Diamond Clean brush head that is included with this set - but you can put any head on you like. The charger and travel case are the standard-issue Sonicare accessories and will also work with most other Sonicare brushes. Really, it's the better build that has locked this in as my daily toothbrush, but if I had to pay (I was provided both these brushes free for review purposes) I don't know if I wouldn't rather pay $30-$50 for the more basic model.