Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As many have already stated, if you don't need the fancy travel case and the tongue brush mode, you're better off buying the 5000. That said, while I don't think they're worth the markup, I decided I wanted the tongue brush mode option and bought it anyway. Essentially 50 bucks extra for a tongue scraper, yeah... Anyway, I rate this only 2 out of 5 because: 1. The aforementioned reasons 2. The awful battery. In this day and age, I do not think it's acceptable to incorporate such a lousy battery tech into a flagship device. I mean, come on... 24hrs for a full charge that only lasts a week of regular use? That translates to a mere whopping 14 minutes, then you'll need to recharge for at least 2 hours to squeeze 2 minutes of brushing time. For a top-of-the-line electronic product. Wow. The worst part is that it's non-replaceable. Once the battery has reached the end of its lifetime, instead of simply purchasing a new replacement battery or sending it to some Oral-B/Braun service center for battery replacement, the manual actually instructs you to just throw away the entire toothbrush - a perfectly good, working piece of hardware, just because the internal batteries are dead. Are you for real, Oral-B/Braun? This is a premium DISPOSABLE electric toothbrush, folks. It's intentionally designed so that the whole thing is destroyed if the battery is removed. I'd rather this was some conspiracy bulls***, but what I just said is written in clear text with illustrations right in the manual. Unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, I actually like this product. Its cleaning capabilities are amazing, and I even find the somewhat gimmicky SmartGuide to be useful. But the battery issue really kills it, enough to knock it down to 2 stars and a solid DO NOT RECOMMEND from me. Update 2014/11/26: Someone left a comment and deleted it while I was writing up a response. I've decided to append my reply here since I believe the commenter raised a few valid points that I'd like to address. Thanks for your input, I'm glad the product is still going strong for you. I actually don't doubt the build quality of the toothbrush, rather I'm criticizing the "planned obsolescence" route they took when developing it. There is absolutely no reason to design it so that the product is destroyed if the battery needs removal. I find it highly unlikely to be an engineering limitation as you suggested. For example, although a different product category, Sony makes waterproof smartphones (the latest model Z3 has an amazing IPX8 rating), yet it can still be serviced, including battery replacement, without destroying the entire phone. Obviously, it can be done. Additionally, I didn't say it has to be designed for end user replacement, I mentioned the possibility of sending it in for servicing, but that's not even an option for the Black 7000. I'm sure there has been some improvement in battery technology since you bought yours 8 years ago. Yet according to the numbers given in the manual and your experience, it seems the battery performance is pretty much still the same as it was 8 years ago. I suppose one can argue that it's a cost factor for budget devices, but how is it acceptable for a flagship device? Recently I had the chance of bringing the Black 7000 on a 5 day vacation trip. I intentionally left the charger at home to see how the battery fares in real world scenarios. There were two users, brushed twice daily, I used standard mode and my wife uses the sensitive mode, no usage past the preset time of 2 minutes. Day 1 - Performed same as it was at home; remaining battery end of day is 3 bars. Day 2 - Noticeable degrade in motor power, I'd wager it was running at ~80% of original brushing level; 2 bars left Day 3 - Similar to Day 2; 2 bars left Day 4 - Significantly dropped performance, sounds like it was struggling to keep going; 1 bar left Day 5 - Only used once in the morning, felt like it was gasping for air; battery indicator flashed red Can't say I was impressed with the battery life. The next time I'm on a trip for more than 4 days, I'm bringing the charger as well. Unfortunately, the premium travel case does not accommodate the charger, you'd have to pack it in a separate pouch (included). It's not a myth that battery degrades over time, it's science. Eventually, the battery will die, period. When that happens, your premium electric toothbrush becomes either a pain in the ass to use since it can't hold a charge, or becomes a fancy relic destined for the dump. But why should it? Note: Interestingly, I could not find a waterproof rating for the Black 7000 in the manual or on their website.