Review (5/5): The best brush once you replace its stupid ring
[[VIDEOID:5e503272239bca4823b8b265e5a09f8e]] I had 3 Sonicare with built-in rechargeable battery. The problem was: the charging time was way too long. If the battery ran out in the morning, it still won't be fully charged when you need to use it at that evening. Very stupid, especially when a family share one charger. They are also way too over priced. Once the built-in battery goes dead, $$$ are gone.
A Sonicare powered by normal AA or AAA batteries had been my dream. This e3000 fulfills my dream and even for much less cost, only $30. No need to mention how convenient this is for travel.
However, an idiot designed the seal that lets water goes in. The solution is to replace the O ring. I bought an 1-1/16 x 15/16 x 1/16 #33 O-ring from my local hardware store. With this ring, the seal is much more tight than before and no more leak. It is made by Danco Company, Concordville, PA 19331, STK NO 35747B, bar code 0 37155 35747 5. This ring has actually the same specs as the original, but somehow it is slightly smaller but thicker, making it perfect for this brush.
Although replacing the ring fixed the problem, but this ring is not the cause of the seal failure. The idiot designer lacks of some very basic mechanics and did not make the sealing shape fully round. The cylinder has two angles, which break the seal with a round ring. Also, the edge is not beveled, making it very difficult to let the ring go in. To let the ring go in, he/she had to use a thinner ring that does not give enough sealing. One of the stupidest designs I have seen so far.
I still give it 5 stars because northing's better than this e3000 yet, especially once the ring is replaced. As far as I know, this is the only AA/AAA powered supersonic brush currently available.
Hopefully the next version will fix such very basic design errors that should not have happened in the first place for a big company like Phillips. I can't blame the designer; where's the CEO who earns billions a year?
I also posted the video to youtube, which looks much better as always. Amazon really should offer better video quality.
Update: after about a year of struggling with the seal, I ended up with a simple and effective solution. O-rings are either to tight to push in the battery cover, or too loose to still get water in. So, I just returned to the stock ring and drilled some 1/16" holes on the battery cover. After every use, put it stand up straight to let water dripping down out. More than 3 months now and still works like a charm.
Update [2009/07/31]: Seems Philips has fixed the leaking problem. We bought 5 these brushes several months ago when on sale and none of them have any leak yet! Perfect.
Update [2009/11/01]: Still leaks and most of them have died. Now we are using Oral-B Sonic Complete S-200 and very happy (see my S-200 video review).