You can stop researching now. Buy this- the cheapest mdl w/no penalties 
By A1R2LCV6Q2Z991 on 2006-08-24
Yipee, I'm the "first to review this product". I'm doing so to save you time and eyestrain. Put yourself out of web-reading Hell, and just buy this Sonicare Xtreme model now.
It costs less, does the exact same job as the more expensive Sonicare models, and the best part: The Xtreme runs on 2 regular AA batteries, avoiding the one problem you'll see mentioned in many user comments of all the other Sonicares, that of short battery life w/no way to replace the rapidly dying built-in ones.
Sonicare told me this model runs at the same speed etc, and does the job every bit as well as their higher-end ones, but lacks the following non-essential features:
No beeps every 30secs, no battery life indicator, and no soft start (a slower speed that's programmed in for its initial 12 uses).
This model uses the E-series of replacement brush heads, same as the high-end models.
I was told by Sonicare to expect 80-100 uses per set of alkalines.
If you don't want to keep buying batteries, get yourself a set of 4 AA rechargeable batteries and charger, and you'll be set for years. You'll also be able to take advantage of longer run times as longer-lived rechargeables come on the market (this happens about every year).
I have one, and see no negatives to its design at all. -And a bonus- You can store it horizontally (no charging stand to deal with), and it even has a little no-roll ridge on the back of the handle. Nice.
This brush WILL quickly self-destruct...DO NOT BUY!! 
By A1ZG9WMHNMGY62 on 2006-12-10
Do not base your purchase decision on any reviewer who has had the product for only a day, two days, or even a week. My Sonicare Xtreme e3000 brush died about 3 weeks after first use. All owners of this brush will, sooner and probably not much later, find that water will invade the battery compartment and corrode the metal contacts and your batteries. That's what happened to mine and, after reading other reviews here and elsewhere, apparently is also happening to all other users of this brush. The O-Ring rubber seal suffers a design flaw and cannot maintain a water-tight seal. It's very obvious from the moment you first install the batteries...the bottom cap just will not seal tight enough! This product needs to be recalled by the manufacturer and Amazon needs to stop selling this garbage. I'm assuming that I'd be better off if I had instead bought one of Sonicare's reachargeable brushes with the sealed battery.
Colorful and Works Just Like the Rest...
By A1FWFCJU2G7TRA on 2006-08-26
I totally agree with the first review. We have a Sonicare and got this "Xtreme" for my 14 year old son to encourage more teeth-brushing (and not having to use ours!). He has braces as well, and it works great. I wanted to especially mention the batteries because this works a lot better than having to replace worn Sonicare batteries. (plus, you don't have to plug it in; much easier to take on trips). This model is just as powerful as the other Sonicares, btw, but at a MUCH better price.
The colors are fun; maybe it will help your kid with teeth brushing. Can't hurt, right?
Don't get this, water will eventually get into the unit and destroy it
By AZB3Y76PHO2K5 on 2006-11-14
When I first heard of Sonicare coming out with a toothbrush with replaceable batteries, I was excited. I upgraded to this from the Sonicare Advance after it failed to hold a charge any longer. With the other Sonicares, you have to throw the whole unit out if the batteries inside die. With these you just change out the batteries. I liked them so much I bought 2. Now after 3 months, both of them have already died. The end cap where you replace the batteries is not water tight. The O-ring that seals the battery compartment is not made very well. There are also 2 holes at the bottom of the toothbrush next to the metal clip on the endcap, which I believe is a design flaw. Although Sonicare sent me replacement units, I believe these replacements will also only last a few months. This is a great toothbrush for brushing, except they need to send it back to the design stage for the water resistant problem.
DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!!
By ABJ88JZ1DYXCO on 2006-12-15
i bought one of these, water got into the battery compartment, and the unit stopped working completely, only a week after i bought it. sonicare sent me a new one, and the same thing happened! so they sent me a 3rd one, and guess what? it happened AGAIN.
this is a piece of junk. do yourself a favor: don't buy it!!! (the other sonicare products are fine, by the way).
- Nice but some MORONIC design flaws!!!
By AKGWRO6IC0VIE on 2006-10-28
As a former owner of a Sonicare 7500 Elite, I can tell you definitively that this unit is LESS powerful, but in and of itself, plenty sufficient to keep your pearly whites plenty pearly white. It actually (on the surface) has some advantages: My 7500 died after about 3 years. It seemed that it could no longer hold a charge. This unit uses replaceable AA batteries, and being quite fond of rechargeables, this for me is a good match. (Another reviewer mentioned she had problems with 1.2V rechargeables vs. 1.5V standard batteries. I have had no such problems with my 1.2V's. Been running on the same set (same charge) well over 2 weeks now and still going strong. Curious. Hmm...).
That being said, I absolutely CANNOT believe some of the MAJOR design flaws that are absolutely MORONIC and baffling. 1) The battery cap at the bottom of the unit does not seal very tightly. The interior black ring is made of some slick "plastic-y" material instead of a better sealing "rubber-y" material. 2)(And THIS is the incredibly MORONIC part) At the bottom of this orange battery sealing cap, there are 2 HOLES! YES, REALLY! Somebody on the Sonicare/Philips industrial design team thought it was a good ideal to design into this "sealing" cap TWO holes so that water can get into the battery chamber when you rinse the foam off of your electric toothbrush everytime you use it (presumably every single day).
Does water actually leak into this battery chamber? I took my batteries out and tested it. Yes indeed water gets in here. Now, it blows my mind that this can pass the designers, the execs, the production line and everyone in between and after, and reach you and me, the consumers. It blows my mind that someone got paid a goodly amount of money to make this happen. Then again, MORONS in high places seems rather commonplace these days (ha ha). Now, what does this mean to me and you. I'm fairly sure that 1.5 Volts won't ZAP! us into a coma, but I think we all know that batteries and water = NOT GOOD ... or even = RATHER BAD. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or even a highly paid toothbrush designer ...
My solution so far has been to use some very sticky tape over this area. It makes the otherwise fairly spiffy design a tad less pretty, but I'd rather have that than rusty and leaky (and useless) rechargeable batteries (they aren't cheap! ... and after all, the point is "re-use-ability" and "re-new-ability", is it not?). Even with this precaution, I check this chamber now and then, and water still gets in (and toothpaste foam, too). Not by the buckets full, but enough noticeable traces to make one wonder.
Now, I know it's not a matter of prohibitive cost, because I have used [...]-pola Crest battery toothbrushes that have found a better way of sealing off the batteries. What I suggest is that we all rather politely let Sonicare/Philips know of what we all now know, and ask them to design a new cap, and quietly send them out to all current owners. No need for a Ford or GM major recall type scandal. Just get it done and send us that piece that will cost Sonicare/Philips less than 50 cents to make and ship.
Thanks reading, and be warned. Also know that with the right precautions, this can be a good little enamel scrubber. Except for this one major issue, it's pretty nifty and nicely priced (about 1/3 of the 7500 Elite).
Cheers!
- Compared both models, e3000 a bomb (not "the" bomb, but "a" bomb)
By A2JX7NUYAHHJ8B on 2008-08-15
Too many reviews;
I'll do this one in Haiku!
Let's dive into it.
Saw all prior views
of Sonicare customers
Amazon provides.
Key to the debate:
whether cheaper is better,
or price wins the day.
Higher on dollars --
e7300 ("e seventy-three hundred") --
link given below.
Philips Sonicare Elite e7300 Power Toothbrush
Then there is this brush.
Cheaper, with features to match
(save only a few).
We bought both brushes,
one each for my wife and me.
Experimented.
Used both Sonicares.
Brushed ev'ry night, she and I.
Same treatment, same care.
Endlessly we sparred.
Three months later, here we are.
One emerged victor.
Three months was too much --
for the cheaper brush was crushed.
Suddenly it died.
No water damage,
no mishandling, no neglect.
It just died -- kaput!
Here is my advice:
for relability
shun the cheaper brush.
Yet consider this:
THAT costs three times more than THIS.
It should give you pause.
Seems the math is thus:
THREE times failed before we must
declare one the best.
For is this not true:
fail three times before I do
end up losing out?
The price of one though
more reliable, cannot
beat the other's cost.
Friend, it's up to you.
Buy the best or try for two;
Less than three duds wins!
- A Real Disappointment
By A2YROXMRNQTXH0 on 2006-12-02
This item worked wonderfully for about 1 month, then water must have gotten into it or the battery connection went bad. I would have to change the battery every week, later, realizing it was not the batteries but the connection.
A cheap replacement for the real thing.
- Nice while it lasted
By A1VMAWIXLY8FRU on 2006-11-11
For the two weeks or so that it worked, the Sonicare Xtreme e3000 did a nice job cleaning my teeth. Then it stopped working. The problem seemed to be in the on/off switch. I sent it back to the company, which refunded my purchase price a couple of months later.
- Bought TEN!--don't ask.
By A231WM2Z2JL0U3 on 2007-03-12
Every one of them has been trouble, and all the trouble is in the base. The cheap metal contacts droop in a week and then do not make good contact with the batteries (fix: open base, extend contacts) and the base O-ring always fails and in no time the contacts corrode. Also, batteries last only a few weeks at best.
- This Product should be Recalled - It will break in no time!
By A25YZJ04WZN8C4 on 2007-09-11
AS many other reviews stated, the unit is not built to last.
The snap on plastic bottom in the battery compartment will break even with the utmost care. Water and humidity will get in and zap out the circuitry - as well as shorting out the batteries. The battery cantacts are consructed of such soft metal that the pressure of the battery itself will stretch the contacts so they no longer make a connection to the batteries.
My unit lasted a bit longer than some I've read here - 3 months.
I liked the concept of not being stuck with a rechargeable unit which has batteries that cannot be replaced - unfortunatley this unit will need to be replaced many times over the rechargeable units (which have more power in the brush strokes than this unit).
From all these reviews it is obvious that this is a defectivly designed unit, and should be recalled, discontinued, or perfected.
- perfect
By AXO4PQU0XG3TG on 2006-09-13
This product was introduced quickly after the airline scare banning many carryon items. I wonder if it was only a coincidence that Sonicare finally has a toothbrush that uses regular batteries. This powered brushing does a much better job on my teeth than I could do manually. However, I also own a Sonicare model with the dedicated/integral battery and I know from owning both that the battery operated is not as strong a brusher. After the batteries died, I switched back to the rechargeable sonicare. This one will go with me on trips because it still does a better job than I can manually.
- Great for travel and dorm life
By A1G0MISRNU1CGX on 2006-12-07
We bought this toothbrush for travel because we didn't want to carry the charging base from our other Sonicare toothbrush. It has been great. Uses the same brush heads, just operates on AA batteries. The batteries last long enough for a 2-week vacation - I don't know how much longer they'll go. My son took one to college, too, so he didn't have to worry about recharging one more electrical device.
- DON'T BUY THIS!!!!
By A1GLSUFTT81QW on 2007-06-16
Dont buy this.
Other Sonicare products are good but this battery operated is not worth your money.
Reasons:
This will stop operating when the water enters to the battery compartment. No matter how you do, the water enters the battery compartment and causing short circuit.
Second, the plastic bottom that closes the battery compartment will break and no longer can be secured.
Just dont buy this.
I dont understand how they could come up with this design.
If the bottom of the battery closure is of spin closure type, then it would be much better.
- Poorly designed toothbrush
By A9IZ49V9QD1HK on 2007-06-21
I bought this toothbrush and within 3 weeks, it stopped working (probably due to water leakage from the poor design) and the cap that keeps the battery in broke. I requested a replacement from Phillips and received it, and the replacement broke too!! And faster!! I got a full refund from Phillips. It did seem like it was doing a good job for those few weeks that it worked, but the design is flawed and should be taken off the market.
- Absolute Garbage
By A2QMNYDC8IAYD2 on 2007-09-14
My old Sonicare died after and few years and I had tried using several different brush types, manual and powered, attempting to find a cheap replacement. After a less than stellar annual check-up, I decided to just buy another Sonicare.
I saw this model and could not believe how little it cost. My old one was over a hundred dollars. It worked great too. I saw no difference other than the lack of the quadpacer timer thing. Unfortunately, it died in less than two weeks. And no, it was not the batteries, the thing is just dead.
I suggest you buy a rechargable 4100 for forty or fifty dollars. I have been using one for a few months now with no issues. It has the great cleaning action of a Sonicare at a reasonable price. Same as with the cheap battery powered model, the brush turns off after two minutes but does not have the quadpacer or any other fancy features.
- Clean Teeth, short battery life
By A2JFUB20AGVXO9 on 2006-09-21
I am enjoying this toothbrush. After a good brushing job, my teeth feel almost like i left the dentists. The 'sonic waves' really do dislodge plaque and leave a very clean mouth.
Great for me because i travel frequently and do not feel like carrying a toothbrush charger.
One odd thing, though, is that my first set of batteries only lasted a week. I just put in a second pair of batteries and am waiting to see how long they last. I brush twice a day, so ordinary amount of usage. I tried a pair of fully - charged NiMH batteries today (I think all NiMH rechargeables are 1.2 V) and the tooth brush would not start. Seems that it needs 1.5V batteries. It worked fine with ordinary alkaline batteries.
- Worthless
By A2GTW561LKRQUN on 2006-11-10
Totally worthless purchase. For one, it's noisy compared with other power brushes i've had. It began cutting out on me, at first I thought it was the cheap batteries that came with it. Then I replaced them and it continued to cut out. Bad connection inside or shorting out? I kept taking it apart to look at, changed batteries again and still nothing. It wouldn't run anymore except for one other time, then i turned it off to rinse and it wouldn't start again. It sat unused for a few weeks before I decided to pitch the damn thing in the garbage. I never did bother finding the paper work to return it. Isolated case of a lemon? Who knows. I wasn't impressed with the sound and the excessive spraying it did.
- Great for travel.
By AU6MQVON9CCBZ on 2006-12-24
The ideal brush for extended travel. No hassles with power incompatibility issues in Asia or Europe. No additional charger to carry. AA batteries are available everywhere.
Have used regularly for four months and no problems with leakage. Just routine care... rinse and wipe dry after use.
Forget teens and braces this is the ideal road-warrior toothbrush.
- leaks water into battery compartment
By A2AZWD0TGY6F43 on 2007-01-07
The first toothbrush i bought was eating batteries like crazy, new set every five days. Then i noticed water leaks inside the battery compartment and shorts them. Paid special attention to how to close - no good. Returned to amazon, thought it's a bad one, got another one - still sucks. I don't really understand how water goes inside but it kills the batteries. The only way to keep it working is to open and dry it every few uses and also keep it stored horizontal (not standing).
Update: my solution to the problem was to dip both battery ends in petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to protect them from corroding from water, then then liberally top up the cap with more jelly before closing. being hydrophobic, that petrolatum seal seems to keep water away from the battery compartment.
- Cleans great; poor design
By A3T6X64MM26OPX on 2007-03-18
Although I am definitely on the 'Sonicare' bandwagon in so far as this product's ability to clean my teeth--it does a great job--this model brush is made quite poorly.
The battery compartment (the e3000 uses 'AA' batteries) on mine, regardless of it having an o-ring on the door, seems to be continually wet inside, with the negative (-) terminal on one of the AA-cells rusting after only two weeks use. Philips acknowledges this is a problem but offers no solution.
Also, there are many small crevices in/around the nameplate on the side, and a large gap under the nut for the brush-head that accumulates 'gook' on a daily basis. Philips advises that this is probably 'mold' and the brush should be 'disassembled and air-dried' after every use. It takes longer to do this than to brush my teeth--
Again, while this is probably one of the best ways to clean your teeth at this point in time, and an economical way to try one of the products that normally start out at $64e (and up), there is no reason why the e3000 shouldn't be made as well as the better units, or hold up to water/daily use as well as some of the $9 Crest electrics we commonly see.
- Not a good investment.
By AJND5BTEO4P6B on 2007-06-22
I purchased this for my grandson who is 11. He went through a lot of batteries trying to get this to work, but the batteries continually wore out. I returned it to sonicare for their 90 day guarantee.
I would not waste my money.
- Cost doesn't end with just buying the toothbrush...
By A2GX2JJVY59GIU on 2007-08-07
You'll be putting new batteries in this toothbrush every 2 weeks. However, if you don't mind buying stock in batteries, this is a great product.
- Nice while it lasted
By A2M53CWXLWNDOG on 2007-08-28
I really enjoyed this toothbrush for the eight months it worked. The other day, I couldn't get it to turn on at all. I installed new batteries, no luck. Cleaned out all the ins and outs, still no luck. I'm a bit heart-broken.
- sonicare xtreme
By A2C2A3ZXCRYEK4 on 2006-11-13
I am really happy with it. This works just like the Sonicare units with the charging stations, except that you change the batteries. It uses the e-series heads. It does not have the reduced speed on initial use which may be a problem for first time users of sonicares. The bottom pulls off to put the batteries in. The edges that you need to hold onto to remove the battery cover are a small making it a bit difficult to remove the cover.
The only downside is how fast it goes through batteries. The information on the product does tell you that it will go through the regular batteries quickly. I was getting only 3 days or so which I thought was little too fast. Lithium batteries last several weeks when the sonicare is used by one person.
I give it 4 stars because of the battery compartment cover and the battery use. If you are already using a sonicare type toothbrush this is one to consider
- Sonicare makes my teeth SOOO CLEAN!
By AEWYUPCNDV7HY on 2006-12-27
I have always wanted to get a Sonicare and when my son got his braces I purchased the Sonicare Essence 5300 for him. I purchased a couple of replacement brushes and started using one of the brushes for myself. I could not believe how clean my teeth felt day after day. Additionally, i noticed tea, coffee, and soda stains disappearing from my teeth and they were getting whiter. It really gets his teeth super clean and his braces are always so shiny. Now that Christmas was here I decided to get this cheaper version , the Xtreme e3000 for myself. I am totally in love with this toothbrush. You can also just change brush heads if you want to share with hubby! It works exactly the same as the more expensive versions except that you have to replace the batteries. I use rechargeables even though the directions say to use alkaline only. The reason they want you to use alkaline is that they last longer. I guess between charges they might, but it is really no problem to recharge these batteries overnight as needed. Also, the Sonicare Essence includes a travel case and a charging station, whereas this one, the Xtreme e3000 does not have a travel case, it just have a travel cover for the brush head and you have to change/replace the batteries as needed.
- 2 Dead Toothbrushes in 8 months
By A2QTSZOFJDM8I7 on 2007-03-09
I had an old Sonicare (rechargable) for about a year and a half. I dropped it and it stopped working. (My fault.) Not willing to pay ~$[...] for another rechargable one, I thought I would give the e3000 a try.
I then bought my first e3000 in August for 2006. It mysteriously stopped working around December of 2006. (I didn't drop it this time.) I bought a second one. It also mysteriously stopped working in March of 2007. (Again, I didn't drop it or harm the toothbrush in any way!) 2 Dead Toothbrushes in 8 months!
I'm not sure if I should buy another e3000 or if I should give up on the Sonicare brand completely.
- I'd Give This 4 Stars If It Didn't Keep Breaking Down ("Stop Breaking Down")
By A65FYHGVZVKEO on 2007-05-23
WTF...I'm on the road to Sonicare e3000 NUMBER 3 now. The 1st 1 refused to work after the battery ran out. I tried all kinds of new fresh batteries, swabbed and cleaned the inner battery case, etc. NOTHING worked.
Sonicare's awesome customer service sent me a new 1 and all was well until now. Battery runs out and slew of new fresh replacements are installed, yet toothbrush no longer works. NO SHT! WTF!
I'm no electronics dummy. I know my stuff, but this gets the cake.
All the reviews of this brush published here previous to this are TRUE btw: the Sonicare brush is a gr8 tool for cleaning teeth...WHEN IT IS WORKING.
UPDATE! This Sonicare toothbrush is now operational. Has been for months since I initially wrote this review. I don't get it. Works well but with older batteries tends to cut out every now and then.
The thing is when you press the On button you have this lingering doubt that it will not turn on. But so far so good. Seems to run only on brand new Duracells or Evereadys, NOT high quality rechargeable batteries.
- DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT
By A26ISP6AFXG4AB on 2007-07-29
I bought one for me and one for my husband. My husbands stopped working after about a week. I returned it and Amazon was great about refunding my money. However, mine stopped working after a month and a half. I now have to fight Sonicare for the refund. A battle I most likely will not win. It is a defective product. DON'T BUY!!!!!!!!! Trust me on this one.
- long-term review -- fantastic product if you take care of it
By A33JV9LGR0ZXKQ on 2008-07-19
Great product, and there's no problem with the batteries if you take some minimal care. Read on...
I'm a traveling consultant, and I've had two of these 3000-series toothbrushes over more than a hundred trips over the past two years -- only because the first was damaged during a trip to India. I stopped using my previous regular Sonicare unit because these work very very well, and with a pair of rechargeables, I get the benefit of both worlds.
Power and performance -- The brush head action feels the same as my older Sonicare. This is to say, strong and thorough with no complaints at all. The 3000 has a 2min timer and not the quadpacer control, but I don't miss it. As set of alkaline batteries lasts me for a month or more, while 2300mah NiMH AA's last 1-2 weeks between charges.
Maintenance -- The skreechy complaints from previous reviewers about the battery compartment leaking water and destroying batteries are nonsense. Let's get real here: the 3000 is not the same design as the sealed-cell Sonicare units, and the fact that it has electrical contacts in an open-able compartment is not a design flaw (as some have declared). In fact, I find this unit to be quite well-designed and simple, but it does need a little bit of care. Anyone who has used an underwater camera case or gone diving already knows how to take care of water gaskets, but for the uninitiated: Dry gaskets do not provide a perfect seal on *any* product. In order to seal out water, the battery compartment gasket needs to be prepared before the first use, by swabbing a little bit of Vaseline or similar on all sides of the gasket surface. This will eventually degrade the gasket (lithium grease would be more appropriate), but it's worked fine for more than a year on this last one. If I were hostile, I would take away a star because Philips/Sonicare should provide a small packet of gasket grease in the box, but other than that, it works perfectly after lots and lots of use.
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