Philips Sonicare 4100 Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush, with Pressure Sensor, 2 Intensity Settings, SmarTimer and QuadPacer, 14-Day Battery Life, Black, Model HX3681/24

Dateline: A Bathroom Sink, Under the Unforgiving Glare of the Vanity Lights. For years, the act of brushing your teeth has been a sleepy, half-conscious affair. A dull, buzzing ritual performed on autopilot before you either face the horrors of the day or collapse into bed. You thought you knew what an electric toothbrush felt like. You were wrong. You were living a lie.I am here to tell you about the Philips Sonicare 4100. And I am here to tell you that it is a different beast entirely.It sits in your hand with a comfortable, substantial heft—a proper tool, not some flimsy, skinny wand. The handle is sturdy, the build quality immaculate. It feels like a serious instrument for a serious job. I applied the paste, brought the brush to my teeth with the casual indifference born of long habit, and thumbed the power button.And was immediately jolted awake by a profound, high-frequency thrum.This was not the gentle back-and-forth of a lesser brush. This was a jump scare. A sudden, powerful hum that felt like I was holding a swarm of microscopic, hyper-caffeinated jackhammers against my teeth. This is the "sonic" part of the name, a technology that vibrates with a speed and intensity that is both shocking and deeply, profoundly effective. You can feel the difference. It's a sensation of being deep-cleaned, of having years of coffee stains and bad decisions power-washed into oblivion.There are smart features, of course. A pressure sensor that gently chides you if you're pressing too hard, a built-in coach to keep you from savaging your own gums. A timer that dutifully guides you through the quadrants of your mouth. The included cap for the brush head is a simple, welcome touch of practical genius.But we must address the one, single, baffling decision that holds this marvel back from pure, unadulterated perfection: the charger. In a world that has finally, blessedly, begun to standardize around the glorious, universal USB-C port, Philips has chosen to tether this futuristic cleaning wand to a proprietary, old-world charging base. It is a strange, frustrating relic, a small annoyance that requires its own dedicated spot on your counter, unable to join the happy family of your other modern chargers.Even so, that one grievance is a whisper in the face of the roaring, high-frequency hurricane of cleaning power this toothbrush provides. The Sonicare 4100 is an impressive, powerful, and brilliantly effective piece of technology. It transforms the most mundane of daily chores into a high-performance event. A five-star champion that will leave your mouth feeling cleaner than you ever thought possible.

This is a great toothbrush and has really improved oral hygiene since I got my first one a few years ago. I had the black one before the same series. This is newer and it’s a tad quieter than before and feels a bit lighter. I think it’s cute it comes in pink. I saw a lot of people saying their toothbrush died after 2-3 years. It says that’s the estimated amount of time for the brush to work. I had mine for 3 before it finally just gave up. If you’re brushing every single day, 2-3 times a day for 2 years that’s a lot of use. As long as you don’t drop it or bang it on stuff then it won’t quit on ya any sooner than it says. I like it and will continue to use it as my teeth feel so much cleaner than if I used a regular toothbrush again.

Love this Sonicare. We have use the original for so many years we don’t think of anything else. This model works well and easier to keep clean!

The Philips toothbrushes are great regarding getting one’s teeth clean. However, I’ve owned three in the past 10 years and the third one has an issue where it’s constantly engaging/disengaging the charger so it makes the “boop, boop” sound constantly. The second one stopped charging after a year or so. The first one was the high-end model which cost over $100. It lasted several years, but then stopped working. Philips designs and manufacturers some great products, unfortunately this one falls flat in manufacturing.

This is my 1st electric toothbrush. I ordered it over the oral b smart 1500 because it's cheaper and I found more people who swear by it than oral b. Later on, I read comments where people who have this 4100 for 10+ years say that the newer 2021 version has only half the power of the old version. Someone on reddit showed images of the inside of the new and old versions and the new version has a small plastic toy-like motor, while the old version has a big copper-wrapped motor and an old version user said "now I understand why the new version is lighter and less powerful".I was disappointed on the new version and tried to cancel the order but I couldn't. Once it came, I decided to try it and to my surprise, it brushes my teeth way better than my manual soft-bristled and hard-bristled toothbrushes(I use both manual brushes daily compared to my daily usage of the electric toothbrush 4100 C2 head of medium bristles. If you have gum sensitive issue, buy the S sensitive or G2 optimal brush head. If you want hard-bristled, buy W diamondclean brush head).I don't know how good the old version was but this newer version definitely brushes better than any manual toothbrush unfortunately it doesn't not come with a travel case.Update 5/16/2024: I bought the Oral B smart 1500 because it was on sale and I wanted to see how better it is compared to the sonicare. The oral B package looks nicer and bigger than the Sonicare but upon opening the smart 1500 package, I saw hair all over the toothbrush. I did read many customers saying on reddit that their Oral b toothbrush were repackaged, but I can't believe I'm a victim of this nastiness. It also took 2 weeks to reach me from Hawaii and since it says "made in China", I think the seller is located in China.I'll return this and I'll advise you to buy the Sonicare instead of the oral b if you don't want to be cheated receiving a used-repackaged toothbrush.Update 05/22/2024: On 05/17/24, I bought the Oral b smart clean 360 which has exact power as the smart 1500 that I returned but the smart 360 has 5 modes and a button to change the mode while the smart 1500 has 3 modes and no button to switch between the modes.The advantage of the oral b smart clean 360 is that the brush heads cost is cheaper than the Sonicare 4100 and I find it better at whitening my teeth than the Sonicare. That's all the advantages there.The things that I don't like with it are many, so I'm just going to name the most annoying ones:1) The brush heads are too big compared to the Sonicare(see picture):Putting Oral b brush heads in my mouth is like putting a golf ball in my mouth(my head and mouth are wider than the average US male).2) The brush heads have holes(see pictures) that trap saliva+toothpaste and creates more noise when the brush handle needle rotates in the presence of the liquid mixture, and moisture will be also trapped easily in the holes(most customers complain about Oral b brush heads design. Oral b corrected the needle issue with the IO version but the IO introduced a shallow hole which now traps moisture in the brush handle).When I'm using the Oral b with no choice but to have my mouth wide-open, it forces my mouth to produce more saliva which gets mixed with the toothpaste and enters the brush head and creates more noise.3) Rattling noise: The Oral b smart clean 360 isn't as noisy as people say. It's the quality of the noise the problem. It's a very unpleasant rattling noise as if you're hearing an old car engine with broken parts in it. That noise gets worse when liquid enters the brush head holes.4) The charger is not round like a perfect circle:You must put the Oral b brush handle in a specific position to charge it and if you place it wrong, it'll fall and might break.5) The Daily Clean mode is rough and combined with the big brush head the experience is bad, but the smart clean 360 has more mode which make it smoother and better than the smart 1500 but not as good as the Sonicare 4100.6)It has no auto-stop mode: You keep brushing without knowing how long you have been brushing your teeth.To summarize, the oral b non-IO brush heads are cheap but very badly designed for a pleasant toothbrushing. I won't recommend it if you're shorter than 6 foot tall or have a small mouth.