I have three different Sonicare toothbrushes in my house, ranging from 2 years old to probably pushing 5 years old. They've all been flawless - even the one my kiddo uses and abuses.

Pure anecdata. My own says that my Sonicare has been bulletproof and has survived years of use and international travel.

I’ve used the same Sonicare toothbrush for 20 years. It somehow still holds a nearly month-long charge. It’s sad to hear their quality has gone downhill

I’ve wondered the same. The reason is that they aren’t waterproof and water leaks onto the circuit board.

I recommend buying the cheapest option and getting a warranty with them. I wish Philips could just figure out how to waterproof them properly instead of creating so much waste.

We replaced their sonicare toothbrush twice already. First one somehow ended up getting water inside and stopped working, second one I think had bent the toothbrush mount too much and it also would disconnect - could've been user error because it was unintentionally pushed harder than it was required. IMO they still have decent price and durability otherwise, compared to everything else so far, and no stupid gimmicks such as an app, lol.

Mine broke after 2 years, but I think that’s because I dropped it, pointy-side down, onto tile, without a brush head on it.

My soniccare is more than 8 years old and is working fine.

YMMV, because I just replaced my 6-ish year old Sonicare because the motor seemed like it was dying out.

I say 6-ish, but it's got to be longer than that, because it was three addresses and a job ago.

One word of advice: The more expensive ones are better. You dont need to spend 200$, but the 80$ one is much better than a 30$ one.

got a diamondclean and it took out some plaque that I couldn't get rid off for a long time.

Used Chinese knock off for a long time, a Soocas. Recently thought about upgrading from $30 Chinese to $80 Chinese (OClean), the latter failed after 2 months. YMMMV ofc, but after that, and reading on HN about Chinese stealing IP from Europe, we thought about getting a Phillips (which my dentist recommended). It was a Black Friday deal, and knowing the differene between 5100 or 5XXX and one of the top brushes, Diamondclean, was like 1/4th of a dentist visit - we got the latter. And both me and wife think it's awesome. + you get a travel etui. The app sucks just like the Soocas and OClean app, but the vibration every 30s is enough "smartness" for me.

Funny that the cheap Chinese sonic brush (Soocas) is still working well and I'm thinking about getting a shoe cleaning brush set for it.

Phillips toothbrush doesn't last as long on one charge as the Chinese brushes do.