Philips HX6511/50 Sonicare EasyClean

Edit 2023: well even though I have taken great care of my brush to keep it dry and clean it still died after just over 2 years of use. MEH! For this time the spindle holding the head went loose suddenly so obviously something broke inside. I did register this one with the extended warranty with Philips and after running through to provide the details of the fault and the proof of postage they have stated they will send me an alternative product. The one here is not sold now so it will be interesting to see what I get by way of a replacement. Update to follow. I've used these sonic brushes for years now and they seem to clean very well. The battery life is excellent, most times going several months before a charge is needed. This means it is great if you travel away. The key to looking after these is keeping them dry. Despite what they are designed for (being around water and wet) they are not keen on prolonged soaking. All previous models I've had all eventually die because water has gotten in and destroyed the electronics. The bottom can actually allow water in via a capillary action where the charge port is and also on the top, you can get a tiny split in the rubber gasket where the head prong vibrates. So longs you dry this off after each use they last a long time. The batteries inside are not user replaceable really. You can open the unit but this is somewhat destructive. The batteries last years though from what I find. Sadly the brush head replacements are and remain really expensive when you consider what you get. Thankfully the genuine heads do last a very long time before they show signs of wear. For me the regular brush stiffness is far too hard so I opt for the sensitive brush heads. Overall, we have had 5 or 6 of these over the years and will very likely buy another when these eventually go.

Since buying this in May 2021 at each 6 monthly dentist appointment I’ve never had my teeth de-scaled or tea stains removed, the improvement is amazing. However, it failed after 40 months due to water ingress and my wife’s after 26 months. In each case this was due to failure of the silicone seal at the shaft to body junction. The picture shows the internal seal and the what you see is not deposits but the seal destruction. I believe this is due to persistent exposure to alkalines and hydrogen peroxide in toothpastes. There are other materials such as Neoprene which would not be affected by these chemicals but then the toothbrush would last much longer, built in redundancy perhaps! The instructions do state the shaft should be cleaned in warm water at least once per week but fails to mention the importance of cleaning the silicone seal. I therefore recommend cleaning the seal after each use or be prepared to replace after a few years. I did manage to dismantle it, remove the battery (desoldering required) and thoroughly clean in an ultrasonic cleaner. I embedded the tip in silicone and it works again. Hopefully I’ll get another year or so use. Having said all that it’s still far superior to those rotating head types so well worth it for me.

Good product, achieves what it's meant to but I have found that all Sonicare toothbrushes eventually get to the point where they will no longer charge. If you think about it, realistically what electrical product doesn't though? I've owned many Sonicare products throughout the years, diamond clean included and personally I don't think there is much in it between them.The basic model is pretty much the same as the others and the heads are interchangeable. If you prefer one head in particular you can mount it on the basic handle just as you can mount the basic head on the top end model. The basic model doesn't have the extra functions of the others but you probably won't use most of those anyway in your day to day routine. If you want a better clean then use it for four minutes instead of two but naturally this will reduce the battery life accordingly. I'd say this is a good purchase and you actually could pay a lot more for a lot less with regards to some of the other products available. The heads are very expensive and the charger is annoyingly incompatible with anything else in your travel bag which is why I gave this four stars instead of five. At the price you pay on Amazon, a minimum of 12 - 24 months cleaning for around £35 isn't exactly breaking the bank. If you paid the RRP for it then you'd expect more and I would probably only give it a three star rating but this is a good price for this product. This is the Sonicare model I buy and will continue to replace with as time goes by until something better comes along.

After owning this toothbrush for about one and a half months now I can say that it is very well suited to me. I can confirm that you can use the diamond tip heads with it which are supposedly much better at cleaning your teeth. The head doesn't rotate from side to side like oralB brushes that my wife uses, but rather vibrates. I can't see any difference in the clean quality though. The battery cycle seems to be very much better then my wife oralB though. It states that it will operate through 50 bush cycles, but I personally think that it is much more than this. I only charged the unit for about 20 mins after unboxing it the evening that it arrived and is is still going strong (note - I don't religiously brush my teeth morning and night, but usually at least once a day and use half a cycle to use a tooth whitening paste after brushing). The unit has about a 30 second memory, by which I mean if you stop the brush for whatever reason and then restart it within 30 seconds it will pick up from where it left off in the brush cycle. Like most electric toothbrushes these days it runs for two minutes with 3 short pauses at 30 second intervals to let you know it is time to move onto another quadrant of your mouth. My only gripe with this is that the 'base station' charger is very small and light so it is very easy to knock it over. Toothbrush heads come with a reusable plastic cover on them which is a great little addition for when you are traveling or swapping heads when your other half is using the bush as well. From what I can see there are no 'sensitive gums' brush heads for this line, but i personally find them to be quite soft, however my wife disagrees (hence why she will continue to use the oral B even though the battery on this is far superior).

I really like this toothbrush. I have used a manual one for many years but bought a sonic one on the recommendation of my hygenist. Although it is a fairly basic model it does everything I require. It leaves my teeth feeling really clean and my gums also look healthier since starting to use it. It came ready charged so I could use it right away. It took a little getting used to but the fact that the vibration starts at a lower level and builds up over the first 14 uses helped. To ensure that you brush for the recommended two minutes the brush stops momentarily every 30 seconds and turns itself off at the end of two minutes. It has small plastic cap that fits over the brush head to keep it clean, which I like. Overall, a very nice, well-made toothbrush at a good price. Update - July 2023. After 7 years the toothbrush is no longer working properly. I'm pretty pleased it's lasted so long but not pleased that the price has gone up from the £35 I paid in 2016 to £125 now!

Update just over 1 week of use and my teeth are so much cleaner. This is the first electric toothbrush I have ever had and decided to purchase after my dentist recommeded it. After spending many day's doing my research and reading many reviews I came to the conclusion the Philips Sonicare EasyClean HX6511/50 Toothbrush was the best buy, excellent performance and cheap Replacement Toothbrush Heads which are £9.87 for 8, The replacement heads are even better than the one that was supplied with the philips sonicare toothbrush. The results are outstanding my teeth look and feel so much cleaner and only use half the amount of toothpaste which is a bonus don't know how long it will last but you get a 2 year warranty that you can register on the philips website, I will update if any problems arise. I would definitely recommend the Philips Sonicare EasyClean HX6511/50 Toothbrush as you can get excellent replacement toothbrush heads at a good price. Please click on the “Yes” button below if this review has been helpful thank you

We've used Sonicare since before Philips bought them. This is our second one of these, but there's now a flaw in I think all of these. If you change the heads frequently (which you will if used by a couple, say) it will break. The head is a push fit and held quite tight. You have to pull reasonably hard to get it off. That puts a strain on the bit that sticks out of the handle and it eventually breaks. Our first one did this and I'm expecting this one to go the same way (update - it did, but this time after 20 months so inside the warranty period rather than just outside). I replaced the first one quickly after it failed and we needed one for a trip. [UPDATE June 2021. We received a warranty replacement for our second one if these in March. Unlike the first two where the heads are very tight and eventually the handle shaft pulls out, this one started doing the opposite. The heads fall off while I’m brushing. Several times in a brush to the point where I’m trying to hold it with a finger whilst brushing. I thought it maybe a faulty head (genuine Philips heads), but no, other new heads do the same. So either they’ve changed the design/manufacturing tolerances to avoid the usual way they fail or the replacement had possibly been refurbished and perhaps modified slightly? Whatever it is, relying on an interference fit only for an item which is vibrating ultrasonically is probably not wise a questionable design choice. The old pre-Philips models did not have this issue as the heads screwed on. More expensive to make, but simple and rock solid. Philips seem to be about buying up innovation and then ruining it through cost cutting. That said, I will give Philips credit that on this occasion, they have agreed to send a replacement for the replacement even though I’m just outside the original warranty period. A bit of a hassle to battle first Amazon and then Philip bots to talk to someone, but once I did they sorted this efficiently and seemingly with knowledge of the issues.] Based on other reviews about battery life, it also sounds like Phillips have reduced the battery capacity on these since we bought this as ours does last at least a week with two of us brushing twice a day Next time I'll have to look at alternatives despite liking how well these clean teeth and gums. It's a shame Phillips had to be mess with this (as is typical of them). The original Sonicare design was simple and sturdy. Our original non-Philips Sonicare is still going strong (over ten years old) which makes the new ones look very poor and unsustainable in terms of chucking stuff in landfill.

Although a long term user of the Oral B/Braun electric toothbrushes, I had got increasingly fed up with the poor battery life of them, and bought this in a lightning deal to see how different it was, and whether I would like it. 5 stars in both categories. Both my wife and I find the cleaning action much better, and find out teeth feel that much cleaner after use. In addition, the battery life seems phenomenal - after the Oral B life of (if we were lucky) 4 or 5 days, the first charge lasted a good month; it would certainly have lasted longer as it was still showing at over 15%, but I elected to charge it as we were going away for a few days. The final advantage is that it seems to take any of the current replacement heads (although it's difficult to work out the beneits of each of the different ones) Overall very pleased with the toothbrush and especially so of the cleaning process and battery life, Reassessment: All I said above remains valid, BUT....! After about six months it stopped recharging (after only about 6 recharging cycles!). Philips exchanged the handle under warranty - excellent service, no quibbles, obvious they were aware of problems - and the new handle worked as well as before. However, after a further year or so of use this has also stopped recharging. On this basis I have downgraded the review mark - a shame, as we were still happy with the brush, but the life is too short to give it a better rating. Nevertheless after a bit of discussion (as Oral B have at last started using LI-ion batteries) we have now ordered another (higher specced) model - but if it only gives us a limited life period it will be the last. Edit Pt 2: Have now received our new Philips toothbrush, and after charging up I thought I'd try to recharge this old one again (on the new, identical charger) - and it worked. So the problem was not the head but the recharger. Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing until you get a new toothbrush!