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| Sonicare EasyClean | vs. | Sonicare HealthyWhite |
… Fight!
Okay, if you were expecting an all-out bloodbath like last time’s Sonicare EasyClean vs Sonicare Essence 5600, I’m sorry to disappoint you. These two brushes are pretty similar, so this week’s electric toothbrush cage match is going to be short and sweet. If you’re Sonicare toothbrush savvy, you probably noticed that there are two Sonicare HealthyWhite brushes on the market right now — the 710 and the 732. You can read my full review of the HealthyWhite 710, but we’ll be talking about the
Brush Design
| Sonicare EasyClean | Sonicare HealthyWhite |
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Winner:
Okay, so I’ll admit that’s a slim victory. The HealthyWhite features LED displays to indicate battery strength and setting selection. It also sensibly comes with a hard travel case for brushing on the go, a lot more useful than the little hygienic travel cap packaged with the EasyClean.
Settings
| Sonicare EasyClean | Sonicare HealthyWhite |
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Winner:
though not for the reasons you’d think. Essentially, “Clean & White” is two minutes of “Clean” with an extra 30 seconds of “White” to focus attention on your front teeth. “White” mode sounds and feels different from “Clean” mode (it’s it’s own setting, not just an extra 30 seconds of “Clean” for show) and Sonicare claims it will whiten your teeth two shades in two weeks, but I’m still a little curious how it works. What really impresses me about this brush is the “Sensitive” setting. If you have sensitive teeth and want a Sonicare brush, this is the cheapest option by far.
Note: “Sensitive” is only available with the HealthyWhite 732 brush. The lower-end model, the 710, only offers “Clean” and “Clean & White.”
Price
| Sonicare EasyClean | Sonicare HealthyWhite |
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Winner:
Not a huge shock, here. The EasyClean is a workhorse of a brush — it cleans your teeth and that’s about it. If you don’t want or need a brush that claims to whiten your teeth or caters to your sensitive gums, from a financial perspective, the decision’s obvious. In any event, try to
and save yourself some money. Keep an eye out for coupons in the “Special Offers and Product Promotions” section, too.
Potential Issues
| SSonicare EasyClean | Sonicare HealthyWhite |
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Winner: This one’s tough. Like I said before, these two brushes are very similar. Of the two, the EasyClean probably holds up best, but that’s because it has less to do. I’m calling this a tie.
Clarification: Li-Ion batteries have to be treated a certain way to ensure their long-term health and, unfortunately, it’s not intuitive. Check out BatteryUniversity.com for more information.
Clarification #2: The HealthyWhite is considered difficult to turn off because the “On/Off” and the “Setting Selection” button are the same thing. If you decide to turn off (or pause) your brush mid-use, you’ll have to cycle through the settings until it stops buzzing.
Customer Rating
| SSonicare EasyClean | Sonicare HealthyWhite |
| 4.6 stars | 4.5 stars |
Winner:
It may seem close, but when you consider that the EasyClean’s hard-earned 4.6 rating is the result of no fewer than 700 customer ratings (compared to the HealthyWhite’s 220 ratings), the number’s all the more impressive.
Drumroll, please…
Winner: … uh.
So here’s the thing. Both these brushes are actually pretty good. There can be no winner in this contest because people are going to pick different brushes based on their own needs and preferences. For most budget-conscious people, the
is probably worth it.
Personally, I’d take the HealthyWhite.
8 Replies to “Q&A Cage Match: Sonicare EasyClean vs. Sonicare HealthyWhite”
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Thanks for the great review. Which brush has the slimmer handle, the easyclean or the healthy white?
Apologies for the long delay in getting back to you. I suspect the ship has sailed, but for the record both the EasyClean and the HealthyWhite use essentially the same body.
Hi Liz. Thanks. Yes I did buy one — I got the EasyClean because the package boasts “slim handle” but I suspect that’s because it lacks other attributes of which to boast. Also, some people commented on having to “run through” all the settings when one tries to turn off the HealthyWhite. I didn’t think I would use the “sensitive” setting on the HealthyWhite but now I think I would have used it in the beginning because the brush took some getting used to and both my husband and I found it not enjoyable to use at first. I’m liking it very much now, though.
Haha, I know. Takes a bit of adjusting, doesn’t it? After the Easy-start period was over (for the first 14 brushes, it buzzes at a lower speed to let you adapt) and I experienced full strength for the first time, I considered switching to Sensitive myself. You do get used to it, though.
Hmm. I know that on my brush — the Sonicare Flexcare — there’s a way to re-enable the Easy-start mode if you want.
Yeah, I just skimmed the EasyClean manual and you can re-enable the Easy-start mode by pressing and holding the power on/off button for two seconds. You hear two beeps to indicate the feature has been activated. Similarly, to turn it off again, you hold the power on/off button for two seconds and hear one beep to indicate deactivation.
It’s not recommended that you use the Easy-start long-term, because it decreases the effectiveness of the brush, but in the event you’re ever left yearning for a less-intense brushing experience it’s still there. 🙂
PS — I just re-read your review and thought I would mention that my EasyClean did come with a travel case as well as two brush heads — the standard pro-results head and a “gum health” brush head. The “gum health” head is softer. I prefer a compact head so I bought two DiamondClean compact heads. Sonicare has so many brush heads that it’s a bit annoying but I wish they had a compact soft option. I’m going to try the compact pro-results eventually.
Thanks much for this! That must be a recent change — I haven’t seen an EasyClean packaged with a “gum-health” brush head before. I feel you on the compact soft heads, but the DiamondClean compact was a good choice. From what I’ve read, the DiamondClean heads actually get better results than the default ProResults brush heads that are normally packaged with non-DiamondClean brushes.
(And if various Sonicare brush heads make your head spin, you should see the number of options available on the Oral-B side. Eek!)
My EasyClean didn’t have the Easy-start feature when I first used it, and after reading your post I tried holding down the start button and nothing happened except the toothbrush went on as normal. I held it for a good 3 or 4 seconds. I’m going to check my manual because I’d like to try it if it’s possible. I didn’t know Oral-B has a lot of brush heads. Before I got the Sonicare I used Oral-b for decades and I only know of 3 or 4 brush heads — regular, soft, one with thick rubbery bristles interspersed with the nylon bristles, and one with two heads (that one is terrible). I kind of liked the one with the rubbery bristles but after using it for a month or so my hygienist said I had some inflammation so I stopped. I used the regular brush head mostly. The soft one was good but a bit difficult to find and there wasn’t really much difference. Oral-b used to make a special head for which you could buy little plastic “picks” (I think they were called humming birds) for getting between the teeth, and I liked those but they were discontinued or else impossible to find. My hygienist much prefers the Sonicare because the brush head on the Oral-B moves and she thinks that can cause damage. I’m glad I finally bought the Sonicare because it really does clean better and with less effort.
you have to activate it on the charger while its plugged