Philips Sonicare for Kids - Testers please add your feedback here and have a chance to win a pair of adult brushes worth £160

[carriemumsnet]

Thank you for testing the Sonicare for Kids rechargeable toothbrushes ? we hope you and your children are enjoying trying them out. Please answer the feedback questions below. If you have more than one child aged 4-10 trying the brush it would be great if you could say what each child thinks of it by referring to their gender and age (eg ?DD age 4 thinks xxx?).

Philips will be monitoring the thread, so please feel free to post any queries and they will be happy to answer them. The brushes apparently get more powerful after being used for 2 weeks so please come back to the thread again in another week or so and let us know how things are going.

Remember everyone who adds feedback here will have a chance to win a pair of adult brushes (worth £160)
Questions:

1. How easy was it to get your child to brush their teeth using Sonicare for Kids, compared to a normal brush? What did they particularly like about the brush/what did they dislike?
2. Did your child find the brush easy to use? Did you encounter any problems?
3. Would you say your child prefers Sonicare for Kids or their previous toothbrush?
4. Did your child report that their teeth felt cleaner?
5. How likely is your child to continue using Sonicare for Kids?
6. Would you or have you recommended this product to a friend or relative?
7. Any other comments/ questions?

Thanks
MNHQ

OK, here are the results from the flashharriet household (DS 10, DD1 8 and DD2 6):

1. How easy was it to get your child to brush their teeth using Sonicare for Kids, compared to a normal brush? What did they particularly like about the brush/what did they dislike?

Had no problems getting any of them to use the brushes - great excitement! They all really like them and find them straightforward to use (I think the little tunes to indicate moving on are a great idea and work really well).

DS (10): Easier than normal brush, fresher teeth, feels nice while brushing so you don't want to stop. Timing is a bit weird (see point 7)

DD1 (8): Funny sensation, makes teeth smooth and white, hurts a bit on my gums, a bit spiky

DD2 (6): I love it but I have to switch it on again to finish (see point 7)

1. Did your child find the brush easy to use? Did you encounter any problems?

All thought it was really easy to use.

DD2 liked that it told you to change area

1. Would you say your child prefers Sonicare for Kids or their previous toothbrush?

All much prefer the Sonicare

1. Did your child report that their teeth felt cleaner?

All said they were much cleaner

1. How likely is your child to continue using Sonicare for Kids?

All very likely to continue

DS "for as long as I can"
DD1 "for ever!"

1. Would you or have you recommended this product to a friend or relative?

All would recommend

1. Any other comments/ questions?

All of them have found the shorter program too short to get round all the teeth and so have had to start again to finish off. I can see the point of the staged program for younger children though and think it would work well but would like an option of being able to skip to the full 2 mins on the softer program.

Also, I think brushing the chewing surfaces should be part of the prgram rather than an optional add on i.e. the two minutes divided into 5 rather than 4 sessions? The children would much rather finish on the fanfare!

With three children, they just had to have a different panel each with no choice. Would prefer a greater range of panels (maybe a colour your own one?) and also different coloured heads would be really handy.

I hope this is comprehensive enough - thanks so much for the opportunity! Will post again if anything else comes up.

Just read Philips' reply about the heads - two of my children use the same head so would definitely need different coloured heads of the same size.

The other thing I've noticed is the battery life is excellent.

1. Liked the tune to tell you when to change which area you brush. Likes the tickle a bit now we are getting more used to it. Did not show DD the interchangeable bits just stuck one on and got on with it. When the novelty has worn off I may change it and pretend it is a new brush.
2. I usually brush them for her when she is in the bath at night. No problems just was not sure how to change the timer bit for build up and had to refer to instructions.
3. Prefers the sonicare.
4. No but they look better and it appears to get bits out of a little patch where a tooth is chipped
5. Will continue using it for foreseeable future and probably get new head for it when necessary.
6. Yes, DS 2.5 would like one and he has an occasional tickle with DDs 4.10. Just thought he was too young as recommended for 4+ but may have to buy him a head for it as well if I can find out if it will be okay for him to use also.
7. Can I use it on my 2.5 year old who is jealous of his sisters' new musical brush?

Can you put more details/instructions on box for idiots who do not want to plow through electrical safety and removal of batteries info in 17 languages to find out how to use the brush. Also I was not sure if I should plug it into my 110v socket or 240v socket on my plug and could not find this out from instructions. DH told me it did not matter but why do I have two differently labeled sockets if they are the same? [daft emoticon]

1. How easy was it to get your child to brush their teeth using Sonicare for Kids, compared to a normal brush? What did they particularly like about the brush/what did they dislike?

My dd was very keen to try the Sonicare initially. She was quite suprised at how it felt - she said it was very tingly and felt wierd on her gums. She seemed to get used to it relatively quickly.

She really liked being able to choose her own cover and also has found the brush head cover useful (for holidays/sleepovers.

The musical message to switch cleaning area was a great hit with her (fun to use) and with me (I feel her teeth are being cleaned better).

1. Did your child find the brush easy to use? Did you encounter any problems?

She found it easy to use but said it is hard not to dribble when using it!

1. Would you say your child prefers Sonicare for Kids or their previous toothbrush?

Now after a couple of weeks use, she is tending to use her normal toothbrush more than the Sonicare. I asked her if she didn't like it and she said no, she does like it but doesn't always want to use it! I'm not sure if she is being totally honest with me so I have asked her to try and use it more for the next couple of weeks.

I think she is reverting to her normal brush because she can get away with cleaning faster. Might try taking away the old tooth brush for a couple of weeks!

1. Did your child report that their teeth felt cleaner?

Yes! The extra time taken alone will help with this.

1. How likely is your child to continue using Sonicare for Kids?

I hope she will continue and she is certainly not against using it.

1. Would you or have you recommended this product to a friend or relative?

I think it could win over a reluctant brusher so maybe. However it would not suit all kids. I have a 12 year old who would not even try it and certainly would not like the sensation. But honestly I am yet to be convinced. I need to see that my dd is really happy to use it daily and not just happy now because it is new/novel.

1. Any other comments/ questions?

Excellent battery life - we even took it on holiday and it lasted very well.

Thanks very much for the chance to take part in this trial - I will post again in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for all your comments testers - do add more as you've been using the brush for longer
Ann, MNHQ

The brush is noticeably more powerful now and as a result more tickly for DD1, she's less keen to use it now as the novelty has worn off. If she uses it on the softer setting then she's happier with it.

My DTs (4 in 3 weeks) have been using it too and are still really enjoying it. They also use it on the gentle setting and want to try and brush their own teeth!

Many thanks for all your comments, Philips are very pleased with the feedback you've all given.

I am pleased to announce the winner of the adult brushes is IlanaK so congratulations to her and once again many thanks!

Congratulations to IlanaK who won 2 adult brushes for taking part in this test. Philips generously sent a FlexCare with Sanitiser (worth £200) and a FlexCare without sanitiser (worth £160)!

Still having great results with this although Ds I discovered, had stopped using toothpaste with it!!! he told me he didn't need to use toothpaste with such a great tooth brush , anyway! I put him straight and he is, once again brushing his teeth properly.