[Grombobulous]

I've never experienced them breaking that quickly, but it's worth pointing out that the cheap models are far inferior. The motors are weaker and they even come with a worse charger that doesn't come with a normal wall outlet plug.

I don't like USB-C for toothbrushes to charge because there's water in the bathroom. The proprietary inductive charger/stand that comes with Sonicare/Oral-B electric toothbrushes are ideal.

Sucks that they are proprietary but they have been trivially easy to clone by third party manufacturers. $7 on Amazon.

[jbverschoor]

I've had the topline ones fail on me three times after a couple of years. Now on a base model, and works just as fine.

The old charging glass isn't compatible with newer ones, so I have a couple of those laying around as junk. All the travel cases used micro usb-a, which is super inconvenient.

So no "ecosystem" buy-in into any Philips line from me anymore. They have a very bad product lines anyway.. Super complex, tons of SKUs with minimal differences. But they do have some good products.

[Grombobulous]

The way I think about these is that, yeah, it's unfortunate that these are not the best products on the market as a product category, and they cost more than they really should.

Of course, another way to think about it is that the most expensive preventative care is better than the cheapest corrective care.

I don't really consider these an "ecosystem" like tech. An ecosystem implies there's a big cost in both time and money to switching to something else.

In my case, I'm either going to buy Sonicare or Oral-B because those are the options with bulk refills Costco. There are brands out there that are cheaper, but not by much. If they break, I buy another one. Such is life.

Of course, you can clean your teeth just as well with a cheap toothbrush and a much less expensive budget if you are diligent and thorough with your brushing. Flossing is also more important, anyway.

But I'm not messing around with my teeth: if my dentist recommends an electric toothbrush, I'm buying one.

This subject also reminds me of the razor blade market. A whole lot of "disruption" has taken place over the years with online shaver brands supposedly offering "the same" product as incumbents like Gillette.

But if you shave your head bald you'll know that a Harry's razor is really inferior compared to a Gillette razor. Sometimes the overpriced brand names are simply the best options on the market, even if they have been cost-cut or are otherwise "not what they used to be," and I feel similarly about Sonicare. I could buy some off-brand electric toothbrush and maybe it's 70-90% as good, but that juice isn't worth the squeeze.