On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:48:59 -0700, William Sommerwerck wrote:

But be prepared for some sticker shock.

The one I had (that just went South couple days ago) cost less than 15
USD a couple of years ago.

The cheapest Oral-B I could find retail around here was close to eighty
dollars.

Finally wound up paying $100 for a two-pack of "Professional 1000"
models at Sam's Club - figuring that the extra twenty was well spent
against the day when one failed again.

I'm thinking all this is some kind of marketing ploy by Oral-B, since
Colgate offers electric toothbrushes at under $10 - albeit not with the
reciprocating action of the Oral-B.

The expensive Oral-B is rechargeable, the Colgate (et alia) are not.
Hence the price difference.

What's despicable is that Oral-B and Philips (Sonicare) provide no way
of exchanging the batteries. Once they fail, the unit becomes yet more
electro-mechanical trash.

Before anyone responds... Yes, I'm aware how difficult it would be to
make the units water-tight.

I have both Oral and Philips. Both are at least 10 years old and there is
no noticeable decrease in runtime. I'd say i got my money's worth so far.



--
Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse