A non-frugal thing I enjoy is my Sonicare toothbrush. You're supposed to change the heads a couple times/year. I'm annoyed they couldn't design it such that you throw out less plastic, etc. and change only the true brush head.. but anyway..
I realized it's easy to pry off the two tiny black Chiclet magnets and use them for whatever you use magnets for. They're Really Strong! Besides the fridge, I have used them to hang a full-sized wrench for changing the propane tank on our stove, inside the metal compartment door (so it's always at hand), and for hanging up a "puller-outer" widget that came with our toaster oven (see above).
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 5,311
I had a Sonicare and when it finally broke I went to replace it but was swayed by the Oral B rechargeable by Braun . It doesn't really feel different than my Sonicare and the price was $19.99.
Our kid's lusted after a Sonicare ever since her orthodontist "recommended" it.
Meanwhile I've been nursing a shorted-out Braun. It uses AA batteries but I've been cycling through a baggie of crusty decade-old NiCds from my bicycle-light days, recharging them on a clunky 1980s Eveready multi-purpose charger. Every few months the Braun stops running until I rinse it with alcohol. I'm just finishing a the last brush head of a package that spouse bought in Bangkok's MBK department store a few years back when the baht was only 37 to the dollar.
Maybe it's time to step up and treat myself...
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The batteries only really last a few years until they can't hold a charge anymore. The last model I chucked I opened up first, and it looked like there were just regular NiCd-type rechargeables inside. I had to bust it to get it open..of course you're supposed to pay for a whole new gizmo instead of just buying new batteries at 1/10th or 1/20th the cost. And of course almost everyone just throws the whole object out in the trash when it's probably better not to have all that cadmium floating around.
I might invest in a soldering iron and some duct tape when the current one dies.
A sonicare toothbrush is worth its weight in gold. In my previous life I saw amazing results in patients that routinely used them daily.
For those of you that have a Sonicare you can run a quick experiment to demonstrate to yourself how effective they are. Brush your teeth with your old style hand operated toothbrush. Run your tongue over your teeth and remember how smooth they feel. Now use the Sonicare and again run your tongue over your teeth.
Didn't do such a good job with the manual toothbrush, did you?
Have you looked inside that Sonicare lately? The way it is designed it's easy for it to retain moisture and grow mold in there. Yuck. Talked to the dental hygienist about it and he says the top part (not the battery part) can be cleaned in the dishwasher.
Often I just take it apart at night so it can dry out.
I've gotten several years out of a Braun/Oral-B rechargeable (pair) of units. One trick, specific to the older Ni-Cad rechargeable batteries, is that you should periodically run them dead and then fully charge them. The absolute worst thing to do is keep it (or your cordless phone -- same technology) on the charger all the time, but what do most of us do? Devil's advocate says: Oh yeah? You've essentially done that for years, and the batteries still get weak over time. At least with the cordless, the answer (sadly) is buy a new one at Wal-mart, probably 1/2 the cost of just replacing the battery
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The one nice feature of the sonicaire is the automatic timer. You would be amazed at the number of people who spend less than two minutes brushing their teeth. The timer beeps every 30 seconds to tell you to switch quadrants.
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Losing my whump
Posts: 22,526
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nords
Our kid's lusted after a Sonicare ever since her orthodontist "recommended" it.
Meanwhile I've been nursing a shorted-out Braun. It uses AA batteries but I've been cycling through a baggie of crusty decade-old NiCds from my bicycle-light days, recharging them on a clunky 1980s Eveready multi-purpose charger. Every few months the Braun stops running until I rinse it with alcohol. I'm just finishing a the last brush head of a package that spouse bought in Bangkok's MBK department store a few years back when the baht was only 37 to the dollar.
Maybe it's time to step up and treat myself...
In other news, a home in Hawaii burned to the ground today. Investigators suspect a fire started by an old battery leaking into a charger and being accelerated by alcohol which was inexplicably stored in a toothbrush handle.
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