Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 4300 Review

Design, usability, clean & general use

I want to start this main part of the review off by praising Sonicare on their approach to packaging the 4300.

Compared to previous models, the box is smaller, which means less cardboard use and better from a shelving and transportation perspective.

Both the outer and inner tray are recyclable.

The brush handle, head and charging stand are wrapped in plastic, which is a shame, but they are labelled as recyclable.

It is a small thing, but I feel significant.  Compare this to Oral-B who use a polystyrene inner tray as part of their packaging, in today’s world is this right or required?

Out of the box and in hand the ProtectiveClean 4300 is a lovely solid and premium feeling electric toothbrush.

It is hard to explain, but there is something about the way Sonicare products feel in hand.  There is a certain quality and feeling of ‘premium’ over and above the competition.

In the box you get the brush handle, the brush head and charging stand in addition to the instruction manual.

It would be nice if there was an extra brush head or basic travel case included for this price. But, sadly not.

The handle is available in a 2 different colours, black gray and white mint.

As a nice touch, the white handle comes with a white charging stand and the black a black stand. Both have a white coloured brush head.

The brush is made up of 2 key parts, the handle and the detachable brush head.

The handle is rounded in its shape and has the fairly typical electric toothbrush look to it.

The finish of the plastic has a matt feel rather than the quite common glossy white you see.

Despite the minimal gripping points, it feels like you can hold the brush quite securely.

It would be nice if there were a few strategically placed pieces of rubber to grip onto, but this may detract from the clean design.

Around the power button on the brush handle is a plastic panel.  

On the white mint, this is mint in colour to contrast with the handle. Whereas on the black it is a more glossy black than the handle itself.

On the front of the handle, at the top, is the Philips Sonicare logo.

Sitting roughly a third of the way down the handle is the round power button. The button itself is concave and makes for a natural place to rest the thumb.  It is made of rubber and has a power symbol embossed on it.

It is around this button that sits the aforementioned panel, which offers the colour contrast.

The brush handle is smooth to the touch, and the plastic construction has been coated to give a matt finish, but one that also has the feeling of grip to it.

Unlike some glossy white handles of the past, this does not feel too slippery in hand.

Towards the bottom of the brush handle sits the BrushSync LED and symbol, below this is the battery LED and symbol below that.

Taking a look at the back of the brush, you would normally expect to find ridges or raised dots to offer up grip, but not here.

The rear of the handle of the ProtectiveClean Plaque Defence is smooth to the touch, the only exception being a little protrusion just before the bottom of the handle.

Some may wonder what it is.  Well, this very simple notch is ingenious in what it offers.  Should you lay the brush flat on a worktop, this notch stops the brush from rolling, even if knocked.  No more dirty brush bristle. Simple, but effective.

The base of the brush handle allows for it to stand upright on a flat surface.  But the base does have a recess in it, into which the prong on the charging stand fits.

Moving to the top of the brush handle is where you find the metal shaft that the interchangeable Sonicare brush heads connect to.  This metal shaft feeds into the motor sealed inside the handle.

Brush heads simply push on over this metal shaft and clip in place and pull off with ease.

With a head fitted, when you look side on at the brush handle you will see the head is at a slight angle.  The reason for this is that it helps give a better reach towards the back of the mouth. A subtle but important design feature that enhances the overall usability.

There is only 1 cleaning mode available on the ProtectiveClean 4300.

This Clean mode uses the full power of the internal motor, moving the brush head bristles at up to 31,000 times per minute.

I like the simplicity of just 1 mode.  It suits most users well and does not complicate matters with additional choices that will rarely be used.

As a result of the 1 cleaning mode, there are no LEDs or symbols on the handle to show you which mode is selected.

Nor are there any icons for the brushing intensity that is selected.

The ProtectiveClean 4300 offers the choice between a high and low intensity, to give you the choice of a softer or more invigorating cleaning experience.

In many respects it is equivalent to having a powerful ‘Clean’ and a ‘Sensitive’ mode on the handle, albeit not labelled as such.

My preference is for the high setting where you get the full power of the motor, but the low setting is certainly more gentle and will appeal to many.

This lower setting is most useful for those with inflamed or sensitive gums.

Pressing the power button turns the brush on, it is then a case of pressing the power button 1 or 2 more times to change the intensity.

It will be obvious, which is which during use.

Press and hold the power button to turn the brush off.  Or alternatively, you can let the brush turn itself off.

One of the extra features it comes with is automatic power off, this happens when the 2 minute cleaning cycle has ended.

2 minutes is the dentist recommended cleaning time.

You need to brush twice a day for 2 minutes.

Sadly, too few of us brush for this time, so the automatic power off helps encourage us to brush for longer.

But there is another core feature built-in and that is the pacer.

The pacer activates at 30 second intervals, by pausing the brush motor briefly.

This pause alerts you, via the change in brush sound and the lack of movement in the brush head, that it is time to change quadrant.

If you are not familiar with the quadpacing setup built into the 4300, allow me to explain.

Whilst dentists recommend 2 minutes of cleaning twice a day, what this does not help with is ensuring you and I brush our teeth evenly.

The idea is that you break the mouth up into 4 sections.  Upper right, upper left, lower right and lower left.

You spend 30 seconds cleaning each section, that way, over the 120 seconds (2 minutes) of brushing time, you will give a relatively even clean to the teeth and gums.

The pacer acts as an alert to you, to change quadrant as you brush, to encourage this even clean.

Of course, you don’t have to follow it, but it is good practice.

Do be aware, that there is a particular recommended technique with cleaning the teeth.  The brush head should be held at a 45 degree angle to the teeth. If you want to learn the correct way, check out our helpful guide, to brushing with an electric toothbrush.

Offering 31,000 brush strokes (62,000 movements) per minute, the bristles of the brush head move rapidly over the surface of the teeth and gums to dislodge bacteria, plaque and food debris.

Those bristles need only skim the surface of the teeth and this is in part why Sonicare have built a pressure sensor into the brush handle of the ProtectiveClean 4300.

When the brush detects too much force is being applied, the handle vibrates and the brushing sensation changes.

The BrushSync replacement reminder LED flashes amber when the sensor is activated too.  Given its position and size, it is not the easiest to see.

It is these changes that alert you to the issue.

Relieve the pressure to stop these alerts.

It does not have the large visible pressure sensor like the light that the Oral-B Pro 2000 and Sonicare’s own DiamondClean Smart offer.

Personally, I do think the light makes it more obvious, particularly when most of us tend to brush in front of a mirror.

Sadly, the flashing amber light on the ProtectiveClean is on the wrong side of the handle for you to really notice,  but you should notice the other changes and reduce the pressure applied, and this will draw your attention to the excess pressure, even if the light does not.

The vibration will kick in every time too much pressure is applied.

Within a few days, you will get used to how much pressure is appropriate.

Brushing too hard long term can potentially damage your teeth and gums. Excess pressure can also wear out the brush heads you use sooner too!

The average life of a brush head is 3 months.  So, every year you should replace your brush head 4 times.

The 1 x C2 optimal plaque defence brush head that comes supplied in the box with the 4300 lets you know when it needs replacing.

It does this in 2 different ways.

The first is a way that applies to all Sonicare brush heads, fading indicator bristles.

As the head is used, the blue bristles fade to a very pale almost white/translucent colour.  When they are this colour, it is time to change the head.

But a stand out feature of the ProtectiveClean Plaque Defence is the BrushSync replacement reminder system.

Inside the brush head is a small microchip.

When the brush head is fitted to the brush handle, the chip is detected and the warning light will flash 3 times. This acts as confirmation that the handle has detected the head and that the electronics inside the handle will now keep track of it.

As you use the brush head, the handle continues to track how often it has been used.

The handle knows that the brush head should be replaced every 3 months, so once the handle detects that the brush head has been used for this amount of time, the ‘BrushSync’ LED on the brush handle will light up an amber/orange colour to tell you it is time to change the brush head.

But, the brush is cleverer still.

If it detects you have brushed 3 times a day every day or brushed with more pressure, it will activate the BrushSync alert system sooner, as the bristles will have worn out sooner than the typical 3 month time period.

By the same token, it will delay alerting you to replace the brush head.  If you used that head just once a day over 3 months, it would not tell you to replace it until it had been used for the equivalent to 4 minutes a day for 3 months.

This is a very neat touch and shows how technology can be used in a positive way to better the nations oral health whilst also being cost effective (by not replacing brush heads too soon).

The C2 optimal plaque defence brush head is just one of a range of different brush heads available from Sonicare.  Some are BrushSync compatible whilst others are not.

Key differences between them are the length, cut and shape of the bristles to achieve different results.

Some are engineered for plaque removal, whilst others are designed for helping the gums or whitening teeth.

It would be great if a couple of different styles or even another plaque defence head were included in the box.

The range of heads is confusing.

It is worth knowing that it is perfectly possible to use a non-smart brush head on the 4300 as it is perfectly fine to use a smart brush head on a handle that does not offer BrushSync technology.  But, do be aware, the BrushSync will only work when a compatible head is used on a compatible handle.

Do also note there are ‘premium’ brush sync compatible heads that can command a premium of $2-8 per head!

You can find out more about the heads and how each one differs by reading our ultimate guide to Sonicare brush heads.

The combination of the Plaque Defence head and the power of the motor built in the 4300 is great.

I have found the clean to be super and after several weeks of testing not felt let down or concerned by the results.  I would have no issue using this on a daily basis or for a prolonged period of time.

Personally, I prefer the smaller round brush heads from Oral-B from a cost and convenience point of view, but I did not struggle too much with the Sonicare heads.

When you might be thinking can the 4300 offer any more, the answer is yes. it does.

EasyStart is a system that gently increases the power over the first 14 brushings to help you get used to brushing with the Philips Sonicare.

A simple, but innovative touch that shows an extra level of attention and care for first time electric toothbrush users.

If you are not used to the power of an electric toothbrush, the full 62,000 movements per minute can seem quite intense on first use.  EasyStart eases you in.

Inside the handle, is the rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery that offers 2 weeks usage between charges or so Sonicare claim.  I managed 5 weeks!

When the power is low, the brush will indicate this through the battery indicator LED.  Just pop it on the provided charging stand for up to 24 hours to fully recharge. You can get more information in the ‘Battery Life’ section of this review.

Designed to resist water, toothpaste and saliva, the handle of the 4300 is not designed to be used in the shower or the bath.  A quick rinse of the handle is fine, but don’t go immersing it in water.

The handle feels robust and will generally take a few knocks in its life and I have no immediate concerns about the handles reliability.

Sonicare do offer a 2 year warranty that covers any mechanical or workmanship faults, but not user damage.

The design and features definitely beats the older Sonicare models.

Oral-B’s Pro 2 2000 is the best example of true value for money and it competes well with the 4300.

The Sonicare wins out for the BrushSync technology, design and overall quality but you do pay for this.

The ProtectiveClean Plaque Defence cleans the teeth well, has all the core features of an electric toothbrush, plus a few more for added benefit.  Sonicare have made a fantastic toothbrush.