Sonicare For Kids Connected (HX6322/04) Review

Design, usability, clean & general use

Make no qualms about it, this brush is geared in terms of design for kids.

Where electric toothbrushes tend to be finished in White or have soft pastel shades, the Sonicare for kids connected brush employs much bolder colours, the primary being Green (Aqua as Sonicare call it) and White, although that White is limited when a sticker is applied.

A nice unique element to this brush is the ability to add stickers to the brush handle and personalise it further to make it more appealing to your child or children.  More on this in a minute.

The overall shape and size of the brush is fairly typical of what you might imagine for an electric toothbrush, whilst the handle is not completely round it is loosely shaped like this.

The back and sides of the handle are this Turquoise/Green colour, with the rear having a large number of raised dots that run down from the top to the bottom in essentially 3 rows, with each dot staggered in its positioning.

About halfway down the handle a further 2 rows of 5 dots are added to widen the gripping area in line with where the fingers tend to naturally fall.

At the neck of the brush on the rear is a slight protrusion which looks a bit odd in its shape, but is actually designed so that when the brush is laid flat, it will not roll.

When looking at the handle side on, you notice that the middle of the grip bulges ever so slightly too, to make it a little larger in hand.  This works for kids and grownups alike and is particularly useful when hands are wet.

The base of the brush is wider in design, giving a solid base on which the brush can stand upright.  The handle slims as you move up to the neck, the point at which the brush heads attach.

On the front are 2 prominent Green buttons that are convexed.  The top button is the power button, whilst the lower button is the cleaning modes.

I will explain what they do in more detail shortly, but both have LED lights built into them and a good tactile and clicky response.

Surrounding these buttons and dominating the front of the brush is a White panel, which is a gloss White and smooth to the touch.  The idea is that you stick one of the 8 stickers provided to it.  Attaching the stickers does away with the expanse of White and will make that front panel much bolder and colourful.

Once fitted this gives the brush more of a personalised and child friendly theme to the bush.

These stickers can be easily pulled off and replaced.

28 extra stickers of Sparkly, the character from the app are also provided, in various sizes.  Kids may want to stick these to other things.

On the base of the brush aside from the regulatory information and product details that are printed, is a recess into which the prong on the charging stand that is provided fits.

Thanks to inductive charging, the battery inside the brush charges without having to physically connect a power cable to the handle itself.

Lithium-Ion is the battery technology used and it is possible to get up to 3 weeks use from the brush in between charges.  More on this in the battery section of the review.

Provided in the box are 2 brush heads, there is a compact and standard sized head.  If the names don’t give it away, they are different sizes.

This brush is designed for children age 3 years old and upwards, and as such the smaller brush head will be better suited to the younger brush users.  However, it is up to you or your child as to which is more comfortable or best to use.

Typically, the larger brush head will work better for older children and adults if you chose to use this brush.

Unlike the regular Sonicare brush heads, these are finished with a rubber coating that not only matches the colour scheme of the brush but makes it softer on the mouth and gums of children, than the normal plastic finish.

A worthwhile point to note is that the full range of Sonicare brush heads fits onto this brush handle.  You do not necessarily have to use those designed for kids. If you want to learn about the full range of brush heads, read our article Philips Sonicare brush Heads: The Ultimate Guide.

The kids heads come in packs of 2.

HX6032/36 is the official product code for the compact sonic toothbrush heads, whilst HX6042/36 is the official product code for the standard sized sonic toothbrush heads.

Both packs have a retail price of £16.  However our own research has shown that you can save a few pounds, and on average a replacement head works out at £7 each.  This is virtually double the price of Oral-B equivalents.

Replacing the head every 3 month’s is the recommendation.  Unlike other brushes, there are no indicator bristles that fade over time to act as a reminder to change the brush head.  However, the smartphone app (more on that shortly) does remind you, if you want it to.

It’s a shame these are not included and is a bit of an oversight in teaching children about general oral health.

To replace the head, you simply pull the head off and push it back onto the metal shaft that protrudes from inside the brush handle.

As you might expect of a Sonicare brush, this provides an excellent clean to the teeth and it offers up to 31,000 strokes (62,000 movements) per minute through the brush head.

By pressing the power button on the front of the brush handle, the brush launches into a 2 minute cleaning cycle.

As it is pressed, the LED icon on the button will light up Green.

In the lower third of the brush handle is another button, this is the cleaning mode button.

The brush offers 2 modes. Gentle and Extra Gentle.

Gentle mode is the most powerful clean offered by the brush and is designed for older/independent brushers.  The cleaning cycle is 2 minutes.

Extra Gentle mode is a reduced power mode used for training and introducing children to the sonic experience.  When in Extra Gentle mode, the brushing cycle is initially set at 1 minute and slowly progresses to 2 minutes over time, to help young children reach the dentist recommended 2 minutes per brushing cycle.

This ramping up of power and brushing time is a feature known as ‘Easy-Start’ which is seen on many Sonicare brushes and makes for a more natural transition from a manual to a powerful sonic brush. This happens over the first 14 brushing sessions.

You change the cleaning mode before you power the brush on.  There is an LED either side of the button.  The left LED when lit, shows that the Extra Gentle mode is selected.  The LED on the right when lit, shows that Gentle mode is selected.  Press the button just once to switch modes.  You can’t change the mode when the brush is switched on.

2 minutes is the dentist recommended cleaning time and this brush has a built-in timer to ensure kids brush correctly for 2 minutes.

From the moment the brush powers on the timer begins working.  At 30 second intervals a sound is played to indicate it is time to change the area of the mouth that is being brushed.

The mouth should be broken up into 4 sections, known as quadrants.  You have the upper right, upper left, lower right and lower left.  30 seconds should be spent on each quadrant.  The built-in timer encourages this.

At the end of the 2 minute cycle, the brush automatically turns off to signal the end of the clean and conserve battery power.  A feature I love.

As if the brush was not already pretty good at encouraging your child to brush with the stickers, coloured handle and timer, the killer feature is the Bluetooth connectivity.

Download Sonicare Kids app from the Google Play Store or iTunes and the toothbrush connects via Bluetooth to your mobile device, be that a smartphone or tablet.  Your mobile device must have Bluetooth 4.0 to work.

The principle here is that the brush connects to the app and provides an interactive on screen experience when brushing via a character named ‘Sparkly’.

It is essentially a story based theme where Sparkly hatches and it is up to the child to take care of him.

From within the app you create user profiles for each child that will use the brush handle and then as they brush on-screen graphics and tutorials teach the child to brush correctly and for the right amount of time.

The app monitors cleans and tracks performance for you to review if you wish.

Because the brush is connected to the mobile device, it knows when it is switched off and encourages the child to brush for the full 2 minutes.

Providing they do, they are rewarded with prizes within the app that allow them to customise and improve the experience, whilst being provided with educational tips along the way.

Watch the following video to get a great insight into how it works.

It is a well thought out app with settings parents can configure such as brush head reminders and notifications for missed brushing sessions.

Living in a world where kids are exposed to a lot of interactive content, the app needs to be good and I believe this is extremely good with the Bluetooth being that extra safety net as it actually communicates with the app for a more accurate and real-time user experience.

The downside is your smartphone or tablet needs to be in the bathroom as your kids brush, a thought some may dread, but you may supervise them during this time anyhow.

A smartphone or tablet stand to hold it at the ideal viewing angle would be useful, but no such solution is provided by Sonicare or other brands for this age group.

Kids love the interactivity and the story and it without doubt makes brushing fun and the children do pay attention and brush for longer with more smiles and less tears and tantrums at having to brush.  You and your dentist will see the results.

A feature that is missing, but it not essential is a pressure sensor.  A well implemented sensor will light up and alert the brusher, in this case the child that they are brushing too hard and could be doing damage to their teeth and mouth.  This is not a common feature on Sonicare brushes and I suspect left out as there are more important and valuable parts to the education programme on brushing teeth than pressure used, at this stage.

The handle itself is waterproof and will survive a rinse under the tap.  It should not be submerged in water though.

A 2 year warranty is provided, should something go wrong.  This does not cover user damage as you might expect.

Provided in the box are small plastic travel caps that fit over the bristles on the brush head only to protect them when travelling.

It would be nice if a more standard travel case was provided as this would not only protect the bristles but avoid accidental activation of the brush when in a bag.

Not that a child is going to pack a toothbrush first, but if staying at a friends for example a proper case would protect the handle more.  The provided caps are just too small and easy to lose.