Today we’re taking a look at the Philips Sonicare for Kids HX6311. If you take a look at some of our other electric toothbrush reviews, you’ll notice that parents have mentioned that many of the features of an electric toothbrush are helpful in encouraging children into healthy brushing habits. Philips have introduced their kids toothbrush with these kinds of problem in mind. Is this kids electric toothbrush any good? We’re going to take a good look and find out.
The toothbrush actually intelligently extends brushing time day on day. It starts at a one minute brush, and gradually extends day-by-day; easing the child into the independent habit of the dentist-recommended 2 minute brushing. It has 2 modes for children at different ages; a low mode for ages 4+ and a high mode for kids over 7. It also comes with two different brush heads – a smaller one for young children, and a larger for the older age group. This is good news, as there’s no need to buy another brush when your child outgrows this one.
The HX6311 also includes a fun KidPacer feature. The toothbrush plays a fun sound at appropriate intervals, telling the child when the switch to brush a new area of the mouth. This is a fun way to ensure that kids give equal brushing attention to all of their teeth. The brush is carefully designed to be gentle enough for kids, whilst still offering an outstanding deep clean with 31,000 brush strokes per minute.
The toothbrush handle has been carefully designed for the use of children. It has a choice of three different colourful interchangeable panels allowing your children to customise the brush to suit them. It has an anti-roll shape which means children can lay it down flat in order to apply toothpaste – handy for small children who aren’t able to hold the brush and toothpaste tube at the same time. It has been ergonomically designed to enable parents and kids to brush together, or on their own.
Philips Sonicare for Kids HX6311 Features and Specifications
| Two kid-friendly power modes: for ages 4+ and 7+ |
| KidTimer: gradually extends brushing time to ease child into independent dentist-recommended 2 minute brushing |
| KidPacer: plays a fun sound to tell the child when to brush a different part of the mouth |
| Interchangeable colourful panels |
| Multi-grip design: allows parent and child to brush together or on their own |
| Anti-roll shape: Allows child to lay the brush flat while applying toothpaste |
Customer Reviews and Feedback
As we’ve become accustomed to with Philips Sonicare range, customer satisfaction was very high with this kids brush. About 90% of reviews were excellent, rating the brush 4 or 5 stars.
Almost all of the reviews that we examined were very impressed with the kid-friendly features, and several mentioned that kids who had been reluctant to brush before were soon brushing without being told to!
“This product is very child friendly and makes a tricky job much easier. Never before have I seen my daughters sprinting up the stairs crying ‘come on Mummy, let’s go and clean our teeth’. Definitely recommended and five stars”
A lot of reviewers were very enthusiastic about the built in KidPacer, which plays music and sounds telling the child when to brush a different part of the mouth. Many said that they thought this was a gimmick at first, but that it actually really did help to instill a good brushing routing in their kids. One parent said that her child had hated brushing before, but actually began reminding her mum of brushing time as she found her toothbrush fun to use!
Many reported that the handle was very easy for even small children to hold, and that the controls were easy enough for kids to understand too. It seems that the flat back which allows kids to lay the brush out flat in order to apply toothbrush was also a simple, but well used feature that made the brush even easier for kids to use.
Most of the reviews praised the child-friendly features of this brush, but they did also mention that this toothbrush also gave a very good quality clean.
“I bought this toothbrush for my 2 year old, who refused to open his mouth for a regular toothbrush and would refuse to let me actually brush his teeth. This toothbrush did the trick. He loves the vibration and the musical notes it plays and I’m finally able to get at his teeth”
Kate Ainger
There were very few negative reviews, and very few downsides mentioned about this brush. One of the often cited poorer aspects of the brush was that the interchangeable face plates were appealing and fun to kids, however they are adhesive, and many parents thought that with regular changing the adhesive might not last. That said, most parents said that after the first few days the child tended to find a colour they liked and stick with that, so it seems that this may not be a significant problem.
All in all, we’ve been impressed with the Sonicare For Kids HX6311. As a Sonicare sonic toothbrush the standard of the clean it gives is excellent, but it is the child-friendly features of the brush that really stand out and impressed all the reviewers. If you’re having trouble encouraging good brushing habits in your child, you might well want to give this brush a try. The vast majority of reviewers were very impressed with this toothbrush, and it’s ability to make brushing time fun! A well deserved 4 stars!
| The Good |
| KidPacer jingles really work in encouraging good brushing habits in kids |
| Ergonomic handle is easy for kids to hold |
| Flat backed handle can be laid flat while toothpaste is applied |
| Colourful interchangeable panels appealing to kids |
| Appears to really make brushing time a fun activity for the kids |
| The Bad |
| Adhesive backing on panels may not withstand many changes, however kids generally settled on a colour they liked after a few days |
