Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7300 review: Top cleaning performance at an accessible price

You might argue that flagship toothbrushes are going the same way as flagship smartphones, with prices ramping up beyond most people’s comfort levels for features that don’t necessarily make a huge difference. Indeed, you can now spend north of £200 on some of Philips’ DiamondClean Smart toothbrushes and even more for an Oral-B iO.

I don’t dispute that these are fantastic toothbrushes with groundbreaking technology, but do you really need to spend that much? With the Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7300 on test here, you can have excellent performance and a decent ‘smart’ brushing experience at a much more affordable price.

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Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7300: What you need to know

The Sonicare ExpertClean 7300 sits in the upper mid-range of Philips’ Sonicare lineup, above the ProtectiveClean models and below the premium DiamondClean range. It can pair with Philips’ Sonicare mobile app via Bluetooth to monitor your brushing, and it has a choice of three brush modes – Clean, Deep Clean+ and Gum Health – with three intensity settings.

At full intensity, it produces 31,000 brush strokes per minute, or 62,000 movements, using the same core technology as the DiamondClean Smart (though without the latter’s White+ and TongueCare+ modes). It comes with a charging travel case, but you get a standard Sonicare charger rather than the DiamondClean Smart’s luxury charging glass, and just two brush heads: one C3 Premium Plaque Defence and one G3 Premium Gum Care.

Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7300: Pricing and competition

If the ExpertClean 7300 is still above your budget, the ProtectiveClean 6100 is generally around £25 cheaper, with a similar design and most of the same features, but a non-charging travel case and no app support.

Below that, the ProtectiveClean 5100 does away with selectable intensity settings but comes in at under £80. Look around, and you can also find the non-Smart DiamondClean brushes for around £150, giving you more brushing modes at the expense of Bluetooth connectivity and app support.

On the Oral-B side, the nearest competitors are the older Genius 8000 and 9000 smart toothbrushes – both excellent options which were cutting edge just a couple of years ago. However, if you prefer the feel of a sonic toothbrush or have a history of problems with your gums, then you may prefer to stick with Sonicare. It’s very much a personal thing.

Bear in mind that, during sales periods, toothbrush pricing gets incredibly volatile. We’ve already seen the ExpertClean 7300 on sale for £90, putting it directly against the Genius 8000 on pricing.

Best alternatives and where to buy them

• Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 6100 | Buy now from Amazon
• Philips ProtectiveClean 5100 | Buy now from Amazon
• Philips DiamonClean (non-smart) | Buy now from Amazon
• Oral-B Genius 8000 | Buy now from Amazon
• Oral-B Genius 9000 | Buy now from Amazon

Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7300: Design and Features

It’s not hard to spot that the ExpertClean 7300 is a close cousin of the DiamondClean Smart. The two are very similar in look and feel, with the major differences being that the Expert Clean lacks the metallic ring around the top, has a different battery indicator and a separate Intensity button, where the DiamondClean has a larger indicator panel.

The Intensity button can make the ExpertClean a little more awkward to use at first. The toothbrush wakes up when you pick it up, at which point pressing the Power button turns it on and the Intensity button then switches between the three settings, giving you a choice of gentle, medium and more intense vibrations. To finish, you just press Power again, but I often found myself inadvertently pressing the intensity button, which can be a little frustrating.

As for cleaning modes, the ExpertClean normally defaults to its Clean mode, and pressing the Intensity button before you press the Power button will switch mode. Otherwise, Philips’ Brushsync technology will auto-switch mode when you attach specific brush heads, switching to Gum Health if you attach the Gum Care brush head or back to Clean when you attach the Premium Plaque Defence.

When it comes to cleaning, the ExpertClean is a fantastic brush. Even on Clean mode with normal intensity, it cleans and polishes with more power and authority than Philips’ lower-end brushes, and you can still rely on the pressure sensor to let you know if you’re brushing too hard. Apply too much pressure and there’s a tactile alert and a reduction in power to let you know that you need to tone things down. If you like the whole Sonicare concept and its deep-cleaning capabilities, the ExpertClean is about as good as it gets.

Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7300: Smartphone app

As far as the phone app goes, however, you might want to manage your expectations. The ExpertClean won’t give you the same experience as the DiamondClean Smart, where you get real-time feedback on how and where you’re brushing. Instead it monitors how long you brush for during every session and how much pressure you apply, then gives you tips on how you can improve.

At first, I thought this only worked when the app was open and the toothbrush connected while brushing, but then I discovered that the toothbrush logs this info and passes it to the app on connection later. In a way, this is a better fit for how many of us actually brush – looking at a mirror rather than a smartphone – and it still delivers useful info. For instance, I discovered just how often I was skimping thirty-seconds or more on my morning brush.

Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7300: Battery Life

Philips supplies the ExpertClean with both a standard Sonicare charging stand with a 2-pin plug and a travel case that can charge the brush via USB. The latter is a fair bit slower than the standard charger – left overnight it didn’t charge the brush fully – but it’s a very handy thing to have if you’re off on holiday or working away from home.

Philips claims that the batteries will last two weeks of brushing, which is around 56 minutes of use at 4 minutes a day. With some Sonicare brushes that estimate is right on the money, but with the ExpertClean 7300 it’s actually an underestimation.

I eked out 93 minutes of brushing on Clean mode at medium intensity before the battery gave out. Obviously, this will change depending on how much you use the Bluetooth connectivity and the Deep Clean+ and high intensity settings, but you won’t be constantly reaching for the charger. What’s more, the battery indicator LEDs give you plenty of clear warning as the charge runs out.

Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7300: Verdict

£150 is still a lot of money for a toothbrush, and the ExpertClean 7300 doesn’t quite give you the full ‘smart’ brush experience. What it does do, though, is give you a great clean and all the most crucial Sonicare features, along with a charging travel case and useful monitoring through the app.

For my money, it gives you most of the benefits of a premium app-enabled toothbrush at a lower price point, making it one of the best value toothbrushes in the Sonicare line.