Philips Sonicare Cordless Power Flosser 3000, Water Flosser, 2 Nozzles

Why it's worth it

The Philips Sonicare Cordless Power Flosser 3000 uses an X-shaped nozzle that sprays four streams at once instead of one jet. If a concentrated stream makes your gums flinch, this spreads the same work over a wider, softer contact area.

The Quad Stream nozzle is the whole reason to pick this one. Instead of a single needle of water, the X-shaped tip fans four gentler streams across the gumline at once. Good Housekeeping Institute's lab testing found that covering four surfaces simultaneously cut average cleaning time by roughly 30% compared with single-stream flossers. If you've tried a conventional flosser and found the jet uncomfortably sharp, this is the one to try next.

It's cordless and it holds a serious charge — Philips rates it at up to 40 days per charge, and it refills over USB. The 250 ml tank is good for a full 60-second session, or up to 90 seconds in Deep Clean mode, and you can fill it from the top or through a port on the side. There's a QuadPacer that briefly pauses the water every 15 seconds to nudge you to the next quadrant.

From our review of 8 water flossers for gum health

What we like

• +The Quad Stream nozzle is the whole reason to pick this one
• +It's cordless and it holds a serious charge — Philips rates it at up to 40 days per charge, and it refills over USB
• +You get two modes and three pressure settings: Clean, which holds constant pressure, and Deep Clean, which uses a pulsing wave

What to know

• –It doesn't carry the ADA Seal of Acceptance, which is the single clearest third-party credibility marker in this category and…
• –The X-shaped nozzles are proprietary and only two come in the box, so replacements are a recurring cost with no cheap generic…