Level Up Your Dental Hygiene With the Waterpik Advanced Cordless Water Flosser (2024)

We purchased the Waterpik Cordless Advanced Water Flosser so our reviewer could test and assess it. Keep reading for our full product review.

Flossing is one of those activities that it seems a lot of us dread (or don’t do often enough) for no good reason, so this is where the Cordless Advanced Water Flosser by Waterpik can come into play to help with your oral care. The act of flossing is relatively simple and painless—it only takes about 60 seconds of your day, and it works wonders for your oral health—but do any of us actually enjoy it?

That’s not an excuse not to do it, but it is an excuse to jazz up your flossing routine a bit so you can move toward polite tolerance of the activity. The Cordless Advanced Water Flosser by Waterpik is the perfect place to start: Small and portable, gentle enough to use every day, and adjustable to your preferences and needs, this device is the perfect addition to your daily oral hygiene.

Let’s be clear first, though, about the purpose of a water flosser. Ideally, it shouldn’t replace string flossing but serve as an additional step in your oral care routine, removing all the plaque, debris, and gunk that your brushing and flossing didn’t cover. But water flossing is better than no flossing, so if you have trouble manipulating string floss between your teeth to get an effective clean (like if you have dexterity issues or braces), it’s better for you to use a water flosser than nothing at all.

Personally, I can manage traditional string floss just fine, but I do have a small mouth and some pretty tight spaces between my teeth; I was curious how this water flosser from Waterpik would complement my existing brushing and flossing routine. I gave it a try for one week, looking at the ease of setup, water use, battery, accessories, and the effectiveness of this tool, and here’s what I found.

Who It's For

The Waterpik Cordless Advanced Water Flosser is especially helpful for people who struggle with traditional string floss, whether its because you find it difficult to manipulate the floss between your teeth (for instance, if you have arthritis) or because you have braces or other orthodontic devices. It’s small, though not without its flaws, but couldn’t be any easier to use.

Setup: Simple and intuitive

I don’t love the setup phase of getting started with any new product, but this one was no trouble at all. Once you open up the box of the Waterpik, you plug it in to charge for about four hours. After that, you’re ready to choose a tip, fill the reservoir with lukewarm water, and start using it.

There aren’t a lot of instructions for how to use the Waterpik, although the product has a fairly simple design without a lot of moving parts, so it’s not overly complicated to figure out. I gave the Cordless Water Flosser a 5 out of 5 rating for setup and ease of use.

Accessories: Convenient and helpful

The Waterpik Cordless Advanced Water Flosser comes with four parts: the main unit (which contains the water reservoir, power button, and intensity mode button), a slim plastic case with four interchangeable flossing tips, a travel plug, and a charging cord that fits into any two-prong outlet and attaches magnetically to the main unit for rapid charging. It also includes a soft pouch for storage or travel that fits all the components.

As far as the four tips go, two are basic jet tips, one is an orthodontic tip with a soft covering for cleaning around braces and retainers, and one has three flexible bristles for targeting plaque. (Initially, I was searching for an explanation of what each of the tips does in the enclosed instructions, but there were none; eventually, I spotted them on a side panel of the packaging box.) Overall, I gave it a 5 out of 5 rating for this category.

Reservoir size: Portable, but low capacity

The directions say to fill the Waterpik’s reservoir with lukewarm water, and I found it to be a comfortable temperature. I hadn’t realized before using the flosser that the water would only last for 45 seconds—I was pretty surprised when it ran out before I had finished using the flosser on all my teeth!

To be fair, this is stated on the outer packaging,and it also is to be expected since the cordless portability of the flosser necessitates a smaller reservoir. But it’s still somewhat frustrating to stop at least once during the entire process to refill the reservoir (I found that if you’re using the Waterpik correctly, you can only do about half your mouth with 45 seconds of water, at most).

Battery: Efficient and powerful

Out of the box, the Waterpik fully charged after four hours, as stated. When I wrote this review, I had probably used it for about 15 minutes (spread out over seven days), and it hadn’t shown any signs of slowing down or needing recharging. I gave it a 5 out of 5 rating for the battery.

Comfort & Intensity: Medium is just right

As someone who avoids whitening or overly harsh toothpaste because of tooth sensitivity, I was a little nervous about the discomfort related to the use of a water flosser. Even at the highest level of intensity, though (there are three: low, medium, and high), there was never any pain.

I didn’t love the highest intensity setting—it was just a little too, well, intense for me! Meanwhile, the low-intensity setting was sort of underwhelming. In true Goldilocks fashion, I stuck to the medium setting, finding it to be just effective enough without being irritating.

I will note that when I tested the Waterpik out for the first time, I had some mild tooth sensitivity for a few hours after. I suspect part of the reason for that was trying out all four of the tips on all three intensity levels so I could get a good feel for how the unit worked (in other words, not how most people would normally use it).

After that, I only used the Waterpik once daily after brushing and flossing for about 60 seconds and experienced no sensitivity. Overall, I rated the settings of this flosser 5 out of 5 since there’s a variety to choose from and you can tailor the water to your needs and preferences.

Effectiveness: Left a clean feeling

After the first use, I did notice that the bottoms of my teeth near my gum line felt smoother and cleaner. It wasn’t dramatic—more like I had just brushed my teeth, even though it had been several hours since I had brushed. It was a slight, subtle difference that was definitely there, but I wouldn’t exactly say it “wowed” me or bowled me over.

After using the Waterpik once a day for about a week, the results didn’t get any better; maybe with long-term use, I would notice an overall reduction in plaque or buildup, but there was essentially no difference for me from one day of use versus one week. Overall, I rated it a 4.5 out of 5 in effectiveness.

Price: You’re paying for convenience

With a price point of $99.99, the Waterpik Cordless Advanced Water Flosser is in line with its direct competitors (like Oral-B, for example). You can definitely get cordless flossers from lesser-known brands for cheaper, but you’re also taking a gamble with quality and product guarantees, so you’ll have to weigh that for yourself.

Still, it seems like a lot of what you’re paying for with this unit is the fact that it’s cordless and rechargeable. Other Waterpik flossers, even larger units, come in at lower or similar price tags, presumably because they aren’t cordless and/or require the use of disposable batteries. When our team tested water flossers from different brands, we found the Waterpik Cordless Advanced Water Flosser to be the best cordless option.

If you can spare the sink space for a larger and more cumbersome unit, it would probably be more cost-effective. However, I see this specific flosser being useful for small-space living, intermittent flossers, or people who travel a lot; in that case, you might be willing to pay a bit more for its convenience.