Customer Reviews

Waterpik SM 3UC Original 5-Mode Massage Handheld Shower, White

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Having grown accustomed to the old quality, it is very difficult to give these new Waterpiks a top rating. I have used Waterpiks for many years. There are three, ten-year-old Teledyne Waterpiks currently in use in our home. My first recommendation addresses the most common complaint I've read in many reviews: WATER PRESSURE. Before installing, remove both the filter and the pressure control insert with a pair of needle-nose pliers. (SEE IMAGE) They simply unscrew and lift out. This allows the shower pressure to equal the pressure in your plumbing. The filter also reduces pressure. It is nothing more than a plastic cone full of pin holes which will have to be removed and cleaned every few months anyway. And the water flow control? It is impossible for a shower massage to function properly without adequate water pressure. Going green is one thing. Going red from leftover soap is another. The pressure control has to go. Once this is done, no tools are needed for installation. The old Waterpiks had 6-foot hoses. The new ones are only 5 feet long. I contacted Waterpik customer service and they do not even offer a 6-foot hose as an accessory. The stiff hose, bent from packaging, bows out from the wall like an angry snake. If you are not careful the shower will easily come out of the holder and attack you when your back is turned. This happened twice to my wife causing pain. I thought running hot water through it for awhile would cause it to relax. Not so. The shower head rotates freely in the holder. As a result, the spray bounces off of one side of the shower stall then the other. There is nothing to keep the spray stationary in a downward direction. Many of the new custom and poured-marble showers have built-in seats across from the plumbing fixtures. A 5-foot hose will not reach. Consumers are paying more and getting less because of mandated conservation regulations. A good shower is one of the few luxuries of our daily lives. Life is too short for a lousy shower. The government obviously disagrees. We, the consumers, are forced to buy 2-Star products and then have to remanufacture them in order to it to achieve 5-Star results. Frankly, for Waterpiks top-of-the line at $39.99, I expected better. And the SM 3UC doesn't even have the desired C option which is a concentrated center jet stream. At least now, I know what to expect. I finally removed the dry-rotted rubber washers out of an old 6-foot hose and replaced them with new rubber washers. However, the chrome fittings on the old hose would not fit in the new holder, so I had to re-install the old holder. Finally, the direction of the spray stays where I want it instead of spraying all over the stall like a wild weasel and the hose is long enough. My 3-Star rating was very generous. Waterpik has succeeded in ruining a great product. Have a nice shower.

If you're familiar with the original Teledyne WaterPik Shower Massages that were made several years ago, you will undoubtedly be shocked when you remove this new model from it's package and observe how comparatively cheap and chintzy it seems...despite its rather high price tag. It is constructed almost entirely out of lightweight white plastic, aside from the faux chrome head and the clear plastic spray selecting ring. The head/handle piece is approximately nine and a half inches long and attaches to your shower pipe via a five-foot hose (which is afflicted with a very unpleasant rubbery smell). After use, the handheld showerhead hangs on the wall pipe with a plastic hook. I don't particularly like the way this hook works because it doesn't seem to hold the head very securely unless you force it down into it, which makes it too hard to pull the showerhead out again.

The WaterPik Shower Massage can be installed very easily...IF you can get your old showerhead off. Spray choices include regular; regular with soft pulse; hard pulse; really hard pulse; and center spray. You may notice that the water pressure is a little low. This is explained in the multi-lingual instruction booklet as follows:

"Waterpik showerheads are equipped with an OptiFLOW regulator that limits the maximum water flow to 2.5 gallons per minute at 80 psi as mandated by U.S. federal law."

It goes on to describe how the OptiFLOW regulator can be removed with a pair of needle-nose pliers, but I didn't want to do that as I do not want to break the U.S. federal shower law.

Overall, the Shower Massage is still a pretty good product, but it's obviously not as well made as the old models.

Its ok, but there appears to be some sort of non-removable internal flow regulator that I'd rather not have.

Unfortunately, this Waterpik is not as well-made and of the same quality as the original Teledyne Waterpik. The Waterpik showerheads still, however, have the best shower massage I've found, but the cheap plastic head and cord simply do not measure up. We returned the product. I did contact Waterpik customer service before purchasing this showerhead and they were very nice and helpful. Too bad their product doesn't match the quality of their customer service. Perhaps another shower head that isn't made of plastic would garner a better rating.

I agree with the other reviewers that have a problem with the quality of this expensive unit. When WaterPik spun off from Teledyne in 1999 the quality went straight downhill. (The quality actually started to go down in the late 1980's, but this might have something to do with the spin off) This unit is not worth over $40.00.
I had a few of the 5-mode units in the past and have switched over to the model #JM-351 (3-mode) which goes for $9.00. It is much lighter and easier to handle, and will clog up just as fast as the $40.00 version.

This shower massage is one of the best products I've ever owned. It gets you clean and can give you a massage at the same time. It's a big improvement on any shower head I've ever used.

I shopped for this at Lowes and at Home depot. Same product at a better price. Just what I wanted.

I have been using this type of shower head for over 25 years,it is still the best among them!!!

Went through 2peerless showerheads and 4waterpik showerheads because of shoddy quality and operation and high price. this was number 5, i figured its tried and true design would make for a good product.

the plastic is cheap- the dial feels like its connected to nothing, and has no click, making changing the settings guesswork. out of the box i saw that the pivot ball was almost welded in- even with vise grips i couldn't budge it, so then i just removed the screen and regulator and threw it on. it had no pressure with the regular spray, and the massage mode was incredibly loud- like putting plastic in a blender, it then started to leak internally after 5mins.

so in short, it was a low pressure, loud, overpriced, biggest piece of junk that i have ever seen.

spend $20 on the similar model- maybe then its worth it.

We are happy with this Shower Massager, but we perfer the original Water Pik Shower Massager that this replaces.