Customer Reviews

Waterpik SM-650 Original Shower Massage 6-Setting Hand-Held White / Chrome Showerhead

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've had the SM-651 (White) for almost 3 years now and really love it. So when I got a gold box offer for the SM-650 (Chrome), I decided to buy it for my guest bathroom - I was sure I'd love it as much as my old one. I was wrong.


Apparently, all the new Waterpik showerheads seem to come with a new bracket. The OLD style is shown in the picture - this is the good style (in my opinion) that allows the showerhead to rest at a lower height. With the new style bracket, only the bottom of the showerhead can rest in the bracket. This raises the height of the showerhead by about 4" - it also causes the showerhead to fall downwards on account of the imbalance in weight. In other words, you have to really tighten the swivel hard so that it won't swivel at all - thereby defeating the purpose of the swivel! Also, for people who are around 5'5" and below, it becomes hard to reach the showerhead and change its settings. For taller people, this is probably not an issue. For shorter people, this is probably going to be a big issue.
And since I can compare with my older SM-651, I can also say that the 5 foot hose is much more inflexible with the SM-650. It has a mind of its own and wants to twist this way and that, even after trying my best to take the twist out of it. Also, it was somewhat yellowish, not white like my old one. Maybe I was just unlucky in this regard.

But as for the showerhead itself, it is really nice. If you look at the picture showing the closeup of the 6 settings, numbering the settings from left to right as 1 to 6, you'd definitely want a showerhead that has settings 3 and 4. Setting 3 activates the 3 center holes that provide a pulsing action. It feels more like a slow 'chopping' action. That one's my favorite. Setting 4 is very similar to 3, but with a faster pulse and more pressure. My wife loves setting 4 the best. So we end up switching between these 2 and hardly ever use any of the other 4 settings.

Summarizing: The bracket is NOT as it is shown in the picture (it does NOT grab the showerhead so high up - it grabs it only at the base, thereby raising the height and the imbalance of the showerhead). The hose I got with my brand new SM-650 was not white and not so flexible, but I could have just gotten unlucky. The showerhead itself is really nice and if you want to consider any showerhead, make sure it has settings similar to 3 and 4 shown in the closeup pictures of this showerhead.

My recommendation: Look around at the other Waterpik models, apparently Waterpik model NLV-651VV, which is very similar to this model, is getting much better reviews. Perhaps there's a good reason why! Sadly, I do not recommend the SM-650 for my personal reasons stated above and I'm returning mine back to Amazon.

Just yesterday I went online to try and solve our low water pressure problem in the shower which has gotten so bad that the water barely trickles out of the showerhead. After some research and reading reviews here at Amazon.com & Target.com I went down to Target and picked up this showerhead. Installed it in less than 8 minutes and now our shower is a firehose!!! The difference is night and day. What a difference a great shower can do for you first thing in the morning. The pulsing setting actually massages your back and helped relieve the tension in a knot in my shoulder.

The instructions also tell you how to remove the government imposed flow regulator which reduces water flow in hopes of saving water. I couldn't remove this on our old showerhead which resulted in twice as long showers with shampoo still in my hair. Not only does the flow regulator not save water, but it also makes you miserable. Go figure.

Pick this one up, you won't regret it.

Wow! A product that actually exceeds expectations! Based on previous reviews, I purchased the showerhead with (cautiously)high hopes. It took two minutes to install the whole thing. No tools needed! It's all white plastic, but very high quality and completely insulated, so there's no sound of rushing water, just silence. As for the water pressure everyone keeps raving about, they're right! In fact, I didn't even have to remove the water-flow regulator. If you have even half-decent water pressure, this thing will spray POWERFULLY. It's also very easy to adjust the six settings. The blue dial has little grooves that hold your fingers and allow you to twist it with ease, even if your fingers are wet. My only minor quibble is with the hose. Though it is white (yay!), it tends to coil up like a telephone cord, and doesn't just hang below the showerhead in a simple loop, like I'd prefer. Other than that, forget Moen, Peerless, Ondine, and everyone else. Waterpik rules, and the SM 650/651 rocks!

In order to use this shower head, you need to stand a few feet from where it is mounted on the wall. Therefore it works better for a tub shower than for a small shower stall. The picture used in the description of this item is misleading. The bracket which holds the shower head is not the one shown in the picture. I specifically ordered this item based on the item shown because I knew the other type of bracket would not work. I was not a happy camper when I opened the package to find the wrong type of bracket. Note the package does indicate the actual product may not match the photo on the package. I suggest Amazon do the same on their site!!!

This is my fifth showerhead for my main shower. I've had to replace so many because either the hose fittings or the holder develop cracks and leak over time. My last massager head seized up.

This one is the largest and heaviest so far. As such, is it way too bulky and heavy. Waterpik needs to trim down the bulk. The sprays are a little weak, so I wouldn't get this if you have weak water pressure (and I removed the flow limiter). I might try removing the sediment filter and drilling out the very restrictive hole in the hand unit. There are so many points of restriction that not much pressure is left by the time the water gets to the head.

On the plus side, this has the best massager I've used so far. It is also very easy to change spray settings (the last head I had required a lot of force to twist the dial). It looks good too. Only time will tell if the hose and fittings hold up or start to leak after a year or so (like all the others).

i have used this exact shower head for several years now. it was one of the saddest days for me last saturday when mine broke. i have spent the last few days without it and have really suffered. the massage action as well as the pulsating jets are truly marvelous and greatly missed. i was so excited to see this exact model featured and offered here on amazon.com

drane stephens

This was the second Waterpik shower massage that I've purchased. The first one lasted over a dozen years (and was still working), but the cheap plastic bracket (which is difficult to adjust) on this one cracked after only 2.5 years. When I bought a replacement Waterpik, it was defective, so I returned it, and am sticking with Speakman from now on.

I'm very sorry to say that the quality of Waterpik products is not as good as it used to be, because I have experienced similar design and quality problems with its products for oral hygiene.

I got a pair of these for our new master bath setup, and ended up swapping the hard white-plastic hoses for the chrome-colored pseudo-metallic hoses on our old Shower Massages. The white ones were inflexible, wouldn't straighten out, and interfered with the hanging rack that my wife's shampoo, etc. sit on.

An older model that we got at Costco had a slightly different head, which had a "spray and stream" setting this one doesn't have. If you like having a concentrated stream as well as a spray that gets you wet quickly (and don't want the massage feature running), try to find that model.

I have a 5 and 3 year old who simply love this! Showers are much more effecient now that it doesnt take as long to get the soap/shampoo washed off. I got this model being as there isnt any rubber on the handle my only complaint is there is rubber around the dial I would have preffered plastic grooves as it is easier to clean than the rubber. All in all a great product beats the standard shower head any day :)

This is a great product. I liked it so much I purchased and 2nd one for my other shower.