Thanks for the info, Scotticher. I just got the number from their site. I’m stuck in Fayetteville, NC for a while and for some reason had it in my head that I’d have to wait until I got back to VA before dealing with the return hassle. I like this thing so much that I was more worried about spending a couple weeks here without a replacement than I was mad that the thing was breaking. Fortunately, it’s been working the past few days, so I’m happy.
Been using Sonicare for over a month now & love it! Bought it from a dentist thru ebay. Wonderful product. Thanks again for comments, all. 
It seems everybody I know has one. They are made in a suburb of Seattle (Bellevue, I think) and I have also heard great things about the corporation.
I am/was a “scrubber.” These are the unfortunate souls who brush too hard, and in my case, with strokes that are way too long. I used to do a scrubbing-the-bathtub-vigorously number on my teeth, really putting my elbow into it, and just about scrubbed all my gums off.
An electric toothbrush prevents this; you move it s-l-o-w-l-y across your teeth, just contacting the brush gently with your gumline. This is, apparently, the stuff. At my next trip to the dentist after 6 months of Sonicare, my gums had improved.
Just noticed this was an old resurrected thread. Well, the Sonicare simply cannot be talked about enough, I think.
I note that my model hums a pretty good “C”, which is useful for pitch orientation for musicians. This is probably not in their sales brochure, though.