yes, thank you for the tip to use a screw. it was really difficult and resorted to also using some metal spudgers and lucky I didn’t jab my hands (pro tip: put some leather work gloves on!)

another pro tip I learned from a YouTube video, is to take wire cutters and snip off the 2 clips that make it so difficult to get this thing off.

there is enough friction at play that the clips are not needed and you can just pull out the assembly much easier in the future.

he’s referring to the two skinny leads that attach the battery to the circuit board.

I’m about to try this given how poor the quality of a replacement I bought is. As long as you have a means to connect 2 AAAs in series and a means to connect the + and - ends of the battery to the PCB, it should work. again, I haven’t tried this and probably do it when I’m done being !#^&@@ off about false claims by 3rd party battery manufacturers.

I just wish Philips just created a normal compartment for 2 rechargeable AAAs in the first place rather than have to go through so many hoops to repair a product that was planned to go in the trash - travesty! ok - i’m done venting.

while I'm still mad at Philips for making it so near impossible to open - this method worked on our HX6220 that had no screw at its base. it was useful to grip the base (over cardboard) w a monkey wrench to create a gap to put a metal crowbar spudger inside to pry the bottom out. be careful where you poke, avoid the side with the power button - there are two super thin wires connected to the PCB for the charging induction coil that are insanely fragile - we got lucky and just damaged a plastic tab next to it.