Which Oral-B electric toothbrush should I buy? (2024)

Price When Reviewed:$219

Yes, it’s expensive, but if you can afford it, the iO7 is the brush to buy. It’s in the sweet spot where feature set meets price point to get you the most functionality for the least amount of cash spent.

What you’ll miss out on is the full colour screen that the iO8, iO9 and iO10 have, as well as more in-depth brushing feedback and even more brushing modes. Instead it has a black and white screen – but it displays all the same information. Crucially, it is the cheapest brush in the iO series to offer magnetic fast charging. This means your brush will charge in around 3 hours, as opposed to the 12-16 hours that the less expensive models take.

You’ll get up to two weeks of use from the battery but in practice, we found that 10 days is usual. This is about par for the course with iO brushes but not as good as other rival brushes, so if long battery life is very important to you, you may need to look elsewhere. And, like all iO brushes, there’s no USB charging option. Instead, you’ll get a shaver plug if you buy in the UK and a standard two-pin plug in the US.

However, in every other respect, this brush is pretty much flawless.

The iO7 has five brushing modes: Daily Clean, Sensitive, Intense, Whiten & Gum Care. It has an excellent pressure sensor, two-minute brushing timer with quadrant alerts, and a brushing countdown that displays on the screen. There are also excellent smart features, including interactive real-time brushing feedback – although, bear in mind you’ll need to use the app for this.

It’s not ideal for sharing, unless you don’t mind some of the smart features being inaccurate, but some retailers offer a two-pack deal that makes a pair of iO7s more affordable. And if you’re in the UK, don’t buy it at full RRP. Wait until one of its regular sales times and snap it up then.

Price When Reviewed:$79.99

This is the most budget-friendly of the iO brushes and it’s the only one that doesn’t offer smart features. If you know you’re going to ditch the app anyway, buying the iO3 makes sense. You’ll miss out on the customisation that the app offers, but if you just want a really good electric toothbrush, that won’t be a problem.

It has three brushing modes, for daily cleaning, whitening and gentle care, a pressure sensor, brushing timer (that alerts you via a stutter in the brush’s vibrations) and the fun light ring that’ll cycle through its colours when you complete a two-minute brushing session.

The battery life is less impressive. Oral-B says you should get over three weeks of brushing time but that’s only if you stop at exactly two minutes each time and never brush for more than twice a day. When we tested it, two weeks was more likely – and that was only with one person using it.

It also takes a long time to charge – too long to charge fully between a morning and an evening brush. You’ll need to keep it in the charging stand and be prepared to take that with you if everyone is sharing it on a family holiday.

Price When Reviewed:$49.99

If an iO is just too pricey, the Pro 1000 (in the US) or the Pro 3 (in the UK) has all the features you need to take care of your teeth, as well as a very good brushing performance.

This electric toothbrush has a brushing timer that alerts you every thirty seconds to move onto a new section of your mouth and lets you know when your dentist-approved two-minute brushing session has finished.

It also has a bright red pressure warning light that lets you know if you’re pressing too hard.

Although we think it’s great value, we don’t love everything about it: charging takes a long 12 hours; its battery warning light alerts you only a little way before the brush dies; and it doesn’t stop after two minutes, so you’ll need to give its inset button a hard press to switch it off. It’s not as quiet in use as an iO either. It has a pretty rattly buzz in operation.

Price When Reviewed:$29

As you might expect from its price point, this brush is light on features. It has a brushing timer, but it lacks a pressure sensor. And there’s no battery light, which makes it hard to tell if it’s charging properly when you set it in its stand.

But there’s also a bit of a compromise to be made with its cleaning performance. It’s one of the few Oral-B brushes that only oscillates – this is Oral-B’s “2D cleaning system”. Unlike the other brushes in this round-up, it doesn’t use sonic vibrations at all, which does mean that it provides a less intense clean.

However, if your budget is tight, this will serve you much better than a manual brush. It’ll ensure you brush for long enough and its oscillation-based cleaning will give your teeth and gums some extra care.It has a grippy handle and is easy to use as well.

Price When Reviewed:$249.99

If you’re feeling spendy, this is the luxury Oral-B brush we’d recommend. Yes, there are two iO models that are pricier (the iO9 and the iO10) but it doesn’t really get much better than this.

The differences between the iO8 and the iO9 are minor: the iO9 has seven cleaning modes instead of six – but how many do you really need? It also has 3D teeth tracking while you brush, which the iO8 doesn’t, but its real-time brushing feedback is almost as good.

The iO8 has fast charging, a full colour OLED screen, app compatibility, three brushing timer options and a pressure sensor.

As for the negatives, these are common to Oral-B brushes: there’s no USB charging option and the battery won’t last for two weeks. However, the three-hour fast charge goes some way to mitigating these flaws.

Price When Reviewed:$149.99

If you can spot a good deal on it, the iO6 is a great brush. But bear in mind that if you opt for this one over the iO7 or above, you won’t get fast charging.

The iO range has Oral-B’s best-ever cleaning performance, and the iO6 has five cleaning modes, a brushing timer and a light-up pressure sensor ring.

In terms of smart features, you’ll get all sorts of customisation options, as well as a real-time guided brushing mode, which will help you to get a better, deeper clean and ensure you’re not neglecting any spots.

The main compromises, when compared to more expensive iO models, are the monochrome screen (the iO8 and above have a full colour display) and a more basic charging dock that doesn’t offer fast charging. It’ll take you 12 hours+ to fully charge it. There are fewer brushing modes as well and you won’t get as detailed brushing feedback.

We’re not as keen on the fact that a brush at this price point doesn’t have a USB charging option, and the battery life could be much better. You’ll only get 10 days of use – or less if you brush for longer than two minutes at a time.

The price is pretty steady if you’re in the US. UK users should wait and buy it on sale.

Price When Reviewed:$100

The iO4 is one of the most budget-friendly iO models – and the cheapest one to have smart features. Pair it with the app and you’ll be able to tailor its brush settings for braces, gum sensitivity etc. You can also change other settings, use the in-app countdown timer when you brush and keep a log of your brushing sessions.

The iO4 uses the same charger as classic Oral-B brushes and takes 12-16 hours hours to fully charge. This won’t be a problem if you’re happy to keep it on the charging stand.

The iO4 has a great brushing performance, a vibration timer, pressure sensor and four brushing modes. Like all iOs that don’t have a screen, it’ll cycle through all the light ring colours in a congratulatory rainbow-hued light show when you brush for two minutes.

There’s no screen and no brushing mode icons on the handle. This, as far as we’re concerned, is the only real snag with buying this model. You’ll have to open the app to check which brushing mode you’re using, unless you can tell by vibration alone.

If this is a sticking point, the iO5 has a panel on the handle that displays symbols for all the brushing modes, so it’s easy to see which one you’re using.

Price When Reviewed:$299.99

This brush is the second most pricey iO model. It’s slick, feature-packed and slightly over-the-top, with a full-colour OLED screen that greets you in the morning and flashes you a smile if you brush well.

And when it times your brushing session, it provides a countdown timer on the brush handle screen so you can see exactly how long you have left.

But it also has Oral-B’s excellent brush tracking technology, seven brushing settings and a light-up pressure sensor that not only tells you when you’re pressing too hard but when you get it just right.

The key thing you’ll get from the app is real-time brushing feedback, which we found to be pretty accurate when we tested it. Apart from this, however, most of the rest of the app functions feel like filler.

The key difference between this brush and the iO8 is in the accuracy of the brushing feedback. The iO9 can identify 16 zones on the surface of your teeth, whereas the iO8 can only identify 6. Honestly, we found it difficult to tell the difference.

The iO9 also comes with a charging travel case, whereas to charge the iO8, you’ll need to take the charging puck along with you.

On the negative side, the iO9’s battery life is not as good as some competing brushes at this price point and you’ll be lucky to get more than 12 days of use before it needs to be charged. Still, that only takes three hours, thanks to its magnetic fast charging system.

Price When Reviewed:$219.99

If you want brushing feedback from an app but don’t want to go for an iO (the Genius range has much more affordable replacement brush heads), the Genius X could be for you.

It claims to be AI-driven, but we think this is pushing it a bit. However, it does feature intelligent position detection technology, so it can tell where in your mouth you’re brushing. If you tend to neglect harder-to-reach areas of your mouth, this brush could put you back on track.

It cleans brilliantly, has six brushing modes and a pressure sensor.

The only issue is that if the handle is shared, and more than one person wants to use the app to keep track of brushing stats, you’ll have to be diligent about taking your phone along to your brushing sessions, as otherwise info can be synced to the wrong account.

Price When Reviewed:$399.99

The iO10 is the current iO flagship model. Apart from its speckled, “cosmic” design, available in both black and white, it only has one major difference from the iO8 and iO9. And if that’s the feature you want, then you may be happy to pay more for it.

The iO10’s big innovation is its iO Sense smart charger: a charging dock which also functions as a digital clock and six-segment brushing timer. It means you can get detailed, real-time brushing feedback without bringing your phone into the bathroom with you. We found this feature useful when we tested the brush but found that there was a little lag, meaning that feedback wasn’t perfectly accurate.

The iO10 also has all the same features as the iO8 and iO9: the colour screen, pressure sensor and all the app features, like real-time brushing feedback in app. Like the iO9, it also features 3D teeth tracking for the most accurate brushing feedback. It has seven brushing modes and it can charge in its travel case – although there is no USB charging option.

Price When Reviewed:$119.99

What the iO5 has that the 3 and 4 don’t is a rubber panel on the handle that displays its brushing modes. This means you can see at a glance which of the five brushing modes you’re using, rather than just telling using the vibrations or checking in app.

Still, you’ll want to use the app to customise the brush and take advantage of the guided brushing feedback, which will let you know when you’ve brushed long enough in one part of your mouth and can move on.

Like all iO models, it has a red/ green pressure sensor and the celebratory light show post-brushing. It doesn’t feature fast charging (you’ll only get that on the iO7 and above) and its battery life will last for around two weeks.

If you’re in the UK, the iO5 is commonly priced above its feature set – you might think, from casually browsing, that it is worth more than the iO6. This is not the case and you shouldn’t pay more for it.

1.

Should I buy an Oral-B iO or a traditional Oral-B brush?

2.

What is a brushing timer?

3.

What is a pressure sensor?

4.

How many cleaning modes do you really need?

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6.

How often should you replace your Oral-B brush head?

7.

How long does the charge last on an Oral-B brush?

8.

How do Oral-B brushes clean?

9.

Do you need smart features?