Which Oral-B electric toothbrush should I buy? The answer is right here

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.

This is the most budget-friendly of the iO brushes (not counting the iO2, which has a different brushing action from all other iO models) 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 only thing to note is that, unlike pricier models, there’s no visual clue on the brush handle at to which brushing mode you’re using. You’ll have to tell b vibration mdoe alone.

The battery life is also less than 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.

If an iO is just too pricey, the Smart 1500 (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. Still, it’s not quite as good value in the UK, where it’s a little pricier, so one of the more budget-friendly iO models may be a better option.

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.

You might be able to find a cheaper electric toothbrush on Amazon but is it worth it? For our money, we reckon this is the cheap brush to go for: it’s Oral-B’s most budget-friendly model. It has three cleaning modes that range from extremely gentle to brisk, and a two minute brushing timer with alerts every thirty seconds. Its brushing performance is good but it only oscillates – it doesn’t vibrate as well, which would improve plaque removal. It’s also lacking a pressure sensor, so it won’t help you if you tend to press too hard when you brush.

Still, we think the brushing performance is good enough to be worth it. It’s certainly a step up from a manual brush. The timer alone will improve your dental care.

But the real compromise comes with the battery. Battery life is short (8 days max), charging time is long (22 hours) and there’s no battery indicator light to tell you when it’s running low on charge, or that it’s charging, or fully charged. If you’re happy to keep it on the stand, these things will be less of an issue but if you don’t have a suitable plug point in your bathroom, the low price may not be worth the hassle.

What the iO5 has that the iO3 and iO4 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 having to use the vibrations to differentiate or checking in the 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’s worth more than the iO6. This is not the case and you shouldn’t pay more for it.

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.

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.

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.

The iO2 is the latest addition to the iO line – and it’s the current entry-level brush. It’s been designed to appeal to people who currently use a manual brush, which means that it’s simple to use and gentle. If the vibrations from a standard electric toothbrush are too intense for you, the iO2 could be the answer.

What this means is that its brushing performance feels substantially different to any other iO brush. It has three modes – super-sensitive, gentle and daily clean – but all modes are extremely gentle, and will be too much so for some people.

There are other key design differences from the other iO models. The iO2 doesn’t have the distinctive light ring pressure sensor. It does have a light-up sensor, but it’s a tiny light, and not easy to see when you’re brushing.

But what it does have that all other iO brushes lack is a long battery life. You’ll get several weeks of use before you need to recharge it. This makes it good for sharing and handy for taking away when you travel. However, when the battery does run down, it needs a full 24 hours to recharge, so you’ll need to keep it on the charger to avoid this.

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.

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.