I have been using the Oral B iO Electric Toothbrush by Proctor and Gamble for a month now.
The toothbrush arrived packed in a gorgeous, black box worthy of holding the finest in electronic devices. The packaging itself could help to make this a nice gift item. But, I was interested in the product’s capability to clean my teeth so I read the small, but comprehensive instruction pamphlet, charged up the battery, and began my test run. Before I begin with my observations, let me tell you that I have been using an older Oral-B electric toothbrush by Braun, a white handled, rechargeable unit which drives the brushes mechanically.
Here are the features that I like about the Oral-B iO:
1) The long battery power sustained between uses.
2) The indicator that shows percent of charge remaining after each use.
3) The sleek design and the cool, violet color of the unit.
4) The inductive charger.
5) The six settings: Daily Clean, Sensitive, Whiten, Gum Care, Intense, and Super Sensitive.
6) The color icons for each setting visible on a tiny screen beneath a translucent plastic cover.
7) The little icon that shows elapsed time along with a meme that ranges from grumpy (under a minute of brushing) to starry eyed smiley (over two minutes).
8) The sleek travel case that holds the handle plus one brush.
9) The brushes actuate so fast that it is hard to see what their motion pattern is. But, I looked inside the brush shaft and find that an up and down motion of an internal plunger is translated into clockwise and counter clockwise rotation of the brushes which makes them appear to be vibrating extremely fast. This, coupled with movement of the brush head by the individual should provide good cleaning and polishing action on the enamel while also stimulating gums and getting some food out from between the teeth.
These features were unimportant to me:
1) The Bluetooth connection feature. I am not enamored of over-complicating a simple process like brushing my teeth so I did not download the App that would enable the user to record and view statistics on their phone or computer related to how they brush their teeth. This might be important to a younger, data driven person. But, for me, it is one more unnecessary complication to life.
And, here are the features I do not care for with this toothbrush:
1)The high pitched vibration sound that rattles around inside my head in settings higher than super sensitive. Instead of having a therapeutic effect like the mechanical brush head on my older Oral-B, this whiny noise has the effect of making me get annoyed. Very annoyed.
2) The handle gets slippery when it gets wet. There is no rubberized or grippy surface. I have come to dislike this handle so much that I have quit using the toothbrush. I went back to using my more pleasant and mentally therapeutic old Oral B.
3) It is hard to find the on/off switch by feel.
4) The brush head is larger and more difficult to maneuver inside my mouth.
5) There is no way to easily identify brush attachments by user.
I just dropped another star in this updated review because I have stopped trying to adapt myself to this toothbrush.
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