Thomas Veil
Suspended
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2020
- Posts
- 3,450
Recently I had the occasion to replace my electric toothbrush, and it gave me a reason to think about them again.
Years ago I remember thinking electric toothbrushes were for someone too lazy to move a toothbrush themselves. I did start using an electric one, but that was back before they turned into a boutique industry, like Dyson-style vacuum cleaners.
It wasn’t until my dentist recommended one of these kinds—Philips Sonicare—that I came to appreciate how good they really can be.
Now, fancy toothbrushes can be ridiculous. The one that just died on me, I originally balked at the price—$170 for a two-pack. (My wife still has the other.)
It wasn’t until I went really looking online for a new one that I discovered that in the Philips line alone, the price range is all over the place: from a low of $39 to a high of $349. (That’s “discounted”. MSRP is actually $399.
)
For that kind of money, it ought to be able to store all my favorite music and control my home appliances. But really, the differences don’t seem to be that great. Doodads like warnings to replace your brush head. Hell, I can set that up in Reminders on my phone for free. I don’t know that the actual cleaning is any better.
Anyway, now that I’ve looked, I see that Oral-B and a number of lesser known companies have similar lines. What’s your experience? Have you tried one of these other brands? Is going too cheap a bad idea? And are there reasons you think the top end ones are worth it? Have you noticed any that clean better than other models you’ve tried?
Years ago I remember thinking electric toothbrushes were for someone too lazy to move a toothbrush themselves. I did start using an electric one, but that was back before they turned into a boutique industry, like Dyson-style vacuum cleaners.
It wasn’t until my dentist recommended one of these kinds—Philips Sonicare—that I came to appreciate how good they really can be.
Now, fancy toothbrushes can be ridiculous. The one that just died on me, I originally balked at the price—$170 for a two-pack. (My wife still has the other.)
It wasn’t until I went really looking online for a new one that I discovered that in the Philips line alone, the price range is all over the place: from a low of $39 to a high of $349. (That’s “discounted”. MSRP is actually $399.
)For that kind of money, it ought to be able to store all my favorite music and control my home appliances. But really, the differences don’t seem to be that great. Doodads like warnings to replace your brush head. Hell, I can set that up in Reminders on my phone for free. I don’t know that the actual cleaning is any better.
Anyway, now that I’ve looked, I see that Oral-B and a number of lesser known companies have similar lines. What’s your experience? Have you tried one of these other brands? Is going too cheap a bad idea? And are there reasons you think the top end ones are worth it? Have you noticed any that clean better than other models you’ve tried?
