The summer sales season is here! We’ve scoured the web for the biggest discounts we can find and rounded them up below.
Should I wait for Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day 2022 arrives on 12-13 July. During this 48 hour sale, Amazon will offer thousands of exclusive discounts site-wide to Prime members. To get the best deals, you’ll need Prime. The service costs £7.99/US$14.99 per month (or £79/$139 for the year).
We’ll show the best deals on electric toothbrushes that we find in the Prime Day sale and from competing retailers right here but if you’d like to see the best deals available across all tech, check out our Prime Day article which rounds up all the best and biggest tech discounts.
Until then, where possible we’ve compared current discounts with prices last Black Friday, which will give you a sense of whether to wait or go for it now.
How to get the best deal on an electric toothbrush
Buying an electric toothbrush in the US is a relatively straightforward business. But buying in the UK is more complicated. When electric toothbrushes are launched in the UK, they’re given an RRP (recommended retail price), but most brushes only sell at this price point for a couple of months. After this, they may be reduced by as much as half for their day-to-day retail price. This means that it’s quite hard to tell whether or not you’re getting a good deal as retailers can show big savings that aren’t as good as they seem.
In all of the following deals, we’ve aimed to use the amount that the brush usually sells for as the original price, rather than comparing the discount to the RRP. That means the savings you see here are real.
The price of brushes also fluctuates depending on the time of year and the retailer, so we’ll only include offers when brushes reach a price point we think is an excellent deal.
If you want more information on types of brush and useful features before you buy, check out our buying guide below the deals round-up. And if you’d like to find out which models we rate most highly, check out our round-up of the best electric toothbrushes we’ve tested.
Top 10 Electric Toothbrush Deals
Oral-B iO8
The price for this brush goes up and down but £140 is the lowest we’ve seen it. It’s less than its Black Friday price. Most other retailers are selling it for £250 now. It’s a brilliant brush, with the latest Oral-B technology. We reviewed the very similar iO9 and would recommend it.
Oral-B iO6 (US)
The newest iO of the bunch is also the most budget-friendly. It usually retails for around $150, so although this price isn’t quite as good as its Black Friday discount (it was $99.97) this is still a good time to buy. We’d recommend it.
Oral-B Pro 3 3900 twin pack
This is still the cheapest way to get two of these excellent Pro 3 brushes, which sell for £40-£45 each. We reviewed the Pro 3 3000 and rate it highly for its price point. It has 3 brushing modes, a pressure sensor & a two-week battery life.
Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000
The DiamondClean 9000 is a powerful smart brush with enough adjustable settings that you’ll be able to personalise your brushing experience precisely. You can read our review to find out more. It’s currently lower than its Black Friday price (£129.99) and the current next best price we can find on the black colourway is £175 from Boots, so this is a solid deal on one of the best brushes around.
Oral-B Genius X
The price of the Genius X tends to fluctuate but right now, you can buy it from Argos for £75, the lowest ever price we’ve seen for this model.
The Genius X is a brilliant brush that we gave 4 out of 5 stars in our test. You can read our review here.Oral-B Genius 8000
As always, ignore the RRP on the deal page, but this is a solid discount on an excellent brush.
Philips Sonicare 3100
If you’re after a Sonicare brush, the 3100 is one of the best value ways to get it – and this is a solid deal. It has an integrated pressure sensor and timer.
Foreo Issa 2
You can now get a really good deal on this beautiful silicone brush. Price still varies depending on colour and All Beauty has a selection, ranging in price from around £60 to £80. But the best offer is on the black model. Want to know what it’s like to use? Check out our review.
Best electric toothbrush offers right now
Where to find smart toothbrush savings
As with most things, Amazon is one of the best places to look for toothbrush deals first, especially if you look in the Deals of the Day. These discounts, also known as Lightning Deals, are offered for a limited time (often for a few hours only), or until stocks run out.
We’d recommend signing up to Amazon’s 30 day free trial of Prime, which will not only get you access to Lightning Deals 30 minutes earlier than non-Prime members, but will also get you free next-day delivery. Plus, you’ll get access to Prime Video, which you can access through your smart TV, and other benefits during your trial, too.
US users should also check out:
If you’re in the UK, other great places to look include:
Types of electric toothbrush
There are two main types of electric toothbrush. First, there are mechanical brushes, which you might also see described as rotating, oscillating, pulsing, or a variation on the above. These work by rotating (or oscillating, or pulsing) the bristles on the brush head to remove plaque and clean teeth.
The Oral-B Vitality brush is one of these but most Oral-B brushes now use a combination of oscillations and sonic vibrations to clean.
The second broad type of brushes are sonic. These vibrate rather than rotate, the idea being that they hit certain frequencies that break down plaque and help to drive toothpaste between your teeth. Philips Sonicare brushes are the best-known example.
Finally, there are a few more recent brushes in a third category, but they’re much less common: ionic. We’ve reviewed the Sanyei Ion-Sei, which claims to generate ions that stop bacteria from growing in your mouth. Clinical studies have shown good results but it’s still early days for the technology.
Smart toothbrushes
More and more toothbrushes are now boasting smart features like Bluetooth and app support, with a few even claiming to be ‘AI toothbrushes’. Take all of this with a pinch of salt – but still, the companion apps for brushes can be a great way to improve your brushing technique or monitor your child’s.
Different brushes handle it in different ways, but the core functionality of most apps is to monitor where in your mouth you’re brushing the most (and the least) and give you tips on how to give yourself a more thorough clean. The Oral-B Genius 9000 does this in a slightly awkward way by using your phone’s camera to monitor your brushing, but newer brushes like the Oral-B Genius X and the iO use inbuilt sensors to detect the brush’s position in your mouth.
They may even include games to encourage kids to move the brush to a new spot in their mouth to collect virtual coins or something similar, teaching them good brushing technique in an entertaining way. As you’d expect, there’ll also be all sorts of stats tracked so you can monitor your progress and how often you brush.
Other features
Even if an app doesn’t appeal, there are a few key features you might want to look for in a brush. One is a pressure sensor: this means that the brush will alert you (either with a light or a change in vibrations) when you’re pressing down too hard with the brush, potentially damaging your teeth and gums.
The next concern is a brushing timer. Your brush will alert you every 30 seconds to move onto the next section of your mouth, making sure that you’re brushing for long enough (two minutes is the total recommended amount of time) and not missing spots. Most people favour certain areas of the mouth, while neglecting others and a timer can help you break this habit.
Finally, look for brushes with multiple speeds or modes – especially if you have sensitive teeth – as these will allow you to adjust the power to suit your preferences. It’s especially useful if you’ll be sharing the brush with other family members (though please remember that everyone needs their own brush heads!).
Battery life
The battery might not be an obvious concern when it comes to a toothbrush, but if you don’t have a handy charging socket in your bathroom, it could make a massive difference in terms of day-to-day convenience. A long enough battery life will also save you from having to bring a charger with you on holiday.
Top brushes should last for a couple of weeks of twice-daily use, and we wouldn’t recommend buying anything that won’t run for at least a week. Even better, some modern brushes will charge by USB, which at least gives you more options for topping them up while travelling, and might compensate for a shorter battery life.
Replacement brush heads
There are two considerations with brush heads. First, what choice of brush heads will you get? With a big brand like Philips or Oral-B, odds are you’ll be able to choose brush heads designed specifically for whitening, gum care or sensitive teeth. With a smaller brand, you’re likely to be more limited.
Price is also a key factor. While the brush itself may be expensive, the bigger cost could end up being replacement brush heads. Again, big brands have the edge here: thanks to bulk manufacturing, they can sell brush heads for less, and you can usually find third-party duplicates at even better prices. Smaller brands like Sanyei just can’t compete here.
So before you snap up a cheap brush, make sure you won’t pay for it later when it comes to buying new brush heads.
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Author: Emma Rowley, Home Tech Editor
Emma is Home Tech Editor at Tech Advisor. She covers everything from kitchen appliances to smart home devices, from floor care to personal care to air care technology. She’s particularly interested in environmentally conscious brands and products that save people time and money.