Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Oral-B iO Series 9 Smart Toothbrush review: Steep cost

Oral-B iO Series 9 Smart Toothbrush held in hand
Oral-B iO Series 9 Smart Toothbrush review: Steep cost
MSRP $300.00
“With so much time spent on its development, it lives up to delivering the best brushing performance around.”
Pros
  • Exceptional cleaning performance
  • Comes with four brush heads
  • LED ring helps with pressure sensitivity
  • Sturdy build quality
Cons
  • Expensive
  • Eats up battery

Earlier this year during CES 2020, I got a sneak peek at Oral-B’s new smart toothbrush: The iO Series 9. I only had the chance to get in a single brushing session, but I came away from the experience intrigued. When a company spends six years developing a smart toothbrush, expectations are surely going to be high. Months after that brief encounter, I’m more informed to tell you if it’s worth the wait. Check out other Oral-B models in our best electric toothbrush deals going on right now on Amazon Prime Day.

High-tech in every way

I’ve owned several manual and electric toothbrushes, but the iO Series 9 is the first I would call downright imposing. While it may look like just another electric toothbrush from a cursory inspection, it’s undeniably fancier looking up close, and equipped with tech that makes it a step above the rest. It’s plastic, but significantly beefier in size than other brushes, with the weight and solid feel to match. A tiny screen showcases battery life, brushing modes, and even an emoji face after each brush to grade my performance. Oral-B has put in a lot of work behind the brushing mechanism, which consists of a frictionless, smooth magnetic drive system to produce powerful micro-vibrations as you brush (more on that later).

Oral-B iO Series 9 Smart Toothbrush Display closeup
John Velasco / Digital Trends

Pearly white clean

To be blunt, I’m enamored with how well this toothbrush cleans my teeth. In using one of Oral-B’s entry-level electric toothbrushes in the past, I was never convinced that it was any better at cleaning than Philips’ Sonicare line. The iO Series 9 is a totally different beast altogether. In fact, it’s the best toothbrush I’ve ever used, including the Hum by Colgate that I checked out right before this one.

It’s the best brush I’ve experienced.

Part of its top-notch performance is due to its ability to detect how much pressure I’m applying while brushing my teeth. An LED ring around the toothbrush lights up in red, blue, or green, to indicate if it’s too much, too little, or just right. The Oral-B app will do the same thing, but I prefer the visual of the light, even if I’m brushing with my smartphone in hand. Additionally, a distinctive vibration tells you when it’s time to move onto another quadrant.

Thanks to its intense micro-vibrations, the Oral-B iO Series 9 delivers the best brushing performance I’ve experienced. I feel like my teeth receive a buffing job, in addition to a power wash — so it leaves my teeth with a squeaky feel every time. It doesn’t entirely get rid of hard-to-remove plaque buildup in between teeth, but to be frank, I haven’t come across a toothbrush that can do this well. Sorry, you still need to floss.

Oral-B iO Series 9 Smart Toothbrush brushing teeth
John Velasco / Digital Trends / Digital Trends

After each brush, it’ll display how much battery is left. Not surprisingly, it’s a battery hog, eating away about 10% of its battery after each use. So yeah, it’s going to require frequent charges.

More of the same smart functions

So far, the majority of smart toothbrushes I’ve encountered don’t differ too much with their smart functions. The Oral-B iO 9 tracks a total of six zones when being guided using the app, so I can see exactly how well I’m brushing each area. However, the tracking feature isn’t available with unguided brushes, which is rather puzzling for something “smart.” At the end of each brush, I’m given a score from zero to 100 to indicate my brushing performance.

Even though it’s able to tell me how well I’m brushing each quadrant, a part of me craves for more precise brushing data. For example, I can spend a lot of time brushing the front side of my teeth, while neglecting the back, but it treats the two sides as one. It doesn’t paint a true picture of my brushing and habits. This isn’t an isolated problem, but rather, a common one shared by most products in this category. I want a smart toothbrush that can learn my precise brushing habits and guide me toward practical improvements, I don’t want to brush to chase after a score.

Our take

Impressive cleaning comes at a price, which for the Oral-B iO Series 9 means having to fork over $300. It’s ridiculously expensive, but it’s also one of the most advanced toothbrushes on the market and delivers a satisfying clean each and every time. Fortunately, the purchase comes with a travel case and four brush heads, which saves the aggravation of buying replacements soon after. Still, it costs $30 for a two-pack replacement.

How long will it last?

With its substantial build quality, I’m confident it’ll hold up for a good while. Oral-B offers a 2-year warranty that covers defects, but not normal wear and tear.

Is there a better alternative?

If you’re looking for an exceptional clean with connectivity functions, it’s hard to find anything else that comes close. You may be able to get a similar performance with Oral-B’s other models, perhaps with the $200 priced iO Series 7 smart toothbrush.

Should you buy it?

Yes, mainly for the fact that cleaning takes priority above anything else. All of its smart functions and tracking are extra. If it can’t succeed at cleaning, then it’s a failure.

John Velasco
John is the Smart Home editor at Digital Trends covering all of the latest tech in this emerging market. From uncovering some…
Best Instant Pot deals: Pressure cookers, air fryers and grills on sale
A stew cooks in the Instant Pot Precision electric Dutch Oven.

When it comes to kitchen appliances, there are a lot of generic brands you can go for, but if you want something of some quality, then going for Instant Pot is a great idea. While the brand generally makes some of the best air fryers and best pressure cookers on the market, it does have some other great options, like an electric dutch oven. Either way, they can be a bit pricey, which is why we've gone out and collected our favorite deals from Instant Pot below to help save you the hassle.

On the other hand, if you haven't quite found what you're looking for below, you may want to check out these air fryer deals, Vitamix deals, and Ninja Foodi deals for a few more options.
Instant Pot Precision 5-in-1 electric Dutch Oven — $100, was $230

Read more
Home Depot expands Hubspace with a smart door, smart lock, and other cool gadgets
The new Hubspace smart door and smart lock.

Home Depot held its Hubspace Fall Preview event today, showcasing a variety of smart home products arriving later this year. One of the coolest new additions to the catalog is the Smart Glass Door by Feather River Doors, as it lets you toggle between clear or opaque glass via voice commands and syncs with most smart home platforms. Home Depot also revealed a smart lock, smart freezer, string lights, and home alarm system -- all of which are fully supported by the simple-to-use Hubspace app.

The Smart Glass Door is undoubtedly the most unique item in the upcoming collection. Pricing starts at $798 with a launch date of September 30, and it’s looking to bring some seriously cool features to your home. The big allure is the central glass pane, which can quickly change between clear and opaque styles using voice commands or a physical button. That means you can activate clear mode when you want a bit of sunshine, then swap to opaque mode for privacy. Beyond Hubspace, it integrates with Alexa and Google Assistant.

Read more
Best elliptical machine deals: From $100 to $1,100
A man working out with the ProForm Carbon EL elliptical machine in a nice apartment.

If you work from home or have just generally been letting yourself go, then an elliptical machine can help quite a bit with bringing you up to a good fitness level without stressing your joints too much. Even better, there are a lot of excellent choices out there, and you don't need the best smart elliptical to get something that's relatively good quality. That said, if you're on the taller or heavier side, then you may need to go for something a bit more pricey, which is why we've gone out and collected some of our favorite elliptical machine deals across various price brackets.

Also, it's worth checking out some of these other great treadmill deals for alternatives, or you can check out these general fitness deals as well.
Sunny SF-E902 Air Walk elliptical machine — $78, was $130

Read more