Oral-B iO Series 10 Review
A feature-packed, premium toothbrush
Verdict
Got an unlimited budget? Then the Oral-B iO Series 10 (or iO10) is, without a doubt, one of the best toothbrushes that money can buy. Quieter than most, thanks to the iO Series motor, it still manages to pack in an incredible amount of power, leaving my teeth feeling well and truly clean.
Pros
- Premium design
- Case, charging dock and more included
- Useful screen
Cons
- Very expensive
- Mouth tracking not very reliable
Key Features
- TimerTwo-minute timer with 30-second intervals helps you brush all parts of your mouth equally.
- AppConnects via Bluetooth to your smartphone for detailed mouth tracking and cleaning routines.
Introduction
Let’s cut straight to it. With an RRP of £799.99 the iO10’s price is, quite frankly, absurd.
Thankfully, it’s often on sale for around half that, making it more palatable. But not by much. Considering the iO9 can be found for around half as cheap yet again (with other brushes in the Sense range for even less than that), the iO10 is a tough sell.
But with more features than anything else out there, is the Oral-B iO Series 10 worth the extra (extra) expense? Here are my thoughts.
Design and features
- Slick screen
- Speckled perfection
- Plenty of modes
If you’re dropping multiple hundreds of pounds on an electric toothbrush, you’ll want it to look and feel special. Thankfully, the Oral-B iO Series 10 delivers on both counts.
Available in black and white, both colours feature an eye-catching contrasting speckled design, with sophisticated chrome accents thrown in for good measure. And while the overall build is plastic, it’s the premium-feeling type with a pleasantly grippy, matte finish.
And then there’s the screen. A colour OLED affair, it offers sharp, clear text, and lets you easily view and switch between the different cleaning modes (of which there are seven), providing far more convenience than blindly stumbling through the cryptic symbols you’ll find on other screenless toothbrushes. It also shows how much battery is left when you pick it up, as well as displaying the charge level when topping up the battery, which is also very handy.
Other notable features include the ability to change the LED colours of the pressure-sensitivity indicator, which comes into play when you’re brushing with the correct pressure, or too much. Pressure sensitivity feedback is a vital feature in any electric toothbrush, as it helps ensure that you’re using enough force to clean properly without inadvertently damaging your gums in the process.
As for the aforementioned modes, they are, as described in the manual:
- Daily Clean: standard mode for daily cleaning
- Sensitive: gentle, yet thorough cleaning for sensitive areas
- Whiten: polishing for occasional or everyday use
- Gum Care: gentle massage of the gums
- Intense: for an extraordinary clean feeling (operated with a higher speed)
- Super Sensitive: super gentle cleaning for extra sensitive areas
- Tongue Clean: tongue cleaning for occasional or everyday use
In general, their respective descriptions are accurate. Do you need all of them though? Probably not, unless you have some very specific requirements. The Oral-B app does, in fact, offer the ability for you to set your main goals (such as gum health etc), before providing a schedule of modes over the course of a set period of time. There’s a gamification aspect to this too, which is addictive at first, but after a week of collecting tokens for keeping up with the programme, the appeal lost its lustre. Teeth were still regularly brushed, mind, just without checking the app for progress.
Overall, most people will be fine with the Daily Clean mode. If it’s your first foray into electric toothbrushes, one of the gentler modes might be a nice way to ease yourself into a world of more vigorous brushing, but you can’t really go wrong with any mode you choose. Whether you’re willing to pay extra for all the additional modes when one or two will suffice, is up to you.
Accessories
- One dock to rule them all
- Clock on the magnetic dock
- Travel case doubles up as a charger
As expected at this price, the Oral-B iO Series 10 comes with various accessories – a travel case (which doubles up as a charger), a brush head storage holder, and a magnetic wireless charging dock.
The former is a handy way for transporting your toothbrush while you’re on the go, though I once again lament the exclusion of a far more practical USB charging cable. In contrast to the charging case on, say, the high-end Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000, the iO10’s charging case is rather plasticky, utilitarian, and, well, a bit boring. The Sonicare’s charging case, for example, has an air of elegance about it, thanks to a faux leather finish and chrome accents, making it feel more premium and luxurious.
It’s the iO10’s magnetic wireless charging dock, though, that stands head and shoulders above any other electric toothbrush out there.
Not only does it handily store and charge the toothbrush itself, but it’s got a built-in digital clock, along with an LED ring that flashes red if you’re applying too much pressure. In other words, if there’s no mirror on hand, you can easily get pressure sensitivity feedback by merely glancing at the charging dock.
If you do happen to have a mirror – more than likely in most bathrooms – then the usefulness of this charging dock pressure sensitivity feedback is definitely up for debate. But if you’ve got the money to burn, this is a standout feature that elevates the iO10 above all other rivals.
In terms of the battery itself, it’s speedy on the charging front, with even a brief top-up providing enough juice for a single brushing session if you’re low on power and in a rush. While there’s no official battery life figure provided, I found that the iO10 lasts around 14/15 days per charge, which is precisely what we’d expect to see.
Oral-B app
- Connects via Bluetooth
- Laden with features (but room for improvement)
Thanks to built-in Bluetooth, the Oral-B iO Series 10 has many extra features and settings that can be tapped into via Oral-B’s app. First impressions aren’t great – at least in my case. I had a bit of a nightmare getting the iO10 to correctly pair up with my Android handset, despite clearly following the on-screen instructions.
After a frustrating 15 minutes of constant failures, I managed to get it to work, though I couldn’t exactly tell you how. Reading other reviews on the Play Store, it’s clear that I’m not the only one to have struggled either. As with most cases like this, not everyone is affected, and I’ve had no problems since the initial successful pairing.
Once paired, you’ve got a bunch of useful features at your fingertips, such as changing the colour of the pressure sensitivity light. You can check on your brush head status too, and register the specific toothbrush head you’re using (there are various compatible Oral-B heads available for regular brushing, polishing, etc).
The app also lets you know when it’s time to get a new one. If you tend to wait longer than you should before grabbing new brush heads, then this is a reliable way to help ensure your teeth are always getting the best clean possible.
And then, of course, you have real-time tracking. The Oral-B iO9 and iO10 are the only models that offer the most level of tracking detail currently possible – namely, 16 different zones. These include three zones for the upper/lower left and right rears (front, inside, and biting surface), as well as two zones for the upper and lower fronts (inside surface and outside surface).
If you’ve never used such a sophisticated toothbrush before, then you’ve probably never thought about splitting your mouth up into all these different zones when brushing. I certainly hadn’t. It’s a very useful way of ensuring that every area is covered, and while it might sound confusing to keep track of, the app is on hand to guide you through it. Sort of.
I say sort of, because I often find myself getting rather frustrated with the real-time detection. In theory, you fire up the app, start brushing, and you’re presented with a model of a mouth, with all the key areas clearly outlined. Brush an area with the correct pressure, and you’ll be rewarded with visual onscreen feedback, indicating a sparkling clean area, so that you can move on to the next section.
When it works, it’s incredibly satisfying. In fact, it’s fundamentally changed the way I brush my teeth in general, regardless of what toothbrush we’re using. Follow the formula (it should take at least two minutes, otherwise you’ll be presented with a 🙁 on the OLED screen), and you can guarantee that you’ve cleaned your mouth properly.
Trouble is, I quite often find myself correctly brushing an area with perfect pressure, only to have it not register in the app. There’s no consistency to this inconsistency, but being a perfectionist, I eventually chose to simply brush my teeth using the newly learned zoning system myself, without having the app open. The same thing was true with the older Oral-B iO Series 9.
You could argue that this defies the point of forking out so much cash for a smart teeth-tracking toothbrush. But the new brushing technique I’ve picked up is also pretty invaluable and game-changing, and my mouth feels all the better for it.
Persevere with the app, and you’ll be met with all manner of stats when brushing, with rewards for 100% coverage etc thrown in for good measure. It’s pretty granular too, letting you see how much total time you were pressing too hard, for example. I can’t imagine how invested you’ll be in this level of detail in the longer term, but it’s a nice novelty and a welcome feature for particularly meticulous brushers.
Performance
- A powerful, yet gentle clean
- Quiet motor
Rocking the same new, quieter brushless magnetic motor found in all the other iO models, the iO10 benefits from delightfully quiet operation, and is noticeably more peaceful to use than, say, its Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000 rival.
Using the brushless magnetic drive energy, designed to focus the cleaning energy directly on the bristle tips, results in a satisfying scrubbing experience. The oscillating brush head is smaller and more manageable than larger sonic heads too, which makes for easy manoeuvrability, especially in tighter spots. There was no area of my mouth that I struggled to reach, which has been the case with other toothbrushes we’ve reviewed.
My trusty false teeth cleaning test produced very favourable results, too, with beetroot and spinach being blasted away by the powerful head without a hint of trouble. Post-brush, my mouth always feels incredibly fresh and clean too – especially when I followed up with the additional tongue-cleaning mode.
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Should you buy it?
You want the most fully featured toothbrush possible
If you don’t see an issue spending lots and lots of money on teeth hygiene, then the Oral-B iO Series 10 offers the greatest set of features found in a toothbrush.
You want the best value possible
Let’s be honest, there’s no need to spend this much on a toothbrush. There are plenty of better options, including the older Oral-B iO3 and iO9 models, especially following a discount.
Final Thoughts
Should you buy the Oral-B iO Series 10? In a word, no. Unless you’ve got the luxury of having an obscene amount of cash to drop on an electric toothbrush, then it’s a borderline act of madness to part with the thick wad of notes that the iO Series 10 demands. But it’s not all bad.
For starters, one of the reasons that I can’t recommend it to most people is that the rest of Oral-B’s (far more affordable) iO lineup is so strong. They all share the same incredibly impressive motor, for a start – including the currently sub-£100 Oral-B iO3 – along with the all-important built-in pressure sensor. Learn how to brush each section of your mouth in the correct methodical way, and the iO3 has all the key features practically anyone needs for a clean, healthy mouth.
That’s not to detract from the iO10’s vast array of features, mind. The charging dock, with its built-in clock and pressure indicator, makes for a very impressive bit of kit. The app has an array of useful features too, though it’s let down by a few niggling problems. And there’s no denying the build quality and design. For most people, this toothbrush is too expensive and there are better alternatives in our guide to the best electric toothbrushes.
How we test
We test every electric toothbrush we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main electric toothbrush for the review period.
Tested to see how well each brush cleans.
Tested to see what real-world battery life is.
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FAQs
The app helps you learn how to brush all areas of your mouth properly and it can track where you have brushed.
Full specs
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
