Focusing on the handle, this is a sealed unit, which houses the battery inside, the motor and the electronics to make the brush head move. The physical size and weight of the two brushes are the same. Both measure in at (with brush head) 23 x 2.5 x 3 cm and weighs 130g. If you are good at cleaning with a manual toothbrush and have no gum disease or tooth wear, then a manual toothbrush is satisfactory. It also has less impact on the environment. Sonicare are much quieter, but as you say tend to command a premium price, so going for an Oral-B is perhaps a good option for your first brush. I really like the clean the brush offers, I have little in the way of complaint here. My teeth and gums felt clean after every use.

There are a number of types of electric toothbrush, including side to side movements, sonic, and rotation oscillation. When power is low the battery status icon will flash red and you will likely feel the decrease in brush power. You should spend 30 seconds cleaning each section. The pacer helps you keep an even brushing time on these 4 sections. It offers additional cleaning modes, it is the Sensitive mode that is a nice extra to have. I’m not sold on the need for a whitening mode. The blue bristles within the head will fade over time to a pale blue/translucent colour. This is a cue for you to change.Each brush head should be replaced every 3 months on average, sooner if the bristles are showing obvious signs of wear. What differs is the power/intensity of the mode and the brushing time. Very often the likes of a ‘deep clean’ mode will last for 3 minutes.

There is no science to this testing. The brush is not subjected to specially calculated, falls, water pressure and other lab tests. So whilst it is a useful feature, the fact that it is hard to spot or realise it is even activated is a negative. The Pro 3 3500 has the visible sensor, which is much easier to detect. There is very little difference between these modes and both do a similar job, but you can perhaps see why the Smart 4 4000 became the recommendation as it was our understanding that the Pro 2 2500 did not have the slowest and most gentle gum care mode. The range of electric toothbrushes available is so vast that it can be overwhelming to choose one. To keep things simple, we have narrowed down the options to the choices you see listed above, and will now explain why we recommend them.Despite many opting for electric toothbrushes with more than one mode, it would seem from our experience, most end up actually defaulting to using just one mode, more often than not, the Daily Clean mode within a couple of month’s, wasting the extra modes. The act of regular brushing, with the correct technique, is more important than what you pay. Additional cleaning modes