Oral-B iO Series 2 electric toothbrush review

A lighter choice, in a lot of ways

At a glance

Expert's Rating

Rating of this product is 4 out of 5.

Pros

• Excellent battery life
• Three brushing modes
• Pressure sensor

Cons

• Very gentle brushing
• Pressure sensor not easy to see while using
• 24-hour charging from flat to full

Our Verdict

The most budget-friendly iO doesn’t quite feel like the rest of the iO models. It lacks the visible red/green pressure sensor and its brushing performance feels much more gentle. But it has its plus points as well, most notably its battery life, which is comfortably the best of the series – and makes it a better option for sharing.

Price When Reviewed

£115.18

Oral-B’s iO series to date offers excellent brushing performance, along with a highly visible and effective pressure sensor, a choice of brushing modes, brushing timer, and a range of other features, depending on the model you choose.

There are so many iO models available (nine, including the newly released iO2) that you can find one to perfectly match your preferences. Still, it’s not easy to choose between them if you don’t know what each one offers. Check out our Oral-B electric toothbrush guide to find the right model for you.

I’ve been looking forward to the release of the iO2, the most-budget friendly iO brush now available. But when I started testing it, I found that it wasn’t exactly what I’d expected. Read on to find out why.

Design & Build

• Three brushing modes
• Brushing timer alerts
• Pressure sensor – but it’s hard to see while brushing

At first glance, the iO2 looks just like any other iO brush. It’s the same size, with the same matt handle and it uses the same iO brush heads.

But it’s a little lighter. At 117g (without a brush head), it weighs 10g less than the iO4 (127g).

The other big, visible difference is that it lacks the light ring around the neck that every other iO brush has. The light ring has a number of functions. It’s decorative (you can personalise the colour in the app). It cycles through a rainbow of colours when you’ve completed your dentist-approved two minutes of brushing time. And far more importantly, it acts as a bright red/green pressure sensor: when you’re using the right amount of pressure, it glows a steady green. Press too hard and the light ring turns red.

It’s easily one of the best iO features – and the iO2 doesn’t have it. Instead, there’s a tiny, 1x5mm indicator light that flashes red if you press too hard. As it’s on the front of the brush, it can’t be seen in the mirror for most of the time that you’re brushing. It’s just nowhere near as good.

Oral-B says that when you press too hard, the motor also slows to protect your gums. You can hear a change in vibration but as the brushing performance is already so gentle, it’s hard to feel much of a difference.

The iO2 is simple to operate, with a single button to power it on, cycle through the three brushing modes and – with a long press – switch it off.

You can buy the iO2 in black, white or in a new forest green colour. Bear in mind that, as iO brush heads only come in black or white, you’ll have a dual-colour brush if you opt for green.

If you find the vibrations of more powerful brushes to be too strong, the iO2 could be the electric toothbrush for you

The iO2 has three brushing modes: super-sensitive, gentle and daily clean. It also features a quadrant alert in the form of a change of vibration every thirty seconds to let you know to move on to a new section of your teeth. After two minutes, there’s a longer alert to let you know that you’ve finished brushing. But the brushing session won’t stop automatically, so you could miss the alert if you zone out.

As you’d expect at this price point, the brush has no smart features.

Performance & Features

• Very gentle
• Long battery life
• Full charge takes 24 hours

The visible differences between the iO2 and other iO brushes are one thing but there are invisible differences as well.

The iO2 has a different motor to the rest of the series, which may explain why it’s a little bit lighter. There’s not a lot of detail from Oral-B on the motor but as soon as you switch it on, you’ll notice that the brush is not as powerful as other iOs and delivers a much gentler cleaning performance.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing: Oral-B has positioned the iO2 as an electric alternative for people who usually use a manual brush. If you find the vibrations of more powerful brushes to be too strong, the iO2 could be the electric toothbrush for you.

Personally, I prefer the feeling of a standard iO – although that’s not to say that the iO2 doesn’t clean your teeth just as well. After using it for some weeks over the testing period, I do think it brushes well.

The iO2 has one huge advantage over all the other brushes in the iO line – its battery life, which Oral-B says should last for a month. This makes it a good option for sharing, and for taking away when you travel.

Roughly speaking, you’ll get around two weeks of life between charges from any other iO brush. We tend to find that the higher-spec brushes with more bells and whistles don’t last as long. However, the 7, 8, 9 and 10 models have 3-hour fast charging, which mitigates this a lot.  

When the battery needs charging, the pressure sensor indicator will glow red. And it’ll flash green on the stand when it’s charging. But as it needs 24 hours for a full charge, this is a brush you don’t want to let run down completely.

Your best bet is to keep it on the included charging stand, or at least charge it regularly. It uses the same charging stand as all the less pricey iO brushes, which comes with a standard two-pin plug in the US and a shaver plug in the UK. We wish iO brushes featured USB charging, but not even the top-flight models do at this stage.

Price & Availability

The iO2 is now available for pre-order from Amazon. It’s priced at £115.18. We expect it to be available for less after launch. Prices for Oral-B brushes in the UK tend to rise and fall seasonally, and its pre-launch price is simply too high. At the time of writing, you can buy the iO3 for £61.99 from Amazon and the iO5 for £109.99, also from Amazon. Inevitably, these prices will change, but the fact is that these other brushes have a much better feature set. Read our reviews of the iO3 and the iO5 to find out more, or see our recommendations for the best Oral-B brushes in our round-up.

In the US, you can buy the iO2 starter kit – comprising the handle, two brush heads and a charger – from Amazon for around $64-$65, depending on whether you choose the white, black or green colour option. This is a better value option than buying from Target or Walgreens for $59.99, as you’ll only get a single brush head with purchase.

Should you buy the Oral-B iO2?

If you’re currently using a manual brush and want a gentle electric toothbrush with a long battery life, the iO2 is a solid choice. But bear in mind that replacement brush heads for traditional Oral-B brushes will be cheaper, so a traditional (non-iO) Oral-B brush will save you money in the long-term.

For those looking to get all the best features of an iO without paying a huge sum, we’d say that spending an extra $20 for the iO3 is the better bet. But we have more budget-friendly recommendations in our round-up of the best Oral-B brushes.