Oral-B’s latest addition to the iO line has been available in the US for several months. You can read our review of the iO2 to find out more.
It has a recommended retail price of $59.94 in the US and is the most budget-friendly model in the series. If you’re in the US, you can buy the iO2 starter kit (which contains an extra brush head) from Amazon US now for $63.20.
UK buyers can pre-order from Amazon UK for £115.18. It’ll be delivered from 25 September-1 October. But you might want to hold off. 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 high in comparison to the US price for the iO2, as well as current UK prices for other iO models.
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 more features than the iO2 – and you’ll pay less for them. 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.
Oral-B iO brushes
In my opinion, Oral-B’s iO line offers the best brushing performance around and I regularly recommend these brushes to friends. But for people who aren’t sold on the advanced feature sets – which include smart brushing feedback, fast charging and a full-colour OLED screen – the prices can be an obstacle.
There are currently eight brushes in the Oral-B iO line, ranging from the iO3 to the luxury iO10. Each one has a slightly different feature set, corresponding to a US price point between $79.99 for the iO3 and $379.49 for the iO10.
It’s a different story in the UK, where prices tend to jump around a lot more, and electric toothbrushes often launch at wildly inflated prices. You might see the Oral-B iO3 with an RRP of £160 – but you shouldn’t pay more than £75 for it. Similarly, the iO10 has an RRP of £800, but is widely available for around £400.
To find out about the features of all the brushes in Oral-B’s iO line, see what you should pay and get our recommendations, have a look at our round-up of the best Oral-B electric toothbrushes.
The bottom line is that the cost can be off-putting to people who would benefit from an iO, and the iO2’s $59.94 price point should give the brush a much wider appeal. It’s been designed to tempt people who use a manual brush to make the switch to electric.
Here’s why you might want to make the leap.
What features does the Oral-B iO2 have?
The iO2 has all the features we want to see in an electric toothbrush:
- Solid brushing performance: the brush head both oscillates and vibrates for powerful cleaning and plaque removal.
- Dentist-recommended 2-minute timer, plus quadrant alerts to let you know when you’ve brushed one section of your mouth for long enough.
- Pressure sensor: pressing too hard is one of the most common errors when brushing and can damage gums and weaken tooth enamel. If the bristles on your brush tend to part in the middle like a palm tree, it’s a sign that you should use a brush with a pressure sensor. The iO2 has a pressure sensor that glows red and will slow down the brush’s operation if you press too hard when cleaning. However, you can read our review to find out why its sensor isn’t as good as the one on other iO brushes.
- Three brushing modes, for the perfect comfort level: super sensitive, gentle and daily clean. Bear in mind that all three modes are gentle in comparison to many other electric toothbrushes.
- Single button operation for ease of use.
The iO2 does have one thing going for it that’s an improvement on all other iO brushes: its battery life. The iO2’s battery life will last for several weeks, rather than the 7-10 days of most iO models – and that’s if you only brush twice daily for 2 minutes (remember that sharing a brush will halve its battery life).
Its charging time is 24 hours, however, which means it’s a much better option for people who are happy to keep it on its charging stand.
When will the iO2 be available and what will it cost?
If you’re in the US, you can buy the iO2 starter kit from Amazon now for $65.99. You’ll get two black brush heads, a black brush handle and a standard white Oral-B charger in the kit. The iO2 with a single brush head is available from Oral-B in the US and other US retailers for $59.94.
We expect it to launch in the UK at the end of September or the start of October. You can pre-order it from Amazon UK, or read our review to find out more.
For our top electric toothbrush recommendations, check out our round-ups of the best Oral-B electric toothbrushes, the best cheap electric toothbrushes and the best electric toothbrushes overall.
