What are the different features of Oral B vs Sonicare toothbrushes? Which is the best and why?

If you look into the best electric toothbrush to buy, then you will surely come across the names Oral B and Sonicare. Both brands have been dominating the electric toothbrush market for quite some time now because they offer features and qualities that go beyond their competitors.

So it's natural if you want your next electric toothbrush to be something from either Oral B or Sonicare. But the problem is you only need one toothbrush. So which one of these highly recommended brands should you choose?

Both Oral B and Sonicare have numerous electric toothbrushes under their line up. Each with different specifications, purposes, and price point. To make things simpler, I will choose one product from each brand and use that as the basis for the comparison. So we continue on in our battle of Sonicare vs. Oral B.

For Oral B, I chose the Oral B Pro 2 2500. For Sonicare, I chose the Sonicare ProtectiveClean 4300. The reasons I pick those particular models are because they share much of the same features, they are a mid-tier product, and they are also one of the most popular models from both brands.

This means they are comparable products, relatively affordable, and lots of people have used them. Based on those reasons, I believe we could get rather representative information of both brands by comparing those two models. 

• Brushing technology. Both brands used different kinds of technology to move their brush. We will talk about the difference between them, how effective they are for cleaning your teeth, and if there's any technology that is clearly better than its competitor.
   
• Design. This category refers to the design of the toothbrush as a whole. The size, the comfort when using it both when gripping it and when it is inside your mouth, and also the overall look of the product. While the look is certainly subjective, the ergonomic of the product is an objective value.
  
  
• Accessories. This category refers to the things that you'd find inside the box when you purchase the products. While the electric toothbrush itself offers rather similar things in terms of features and capabilities, both brands certainly have a different approach to giving accessories inside their packaging.  
  
  
• Portability. A toothbrush, electric or not, would certainly be one of the items that you would take with you on your journey. And thus, portability becomes an essential element for a toothbrush. Especially with the electric ones since most of them are quite bulky. 
  
  
• Price. An electric toothbrush would certainly be much more expensive than a regular toothbrush. But it still needs to be affordable to the general public. Since both models from the two brands offer relatively the same features, we will see which one is truly the best bang for your buck.
  
  
• Battery life. Just like the accessories, both brands also put different power inside their products. What's more, the way each product utilizes that power is also quite different. This means the overall battery life would certainly differ from one brand to the next. 

• Brushing technology. For their electric toothbrush, Oral B uses Oscillating-rotating technology. Sonicare, on the other hand, uses sonic technology. Oral B toothbrushes have a round brush head that would rotate at a high speed so that it could clean a much larger surface than a normal toothbrush. Meanwhile, the sonic technology on the Sonicare has the ability to both move in a side-to-side motion and a non-contact method that could disrupt plaque at the same time as the brush moves. Both technologies are great at what it does and none of them are way ahead of the other.
  
  
• Design. The handle looks quite similar for both brands. Bulky but very comfortable to use. The removable heads are where the difference stands out. Sonicare's brush heads look just like conventional toothbrushes because their brushing technology doesn't require any specific changes to an already familiar design. Oral B, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Their brushing technology made the heads look like a tiny wheel with brushes. I think both of them look just fine. 
  
  
• Accessories. When you purchase an Oral B Pro 2 2500, you'd find inside the electric toothbrush, a charging station, a brush head, a travel case, and some documentation. Sonicare is the same. A box of Sonicare ProtectiveClean 4300 includes the electric toothbrush, a brush head, charging station, a travel case, and some documentation. So both are equal in this category.
  
  
• Portability. As I mentioned in the previous category, both brands offer a travel case right out of the box. So they are quite portable. You could always buy a better travel case, but I think the default ones are good enough for most cases. 
  
  
• Price. When I write this article, a piece of Oral B Pro 2 2500 would cost you around $45 on Amazon. For the Sonicare ProtectiveClean 4300, you'd have to pay anywhere between $75 to $100. Yes, it is way too expensive. Since both of them are the more popular ones in their brand, you might have a hard time finding it in the physical store, so I suggest going online.
  
  
• Battery life. For regular use, meaning using the toothbrush twice a day every day, the Sonicare could last between three to four weeks. Which is impressive even by the industry standard. On the other hand, for the same type of usage, Oral B could only last for around two weeks. It's not that bad, but Sonicare is the clear winner here, by a wide margin.

In the battle of  Oral B vs. Sonicare we have seen that these two companies off great electric toothbrush that would superbly no matter who you pick. They may use a different brushing technology, but as you can see from the comparison above, both perform quite well without any one of them clearly better than the other.

They also have more in common with each other, such as the accessories and portability. The difference became apparent in the price and battery life. Sonicare would easily outlast Oral B with a single charging, but with almost half the price, Oral B is the one that offers more value to me.