Naive review : Braun Oral-B Vitality Electric Toothbrush

A basic naive review by a consumer of : Braun Oral-B Vitality Electric Toothbrush
Bought : In UK
Model information : no package, so all I have to go on is on bottom of brush body : Type 3709 (other info : N2820)

Verdict : Seems a decent quality 'starter'/'bottom of the range' electric toothbrush. No frills but does the job. Look our for when it's seasonally on sale or on Amazon where it seems to be usually cheaper.

This review is on a Oral B Vitality toothbrush I bought in 2012. I presume there is not much change in the latest model, though I cannot be sure.

Amazon USA search : Oral-B Electric Toothbrush
Amazon UK search :  Oral-B Electric Toothbrush

Opening comments :
No frills. No LEDs when charging or using to let me know the state of the battery etc. Has a basic timer that pulses at 2 minutes to imply that this is enough time for cleaning. The newer model may also give the 30 second pulses to tell you to switch to another quadrant of the mouth (I ignore the timer myself). Seems to be a good solid electric toothbrush that is bottom of the range but still decent quality.


Other points :
2D brushing. The Oral-B site says the Vitality is a '2D' toothbrush, meaning it oscillates and rotates, but does not give cleaning pulsations The 'pulsation' types are known as '3D' (which seems to be the rest of the range, not sure about '600'). The Oral-B UK website does not list pulsations but the USA site does. The USA site says the '1000' has 20000 pulsations per minute while higher models have 40,000.

Various versions of 'Vitality' toothbrush :
I have seen at least a couple of versions of the Vitality Electric Toothbrush. One is called 'Precicion' while another is called 'Whitening'. I have no idea if the only difference is the type of toothbrush head and if the bodies are the same (please check).

A few categories of Oral-B electric toothbrushes :
It seems to me the main 2 categories of Oral-B Electric Toothbrushes are 'Trizone (UK)/ Deep Clean (USA)'  and 'Professional'. My naive view is that the 'bodies' may be the same and only the toothbrush heads differ, but I may be completely wrong. Please check.

The Oral-B Professional range :
Of the 'Professional' range, the Vitality is the bottom of the range. To me the main differences with higher range models seem to be
It's '2D' (if the body is different, rather than the toothbrush head only).
It has no LEDs to let you know about charging status etc. 
The UK website does not list oscillation speed. The USA website does, but the model names while mostly the same also have some different names, so I don't know if they are a direct comparison. If they are then the Vitality runs at 7600 rpm whereas the higher USA models run at 8800 rpm.

Here are links from the Oral-B site that show comparisons of the 'Professional' Range   
UK Oral-B comparison of Professional range
USA comparison of oscillation speeds of Professional range

USA Vs UK :
With a naive view, the USA and UK models look very similar and most seem to have the same name (one difference seems there is no '600' model in the USA). So I can't tell if they are directly comparable but at the same time they look very similar.

Oscillation-rotations per minute :
The UK Oral-B website does not seem to list the RPM's. The USA does and has the 'Vitality' at 7600 rpm whereas the higher models are 8800rpm.

Worth buying a higher model ?
In the UK, the next up in the Professional range is the '600' (not sure about USA). Then the '1000'. My naive view is that a higher model may be worth buying if you want some LEDs and perhaps an faster oscillation speed. Look out for when they are 'hal-price' or buy from Amazon if they are much cheaper than in stores. For instance I wouldn't pay £50/$75 for the '600'. I bought a '600' at £25. Overall I would say the 'Vitality' is a good starter and the quality is sound, so I would not reject it.  

2-pin plug :
Note it is a 2-pin plug. If you need an adapter you should be able to get one for about £1 in a £ shop.

Conclusion :
The Oral-B Vitality seems a decent 'starter' or 'bottom of the range' quality electric toothbrush. If it's the only one you can afford then you are getting decent quality with the electric toothbruish being of a decent standard but having no LED's to get charging info etc If you have more money it's worth looking higher up the range but as a 'basic electric toothbrush' it's of a decent standard.