Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Great value
- Month-long battery life
- UV sanitising charging station
- Travel cases & 10 brush heads included
Cons
- No pressure sensor on brush
- Non-charging travel cases
- Bulky charging stand
- No smart features
Our Verdict
Buy the AquaSonic Duo Series Pro and you’ll get a pair of great-value sonic toothbrushes that do the job – plus spare heads enough to last you for 15 months, twin travel cases and a UV sanitising charging base.
Electric toothbrushes are expensive. And it’s not always convenient to share a handle, especially if you or your partner travel a lot.
But what if you could get two sonic brushes for the price you’d pay for one brush from one of the big brands? Plus: 10 brush heads, two travel cases, and a charging stand that features a UV sanitising pod for your brush heads. There has to be a catch, right?
Read on to find out.
Design, build and accessories
- Brushes are light to hold
- Four brushing modes
- Five brush heads included per brush
In the box, there’s one UV sanitising charging base with an integral plug and two 40,000 VPM ultrasonic smart toothbrushes – one in black and one in white. You’ll also get two travel cases – again, one in black and one in white. Plus, you’ll get five matching Proflex brush heads for each brush. All in all, you get a lot for your money.
Alex Greenwood / Foundry
The electric toothbrushes themselves are lightweight, and 25cm long from the top of the brush to the bottom of the base. The oval handle is about 2.5cm in diameter.
There are two buttons on the front of the toothbrush: one power button and one mode button that cycles between “clean”, “soft”, “whiten” and “massage”. You can tell which one you’ve chosen as the relevant mode lights up, which is not a feature that every budget-friendly electric toothbrush has.
All in all, you get a lot for your money
The back of the toothbrush has an indented wave pattern for improved grip, and the brush head itself is about 2cm long and 9mm wide with the bristles cut into a wave pattern.
The UV sanitiser is set in the centre of a large black and white charging base, with charging cradles on either side. 19cm long and 13cm high, it provides a place for both toothbrushes to charge at the same time and there are three pegs for brush heads in the sanitising pod. The power cable sprouts from the back and is a good 115cm long, so you’ll have options about where to place it.
The design of the charging station may prove divisive but if you have a modern or minimalist home, it could fit in well with your decor.
The travel cases are a surprise – they are sizeable at 22cm long, 8cm deep and 5cm high. Open the opaque lid and you’ll find space for the toothbrush and two brush heads with a drainage hole underneath. You can’t charge the toothbrush in the travel case though; it’s just for transporting your brush.
Performance and features
- Brushing timer
- Slightly noisier than competitors
- No pressure sensor
Plug in the charging station and place your toothbrushes in the charging cradles. The indicator light will be illuminated to show the toothbrushes are charging. AquaSonic says you need to charge the toothbrushes for 24 hours before using them for the first time – and that’s how long it takes to charge them fully.
Each toothbrush should get a month of use between charges, if you use it twice a day for two minutes. This is a very good battery life
AquaSonic also advises you charge the toothbrushes overnight every few weeks to keep the battery charged, but not to leave them on the stand to charge when not in use. This won’t be hard to remember as the charging stand is sizeable and not the kind of item you can pop on the edge of your sink.
There’s a battery icon indicator below the mode lights. Each toothbrush should get a month of use between charges, if you use it twice a day for two minutes. This is a very good battery life – and it’s essential here, as you won’t want to take the bulky charging stand with you when you travel.
The AquaSonic is a simple toothbrush. Press the power button to turn it on, press the mode button to choose the brushing mode, and off you go.
The toothbrush has a timer to prompt you to change which quadrant of your mouth you are cleaning: it is a simple pause in the sonic action. It’ll then stop entirely after two minutes of use.
In terms of brushing modes, the “clean” mode is a straightforward vibration clean. The “soft” mode has a little less vibration, while the “whiten” mode is high intensity. The “massage” mode is rather different though: it pulsates a lot more than the other modes and may be good for people whose gums need more attention.
Once you’ve finished brushing, you can sanitise the head in the UV sanitising charging stand. Flip up the lid of the pod in the centre of the charging stand, pop your toothbrush head on the peg inside, and lower the lid – the UV light will come on automatically.
You should note that UV light is dangerous to human skin and eyes but there’s a safety mechanism here: as soon as you open the sterilising box, the light will switch off automatically.
Alex Greenwood / Foundry
We found the AquaSonic to be a slightly louder toothbrush than some of those we’ve tested recently, particularly in the “massage” mode, so if you want a sonic toothbrush you can use in the middle of the night without disturbing a light sleeper, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Having said that though, it isn’t annoyingly noisy, and we found the toothbrush gave a consistently deep and good clean.
It’s only missing one feature we consider to be important: a pressure sensor. If brushing too hard is a problem you’re trying to correct, this may not be the brush for you.
Price and availability
In the US, you can buy the AquaSonic Duo pro from a number of retailers, including Amazon, Target and Best Buy. Although its MSRP is higher, it’s widely available for $79.99.
In the UK, your best bet is to head to Amazon, where it is priced at £89.95, although it’s currently available for £76.46.
We think that this bundle is extremely competitively priced.
Replacement brush heads are also very well priced, with eight brush heads available for $22.46 from AquaSonic, or in the UK for less than £20 from Amazon.
Verdict
At this price, we can’t find much to complain about with the AquaSonic Duo Series Pro. We’d ideally like to see a pressure sensor but apart from that, it’s just missing the bells and whistles you’d get on a pricier model, like smart features and a digital display.
But the performance is good, battery life is great and the spare heads, travel cases and UV sanitiser make up an excellent value-for-money bundle.
If you’re looking for a pair of sonic toothbrushes to simply clean your teeth and no more, the AquaSonic Duo Series Pro is a great buy. But for moreafforable electric toothbrush options, have a look at our round-up of the best budget electric toothbrushes we’ve tested.