the new ones are worth up to 300 euros

The other day, while I was brushing my teeth, my electric brush made a strange noise. I didn’t give it much importance, but a few days later it happened again and this time it was accompanied by a clear drop in power. Finally what was expected happened: it stopped working.

I bought it in 2020 for 17.99 euros, so I am more than satisfied with the service provided. Plus, it caught me just the day Amazon’s spring sales ended, so I ran to look for a replacement. What I found left me quite surprised.

A huge (and very expensive) offer

It’s been six years since I bought my ill-fated Oral-B Vitality brush. Six years in which I have not found out what was going on in the electric toothbrush market, for whatever reason, it has not interested me either. First of all, I clarify that I went directly to see the Oral-B offer because I was happy with my previous brush, but above all because I still had several heads to use.

In 2020 I was aware that there were models much more expensive than the one I chose and in fact this time I went to Amazon with the idea of ​​looking at a slightly more advanced model, what I did not expect was to find these prices.

The Oral B spring sale cover

The most notable offer on the Oral-B website is the Oral-B iO 10, which cost 299 euros (today it costs 309 euros), but those that followed were not short; 289, 199, some for 129 euros… truly crazy. At what point have electric toothbrushes become a luxury product, I thought.

These ultra-expensive brushes have a color screen, magnetic base, travel case with charging function, seven cleaning modes and of course AI, Don’t miss out on AI. I understand that many of these functions will be very practical and have their audience, but personally I am not going to spend three figures on a toothbrush.

In addition to prices, there are a lot of models and it is quite difficult to understand what their differences are. Suddenly I found myself looking for comparisons and reading spec sheets. For a toothbrush.

The premiumization of the everyday

Is a phenomenon that affects all types of products and services. We are seeing it with the gourmet bakeriesthe specialty coffee shops and even with the kebabs. Another establishment that we have seen premiumize recently are the stationery stores. They are traditionally cheap products that are given a patina of luxury and exclusivity to justify much higher prices.

With electric toothbrushes, the point is also added techie. In mobile phones we have long since overcome the 1,000 euro barrier and have it normalized, but at the time we also it seemed crazy to us. They have achieved this based on exclusive functions, designs with premium materials and also the phenomenon of aspirational purchase.

I didn’t expect that the same thing would have happened with toothbrushes; Providing them with countless functions, they justify paying 300 euros for something as basic as brushing our teeth.

The chosen one

Seeing the prices and knowing that I was not planning to pay more than 50 euros, my range was drastically reduced. The Oral-B iO 2 was one of the options I considered. Costs 50 euros and it is not the most basic model of all. Among its advantages is that it comes with a travel case and a stand to store two heads, as well as a pressure sensor and timer.

I had it in my basket, but I finally ended up buying the Oral-B Vitality Pro, which is basically the same model that I already bought in 2020, but with a couple of new features and a black design. I paid 22 euros and I hope it lasts another six years.

Images | Xataka, Amazon

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