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- Seriously long battery life
- Oscillation and vibrations make for a good clean
- Plenty of modes and useful features
- Button could feel more responsive
- Stronger settings might be too aggressive for some
- App is a bit of a mixed bag
The Laifen Wave Pro is quite unlike other toothbrushes I’ve reviewed for Expert Reviews. It combines the vibrations of a sonic toothbrush with the oscillations of a traditional electric brush, which made for a rather unusual experience the first time I used it.
But at the time of writing this, I’ve been using the Wave Pro for several weeks, which has been more than enough to get accustomed to it. It has delivered a thorough clean and went the extra mile in my battery rundown tests.
Laifen Wave Pro Electric Toothbrush: What you need to know
There are a few different models of the Wave Pro to be aware of, and prices vary according to the material of the brush handle. The cheapest, at £99, are the standard ABS plastic models, which come in a choice of three colours: white, blue and pink.
Next up is the £118 aluminium alloy model in similar silver, blue or pink. The most expensive options are the stainless steel Wave Pro at £138 and the transparent ABS model at £140; the latter capitalises on the resurgence of see-through tech.
A budget-friendly brush this is not. However, the Wave Pro is comparable in price to our current favourite electric toothbrush: the Suri 2.0, which costs £85 (or £105 with all the accessories). The Oclean X Pro 20 – another smart brush – is also priced around £85, while some options from household names such as Oral-B and Philips cost well beyond the £100 mark.
I was sent a sample of the stainless steel variant to review. This feels rather hefty for a toothbrush: it weighs 170g, which is almost 100g heavier than the Suri 2.0. Beyond the brush handle material, however, the function of each model is the same. The head vibrates at up to 66,000 vibrations per minute, much like a sonic toothbrush, while also oscillating side to side within a 60°C angle.
Laifen quotes a battery life of up to 70 days, and the brush has an IPX8 waterproof rating. This means it can survive continuous submersion in up to 1m of water – not that you’ll necessarily be subjecting your toothbrush to that kind of treatment.
In the box, alongside the main body of the toothbrush, there are: two brush heads (Pro Plaque Removal and Pro Whitening) each with slightly different bristle arrangement and firmness; a USB-C wireless charger; and a USB-C to USB-A adapter for those who don’t have a USB-C plug adapter to hand.
It’s a pretty modest selection, and you’ve not got many travel accessories beyond two individual plastic cases that the brush heads come in. These are a neat way to keep the heads protected in your luggage, but you’ll need to remove them from the brush handle first.
When it comes to replacing the brush heads, locating the exact same ones that come with the Wave Pro is a little bit tricky. There are quite a few different options available, but I couldn’t find any of the Pro heads on Laifen’s direct-to-consumer store. Instead, these can be found on Amazon – albeit under different names. If my deduction is to be trusted, the “Plaque Removal” head is the “Pro (Deep Clean)” here, while the “Whitening” head is now the “Pro (Ultra Whitening). Both cost £35 for six heads, which is quite pricey as far as replacement heads go.
What features does it have?
The Laifen Wave Pro has a wide selection of brushing settings. There are two main modes – Daily Clean and Deep Clean – each of which can set to three intensity levels via the brush itself, and further fine-tuned in the app.
A single button is used for all controls: press this once to start/stop brushing, twice to switch intensities and three times to switch between Deep Clean and Daily Clean. A row of small LEDs above the button shows the selected mode, while a battery indicator is located at the base of the brush. The Wave Pro also has a travel lock function, which you can activate by holding the button down, until an LED aeroplane symbol (located above the battery indicator) lights up.
Further essential features include a pressure sensor and a timer that runs for two minutes, pulsing every 30 seconds to prompt you to move to another quadrant of your mouth.
How did I test the Laifen Wave Pro electric toothbrush?
I test electric toothbrushes through daily use over several weeks. During this time I take note of how easy they are to use, how comfortable they are and how clean my teeth feel after brushing – ensuring I make use of the toothbrush’s full range of features.
I test the strength of a toothbrush’s battery life by running it continuously from a full charge, counting how many two-minute brushing sessions it completes before it dies. And to get a gauge of how well the brush cleans my teeth, I use plaque disclosing tablets: these temporarily stain the teeth, highlighting areas red or blue to indicate the presence of new or existing plaque.
By chewing one of these after brushing my teeth, I’m able to see how well the brush performed, taking into account my own brushing quality as well as that of the brush.
What’s it like to use?
The Laifen Wave Pro is easy to use. Despite its relative heft, it feels good in the hand and is easy to manoeuvre.
Its single button makes toggling settings and brush modes straightforward for the most part. However, I do wish this button felt a little bit more tactile and responsive. When pressed there’s a distinct lack of acknowledgement on the part of the brush an that feels rather unsatisfying.
That said, this rarely amounted to a real practical issue. In fact, the only time it made things rather fiddly was when I was carrying out my battery rundown tests, which involved me continuously turning the brush on over a period of several hours: a task I’m not likely to repeat.
There’s a motion sensor that wakes the brush when you pick it up, which seems unnecessary to me. Most of the electric toothbrushes I’ve reviewed don’t need waking up from standby before use. What’s more unusual is that, when the Wave Pro is awake, its motor emits a quiet whirring sound. As far as I’m aware, this is normal, but it is a little odd.
How well does it clean?
I’ve found that the Wave Pro provides a solid clean, leaving my teeth feeling pleasantly polished. It didn’t take me long to find my preferred default setting, which is the lower intensity of the Deep Clean mode. This cleans thoroughly while still feeling comfortable. The higher intensities I’ve found a touch too aggressive, while the gentler Daily Clean settings can feel a little too gentle.
As the Wave Pro comes with two brush heads, I was keen to compare them. The Pro Plaque Removal head is designed “for deep cleaning” and has medium bristles, while the Pro Whitening head is designed “for comprehensive cleaning” and has firm bristles. There’s also a slight variation in the arrangement and colouration of the bristles themselves. But to be honest, I didn’t notice a huge difference between the two brush heads when they were in my mouth, and the bristles felt similar to the touch as well.
Plaque disclosing tablets test
I did two tests with plaque disclosing tablets: once on the middle setting of the brush’s Deep Clean mode, and again on the middle setting of the Daily Clean.
The Deep Clean performed very well, with very minimal patches of new plaque remaining – just a few spots around my upper left canine and premolar: a spot I’m prone to miss, being left-handed.
Results using the brush’s gentler Daily Clean setting weren’t quite as impressive: the disclosing tablets revealed plaque around the same canine/premolar areas, as well as on some crowns.
These tests should be taken with a pinch of salt, as they don’t distinguish between the performance of the brush and that of the one wielding it. Nevertheless, they do confirm my suspicions that the Wave Pro’s Deep Clean mode achieves a much more comprehensive clean compared to the gentler Daily Clean mode.
What’s the battery life like?
I was hugely impressed by the Laifen Wave Pro’s battery life. In my test, I ran the toothbrush continuously, which meant restarting it every time the two-minute timer expired, at the gentlest intensity of its Daily Clean mode. This proved to be one of the most gruelling battery rundown tests I’ve had the pleasure of conducting at Expert Reviews – a huge win for Laifen and a huge workout for my thumb muscles.
In total, the brush managed 188 two-minute brushing sessions: that’s six hours and 16 minutes, or 94 days (assuming you brush your teeth twice a day, for two minutes each time).
Of course, your experience of the Wave Pro’s battery in real-life use will inevitably differ. My tests were carried out at the lowest setting in order to get a gauge of the brush’s maximum battery life, but I’ve been using the stronger Deep Clean modes much more frequently when brushing my teeth. The tests also don’t take into account the resistance the brush will work against when in use, either.
In any case, over six hours is a mightily impressive maximum runtime, which exceeds the brand’s claims (70 days, or four hours and 40 minutes) by a decent margin.
What’s the app like?
I had mixed feelings about Laifen’s companion app. On the one hand, it’s great for making adjustments to the brush’s settings and modes. In addition to the three presets under both Daily Clean and Deep Clean modes, you can finetune the vibration strength, oscillation range and oscillation speed.
Each of these can be adjusted with a range of one to ten. Out of curiosity, I set the brush to Deep Clean and turned each of these up to the max. The result was comically powerful, a setting at which – for the sake of my gums – I didn’t attempt to clean with.
Industrial-strength brushing aside, the degree of adjustability that the app affords is very impressive. For those who find the brush’s upper levels too strong and lower levels too gentle, it provides plenty of wiggle room in which to find a comfortable setting.
As well as allowing you to adjust the pressure sensor sensitivity, tweak the timer length and toggle its 30 second reminder, the Laifen app gives you access to a number of additional “Practical Features”, including: an “Anti-splash” that starts oscillation only when the brush head touches your teeth; “3s Power Ramp-up” that gradually increases oscillation at the beginning of a brushing session; and a “Quick Spin-dry Mode”, which activates oscillation when the brush is tilted downwards beyond 70 degrees. Most of these aren’t necessary features by any means, but they’re nice extras.
On the other hand, the app is less useful when it comes to brushing reports. You can view your daily, weekly and monthly brushing stats, but the data is limited to how many times you’ve brushed, brushing duration and how much you apply excessive pressure.
There are no indications of brushing performance in terms of coverage, and the data offered doesn’t record the modes and settings you’ve used, nor the times at which you’ve brushed your teeth. What’s more, I’ve found these reports to be inaccurate on occasion, recording false results and imagining I’ve brushed my teeth more frequently than I have.
That said, there’s one thing I really appreciate about the Laifen Wave Pro’s smart features and app, and that’s just how little it’s shoved in your face. Some smart electric toothbrushes make a much bigger song and dance of their smart tech: for instance, the Oclean X Pro 20 is quick to tell you when you don’t have a WiFi connection, via which it’s able to deliver its all-important at-a-glance weather reports.
By contrast, you could happily use the Laifen Wave Pro without even realising that it has a companion app. Sure, you won’t get access to the full range of adjustability without it, but it’s nice that the app’s presence is very much relegated to the background: an optional extra that gives you access to further adjustments, rather than an essential feature without which the toothbrush won’t function properly.
Should you buy the Laifen Wave Pro electric toothbrush?
The Wave Pro is a rather unusual toothbrush, and because of its combination of sonic vibrations and oscillation, it might take a little getting used to. However, over the period that I’ve been testing it, it’s done a great job of cleaning my teeth. Battery life is excellent, and its app offers some genuinely useful adjustable features, which isn’t always the case with smart toothbrushes.
It’s a shame that replacement packs of the same brush heads that come with the Wave Pro aren’t readily available, and I’d hope Laifen rectifies this soon. It’s also quite expensive, particularly the transparent handle and the stainless steel model I reviewed. However, if you’re not fussed about either of these, the standard ABS plastic models are a much more palatable £100, and considering the Wave Pro’s battery life, breadth of adjustability and sheer brushing power, I’d say it’s a worthwhile investment.
