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- Attractive minimalist design
- Simple and easy to use
- Excellent battery life
- Not as powerful as some rivals
- Expensive given the basic feature set
- Travel case no longer an optional addition
It may be because I spend more time than the average consumer looking at toothbrushes on the internet, but I’ve been seeing ads for Suri on almost every YouTube video I’ve watched in the past couple of months. If you’re unfamiliar, Suri is an electric toothbrush brand whose MO (modus operandi!) is all about sustainability.
We reviewed the brand’s dental debut last year, awarding it four stars and a Recommended award. The Suri 2.0 doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but is instead an exercise in refinement. It excels in all the areas its predecessor did, and even rectifies some of the issues we had with the original Suri toothbrush. And it does all this for just £10 more.
Suri 2.0: What do you get for the money?
The Suri 2.0 costs £105, a relatively insubstantial increase on the £95 price tag of the first one. As before, in the box is the toothbrush itself – which comes in a choice of five colours, a recyclable plant-based brush head, a charging case and a magnetic wall mount. I should add that with version 2.0 the travel case is no longer an optional addition.
You also get a new wireless charging stand, replacing the previous older USB pebble charger, as well as a smaller brush cap should you prefer to travel without the case, something that wasn’t included with the original brush.
What else is new? According to Suri, the 2.0 has an advanced motor for a stronger, deeper clean, although the specs promise the same 33,000 sonic vibrations per minute as the original. Battery life doesn’t appear to have changed much, and Suri’s quoted figure of “1+ month” is still a bit vague. The battery rundown test I carried out below sheds some more light on this. The case has had a bit of an upgrade though, with softer edges that make it look considerably less boxy.
The major new addition, however, is the toothbrush now comes equipped with a pressure sensor. The omission of this was a cause for complaint in our review of the original Suri brush, so it’s pleasing to see the brand rectify this.
What’s it like to use?
I’ll admit that I myself didn’t review the original Suri, so this is my first experience with using the brand’s brushes. Fresh off the back of reviewing Oclean’s X Pro 20, the minimalist design of the Suri 2.0 was quite startling. The brush is operated via just one button; this is used to turn it on, off, toggle between brushing modes and to engage the travel lock.
There are two brushing modes: a “gentle” clean indicated by a white light and a “deep” clean indicated by a blue light. These both felt relatively gentle compared to the X Pro 20 and more traditional rotary electric toothbrushes, but Suri claims that the 2.0 still offers a “super-effective, dentist-approved clean”.
As for the feel of the brush itself, it’s lightweight yet solidly built, and considerably less bulky than other electric toothbrushes I’ve tried. The aluminium body feels smooth, lightweight yet solid in the hand, which makes for a rather pleasant brushing experience.
The minimalist approach of the Suri 2.0 stands out. There’s no app to speak of, no digital display and no extra “smart features”. Some customers might want an app via which they can track their brushing, but I found Suri’s stripped-back approach to be very refreshing. I can do without an app for my toothbrush, and I can certainly do without weather reports and other such unnecessary inclusions.
As for the travel upgraded travel case, the softened curved edges are an attractive evolution from the original’s design. The button towards the top switches on a UV light designed to “kill 99.9% of bacteria” on the brush head. I can’t verify the efficacy of this feature, but it’s a unique and thoughtful touch nonetheless.
It is a shame Suri hasn’t repeated the pricing model of their previous brush, though, which allowed you to forsake the UV case and pay £20 less. I like the case, personally, but I’m sure many customers would appreciate being able to save some cash.
On the topic of price, the Suri 2.0 is quite expensive for what it offers, especially if you are someone who sees value in a toothbrush with lots of features. It feels like a significant investment considering some of its rivals can be had for less than £100. That being said, it looks and feels very well-built and smart features aren’t everything.
Plus, I’m sure many conscious consumers would agree that £105 is a perfectly reasonable price to pay in support of Suri’s sustainability mission. I’m reluctant to dwell on the sustainability claims of most manufacturers, as there’s a limit to how “sustainable” any electronic device can be, but Suri does a better job than most to minimise the environmental impact of its products.
The Suri 2.0 doesn’t feel as though it’s made from cheap wasteful plastic and, indeed, it isn’t. The heads are made from cornstarch, the bristles from castor oil and they can be sent back to Suri for recycling. Plus, the body of the toothbrush is aluminium, which is more easily recycled than most plastic toothbrushes.
How well does it clean?
That’s all very worthy, of course, and Suri’s earnest claims may salve your guilty consumer conscience somewhat, but how well does it do its job? Does it clean your teeth effectively?
If you’re looking for a toothbrush that delivers a really powerful brush, the 2.0 probably shouldn’t be your first option: both cleaning modes feel very gentle and there are brushes out there that surpass 33,000 vibrations per minute. However, as I said above, Suri still promises a “super-effective” clean, and my experiences largely back this up.
My teeth felt polished clean after brushing, and I found it easy to distinguish between the haptic feedback that alerted me whether I was brushing too hard or whether I needed to move on to a different part of my mouth. The only thing I found annoying was that, if I happened to accidentally turned it off while brushing, the timer always reset itself rather than pausing and allowing me to continue.
I tested the brush before chewing a disclosing tablet that would reveal any lingering plaque. This wouldn’t be a scientifically-accurate test, but it would indicate where, if anywhere, the brush had failed to clean properly. I found that I’d managed to get decent coverage with the brush, barring a few spots of new plaque between the teeth and around areas that are harder to reach.
I might also add that I had a dental appointment during my time testing the Suri 2.0 and, beyond some tartar issues that I was already aware of, I’d managed to take good care of my teeth.
How long does the battery last?
According to the specification comparison on Suri’s site, the battery life for both the 2.0 and its original brush is “1+ month”. This isn’t particularly informative, so I carried out a battery rundown test to see just how many successive two-minute brushes the 2.0 can deliver. I used the brush’s “gentle” mode for this test to get the best sense of its maximum battery life.
From full charge, the figure was 70 brushes – around 140 minutes, or 35 days – which just about tallies with Suri’s claims. You’re looking at only needing to charge your toothbrush around ten times a year, which is impressive.
On the other hand, it does take a while to fully charge the Suri: ten hours according to the manual. That’s quite a long time compared to the Oclean X Pro 20’s 3-hour charge time via USB-C. That being said, you should have no issues charging it overnight providing you remember to plug it in at a reasonable time.
Should I buy the Suri 2.0 electric toothbrush?
The Suri 2.0 is one of the nicest looking and feeling, toothbrushes I’ve come across. Battery life is very impressive, it delivers a decent clean and if – like me – you find yourself exasperated by the heaps of unnecessary features and app integration offered by rival smart toothbrushes, you’ll surely appreciate Suri’s pared back approach. What’s more, with the introduction of a pressure sensor it has solved one of the main problems we had with its predecessor.
While I definitely recommend the Suri 2.0, there are of course some caveats. I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that there’s no option to buy the brush without the case at a slightly reduced price, since this was – and still is – something that is offered with the original Suri toothbrush. The 2.0’s £105 price tag is quite expensive for something with such a minimalist feature set. And for those who want something more powerful, Suri’s 33,000 vibrations per minute might not cut the mustard; Philips’ Sonicare DiamondClean 9000, for instance, offers almost double this, albeit at an even higher price.
The biggest question you need to ask yourself is whether or not you’re happy paying over £100 for a “dumb” electric toothbrush. But if Suri’s design appeals to you as it has to me it may well be a worthwhile investment.
