Oclean X Review

Design, usability, clean & general use

Oclean have done a great job when it comes to the unboxing experience. It feels like you are opening a premium technology product. In many respects, you are, just without the premium price tag.

That premium feeling extends to the brush handle and the technology built inside.

There is a lot to cover, so I will try and be to the point.

The X Pro that I am reviewing here is finished in a lovely blue color, including the brush head too.

A matt finish to the plastic makes it look much more premium than the typical gloss white brushes you see.

It is smooth to the touch from every angle. Although the finish does mean it is not quite as slippy in hand as you might imagine, a few well placed grips would not have gone a miss.

Typically sized for an electric toothbrush, the handle is not perfectly round, there is a slight squaring to the overall handle which actually helps retain a good hold of it in the hand.

On the front of the sleek handle is the Oclean logo in a silver/gold color right at the bottom and then in the upper third of the handle, the color touchscreen display and power button. More on this shortly.

At the top of the handle is the brush head that pushes onto and pulls off the metal shaft that extends out the top form the sonic motor inside.

This is a sonic toothbrush and is designed to clean like a Philips Sonicare toothbrush.

It offers up to 42,000 brush strokes per minute. That is 11,000 more than a Sonicare, and it is noticeable. However, don’t get too fixated on this. Power isn’t always the answer. Yes, it can provide benefits when cleaning, but technique, frequency and brushing time are likely to have more positive effects.

The number of movements per minute is in part dictated by the cleaning mode and brushing intensity selected. There are 32 different intensities. Only at the highest setting of 32 are you getting the full power of the motor.

The X Pro gives an invigorating clean as good as any other toothbrush I have used, I really cannot fault it here. My teeth felt lovely and clean after use.

A typical clean lasts 2 minutes. To help you brush for this 2 mintue time and do so evenly, a timer and pacer are built-in. At 30 second intervals a pause in the brush head motion causes a change in brushing sensation and sound. This is your cue to move from 1 quadrant to another.

Spend 30 seconds cleaning each quadrant (upper right, left, lower right and left) and by the end of the 2 minutes you should have cleaned the teeth evenly. The brush will then turn itself off automatically.

Many brushes have a pressure sensor built-in to alert you if you are brushing with too much force. If you do, it can be damaging to the teeth. The Oclean X does sort-of have one built-in but it is not implemented in the way I would like it to be.

Only if the brushing level is set to 24 or higher will the motor in the brush slow, if it detects excessive pressure. It will not however change the sound or alert you really, aside from perhaps a subtle difference in the brushing sensation.

It would be better if there was a light or audible warning that alerted you when brushing too hard, irrespective of the intensity level.

Just remember, you don’t need to scrub the teeth, let the bristles do most of the work.

Unlike many brushes, the X has a built-in gyroscope. This is essentially a special sensor that tracks the position of the toothbrush and senses what areas of the teeth/mouth have been cleaned. Oclean call is ‘Smart Blind Zone Detection’.

Leading brands Sonicare and Oral-B have such technology too, but it has been implemented a little differently on the Oclean X.

As you brush it is tracking the movement of the brush handle/head and at the end of the cleaning session, it displays on the in handle screen a little graphic of a full set of teeth. Those that are red in color have been missed or not brushed correctly, whilst those in white have.

Although the sensor is working in real-time, it does not show the data in real-time. The feedback given on the screen or in the app is not available until after the clean has completed.

This is quite useful if you are wishing to improve your tooth brushing and the associated score acts as a bit of a measure/encouragement to do better.

Overall, I think this is pretty good. My scores and feedback were in the high 90’s, generally.

That said, just laying the brush down on a countertop implied like I had brushed some of the teeth, but the score was just 1/100 so I can let it off.

But, there are some inconsistencies with this tracking/scoring system. On several occasions it gave me a score of 1, implying my brushing time was low despite having very good brushing coverage and having actually brushed for 2 minutes.

No sensor tracking I have used to date, including Oral-B and Sonicare has been perfect. But, these are steps in the right direction to help you and me at home do better.

The Oclean X worked much better than I had anticipated, even if it wasn’t 100% accurate. I don’t think we are too far off the tech being more accurate.

Ultimately it is about trying to encourage us all to do a bit better and even if the tech isn’t 100% perfect the visual stimulus you get from the display or app really helps in my opinion.

This scope for improvement extends to the Oclean app.

Terrible it is not, but it lacks a certain refinement. It is hard to describe. The layout and flow could be a bit more intuitive I feel.

I have to hand it to Oclean, the data stored and what you can access is great.

It does actually retain more data than the likes of Oral-B’s app, even showing you how long you spend on particular surfaces of the teeth.

There are lots of customization options in the app around the cleaning modes available on the brush and you can virtually customize until your heart is content.

You can make brushing modes up to 4 minutes long, change the focus areas and the time for each quadrant or even have 6 sections to each cleaning mode, whilst giving it a unique name, so you know exactly what it is.

You can see each mode explained so you know how to use it properly.

However, the layout is not initially the most logical.

Maybe I am being overly critical but all this choice and customization almost gives too much control. The number of cleaning modes and how you customize each isn’t going to have the same significant improvements as just perfecting your technique.

The Oclean X Pro is suggested to have 4 modes, whiten, sensitive, clean & gum massage. From the menu on the brush handle I only ever had the option of 3, but it appeared the 4th mode could be pushed from the smartphone app to the brush, but didn’t appear in the brush menu.

If it can push one mode why can’t you push and store more modes, if you really wanted?! I am sure a software update can fix this. And unlike many other toothbrushes, with the X, you can update the software wirelessly.

So, the touch screen on the handle of the Oclean X then.

It is a 0.96 inch color TFT display.

As far as I know, this is the first brush to offer such, although Oral-B have announced it as a feature on the iO toothbrush that is arriving in summer 2002.

With all the toothbrushes I have tested I have never felt the need for a display in the handle, although I see the logic of why Oclean have introduced it.

It is amazing such exists in a brush this price, I would have thought it would have been 2 or 3 times this.

I won’t deny it is useful for showing the post brushing data, of how well you have brushed your teeth.

However, this is possibly one of the most infuriating touch screens I have ever used.

Essentially you can swipe up, down, left and right across the screen. You can also swipe up and down on the body of the handle, just to the left or right of the display to scroll through menus as well.

The problem is the way the screen detects your press/swipe. You appear to need to have a ‘fat finger’ approach rather than using the very fingertip, but because of the implementation and size, selecting things can be very difficuclt.

Touching the screen allows you to scroll + or – 1 level within the intensity screen, but if you interact with the touch sensitive area to the left or right of the display it moves + or – 5.

It feels like you have to master the perfect touch. But even after days of trying, whilst I got more used to it, I never seemed to master it.

This has been improved significantly in the new Oclean X Pro Elite.

On the matter of brushing intensity levels, the granular control is nice for those who want it, but maybe 32 different levels is a bit much?!

Sadly, the X Pro does not come with a travel case, which can be useful for holding and protecting the toothbrush and brush head when travelling, be that for work or pleasure.

It would have been a nice addition, even if it cost a few pounds extra.

However, in the box you do get a small plastic cap that slide over the bristles of the brush head to protect them. This could be easily lost, but it is better than nothing.

Also, if you press and hold the power button for about 4-5 seconds, it will lock or unlock the toothbrush. Therefore, if locked, the likelihood of it becoming unlocked and activated whilst in a bag is very low.

Many toothbrushes come with additional brush heads in the box, but the Oclean X does not.

You should replace the head on average every 3 months. Although the handle gives no reminders and there are no fading indicator brisltes on the brush head itself, the smartphone app does have a brush head tracker/reminder built-in, which is useful. You do need to manually reset this when you replace the head, but it is better than nothing at all.

Replacement heads can be purchased from Amazon or direct from the Oclean store.

A single head costs around $7 depending on the seller and pack size.

It is worth noting that the toothbrush is IPX7 rated, meaning you can get it wet without concern for its reliability, it should resist water and you can use it in the shower if you like.

I haven’t yet spoken about the built-in rechargeable battery and the innovative associated charging stand. I will talk more about the battery life, in the dedicated section below, but the charging stand doubles as a clever wall mount.

There are essentially 3 parts to the charging stand. You have the detachable power cable and then 2 parts which make up what Oclean call the ‘hanging base’.

The ‘bottom base’ (the bit that does the charging) sits flat on a countertop, to allow the toothbrush to sit on top for charging.

But, this bottom base also attaches to the ‘wall magnet sticker’ thanks to magnets.

The wall magnet sticker is a small plastic plate with a large adhesive pad on the back.

What this means is that the hanging base can be mounted on a wall or mirror and then magnets in the handle and the base allow for it to be stored vertically, off the countertop.

The images illustrate this best. Innovative, I like this a lot.

The Oclean X is not perfect, but its pretty impressive overall.

It would be lovely if the touchscreen was a bit more user friendly, but none-the-less, I could still use this on a daily basis very happily.