SURI Sustainable Sonic Toothbrush Review
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This eco-friendly electric toothbrush from SURI is a sustainable choice that provides an effective clean using innovative plant-based materials, but does it clean as well as other electric toothbrushes?
London-based company SURI (short for Sustainable Rituals) are on a mission to create the world's most sustainable electric toothbrush. The toothbrush is made up from a durable aluminium body and plant-based, recyclable brush heads.
Their innovative toothbrush launched in 2022 and despite being a newcomer, it triumphed in the product design category of the prestigious Dezeen Awards in the same year.
Are electric toothbrushes sustainable?
With their complex makeup electric brushes have a much larger impact on the environment than a manual toothbrush. However, we all know of the incredible benefits for oral health and hygiene by using an electric toothbrush. Dentists are also constantly recommending them over using manual.
So with this dilemma in mind, SURI decided there had to be a better way of creating an electric brush that still works wonders on our teeth, but also the planet.
One major advantage SURI has is that it was designed in a modular way to be easily repairable or recyclable at end of its life. Compare this to most other electric toothbrushes, which are sealed shut and terrible for landfills and oceans. This level of design thinking is a total game-changer for the industry.
Humans dispose of over 4 billion toothbrushes a year; enough to circle the earth 12 times, and electric toothbrushes make up 2% of landfill waste.
The SURI Sonic Toothbrush
SURI is a brush that has been designed from the ground up to be better for the planet. The design aesthetic is beautifully minimalist and has a luxury and sleek feel. It also has a nice weight to it, without being too heavy. The chrome surround at the top is engraved with, ‘keep smiling’, which adds a really nice personal touch. It's available in 3 colours: Winter Fern, Sea Mist and Midnight Black.
SURI toothbrush cost
You can currently buy the brush, mirror mount, and charger for £75 or with the additional UV Light Clean & Charge Case for an extra £20.
How to use the SURI toothbrush
It has two modes: Everyday Clean and Polish. Press the button once for the Everyday Clean and then for a stronger clean, you can push the button again to turn on polish mode (blue light). Your brush will make a haptic notification every 30 seconds for you to move to a different quadrant of your mouth and turn off after 2 minutes of use (the recommended brushing time).
Cleaning power and results
With 33,000 vibrations per minute, the plaque-busting action on this toothbrush is excellent and leaves my teeth feeling ultra-clean and shiny. I like to do 2 minutes of Everyday Clean and then an extra Polish mode afterwards to finish. The 2 modes are a great example of less is more, because I've personally never really seen the need to have an overload of features and bluetooth capabilities so for me, this is perfect.
There's no pressure sensor on the toothbrush, but SURI are looking into adding one in the future, but wanted to take the time to ensure it would be as effective as possible, as there are a lot of them that don't do the job. However, they say feedback from dentists is that since the brush is lighter there is less tension and transfer of pressure from holding the brush, and the sonic vibrations are generally more gentle than an oscillating brush.
SURI Toothbrush Heads
Plant based heads are made out of sustainably sourced cornstarch which is a renewable material and industrially compostable, and the bristles made from castor oil. These materials are far more sustainable than traditional toothbrush heads made from petroleum-based plastic. The brush head also has Medium/Soft 3DWave™ bristle technology for optimal interdental cleaning. The firm and soft bristles are uniquely positioned to remove plaque and food easily from teeth and gums. They are also designed to eliminate toothpaste build-up.
How much do SURI replacement heads cost?
Three replacement heads for £14.40 making it £4.80 per head. This is really good value seeing as the average price of a replacement head for Philips is £6 per head. It's recommended you change your brush every 3 months, so it'll cost just £19.20 for a year's worth of SURI replacement toothbrush heads.
How to recycle the heads
SURI offer the most straight-forward and easy recycling program. It's free to all in the UK & USA and they provide you with a pre-paid (and compostable) return mailer that you use to collect at least 3 heads in (to reduce carbon footprint) and simply drop to your nearest post box. If you don't have a mailer you can send them in an envelope with just "Freepost SURI'' (UK only). The heads can then be recycled up to 6 times (or upcycled into different products).
Compare this to Oral-B and Philips where you can only recycle via Terracycle with the Colgate® and hello® Oral Care Free Recycling Programme. You have to find your local drop-off point using their map, and they take any brand of heads, floss containers, plastic toothbrushes, packaging and toothpaste tubes.
SURI Toothbrush Accessories
I am blown away by the attention to detail of this brush including the accessories. I especially love the magnetic mirror/wall mount. The travel case is also great in that it eliminates 99% of bacteria from your brush head in 1 minute and allows you to charge your brush with its own charging cable, so you don't have to carry your main charger when you travel. Bear in mind you'll also need to use the charging cable to use the light as it doesn't have a battery built into the case as SURI wanted to reduce the usage of batteries as much as possible. Talking of batteries, the charge also lasts for 40+ days with a 4 hour fast charge which is pretty unbeatable by any other electric toothbrushes on the market.
Warranty and repairs
SURI offer a 100 day smile (money-back) guarantee no questions asked and every SURI brush comes with a 1 year guarantee from when your order is received. If your brush is under warranty they'll fix it for free otherwise they charge a reasonable fee to repair it.
ALL THE FEATURES
SURI Toothbrush Box & Packaging
All of the packaging is recyclable, compostable, or reusable. Included in the box is the toothbrush, 1 brush head, magnetic wall-mountable stand and UV-light clean and charge case.
How does it compare?
Apart from the main aspect of not being repairable I wanted to highlight the incredible power of the SURI toothbrush against established brands that have been doing this for decades.
SURI toothbrush vs Sonicare
Like the Philips Sonicare range, SURI also uses sonic vibrations with a MicraSonic™ magnetic motor which is one third the size of standard electric toothbrushes but generates 33,000 vibrations per minute compared to Sonicare's 31,000 per minute. I also love that with SURI you're not overwhelmed by a whole ton of different models and pricing. Compare this to Philip's whose range has around 50 different options of brushes all packaged in different ways and varying in price from around £40 - £349.
SURI toothbrush vs Oral-B
Oral-B use oscillating brushes instead of sonic, and have a lower vibration of around 7,000 per minute but physically rotate to brush teeth. They surround each tooth individually and are smaller so can get to more difficult to reach places. A sonic toothbrush on the other hand can feel more gentle compared to oscillating, and the W design brushes can get in between your teeth and gums for optimal clean compared to circular brushes. Ultimately, each will do a good job of cleaning your teeth. Oral-B's range is just as extensive as Philips, with over 40 different options ranging from about £45 - £500.
SURI vs. PHILIPS vs. ORAL-B
| Features | SURI Sustainable Toothbrush | Philips DiamondClean 9000 | Philips ProtectiveClean 4300 | Oral-B iO6 | Oral-B Pro 3 3500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £75 | £175 (half price) | £70 (half price) | £130 (half price) | £45 (half price) |
| Brush head / unit | £4.80 | £5.50 - £8 | £5.50 - £8 | £6.55 - £13.50 | £2.50 - £6.50 |
| Recycling your heads | Free pre-paid envelope | TerraCycle Drop-off | TerraCycle Drop-off | TerraCycle Drop-off | TerraCycle Drop-off |
| Cleaning / per min | 33,000 vibrations | 31,000 vibrations | 31,000 vibrations | 17,400 oscillations + microvibrations | 9,900 oscillations + 45,000 pulsations |
| Modes | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Plant-Based Heads | 🟢 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 |
| Travel Case | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| UV Clean | 🟢 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 |
| Pressure sensor | 🟠 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Repairable | 🟢 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 |
| Carbon Neutral | 🟢 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 |
| Eco Packaging | 🟢 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 | 🟠 |
The best sustainable electric toothbrush?
Here are my final thoughts, and what I love most about SURI:
- Sustainability - the brush heads are made from renewable materials and I love that the toothbrush can be repaired rather than discarded.
- Easy to recycle heads - no need to trudge to a drop-off, just pop the pre-paid mailer into your nearest post box!
- Magnetic wall mount - one of my favourite things about this toothbrush, there's no more yucky watery rings by leaving your toothbrush around the sink, it's such a neat little extra.
- UV light travel case - Clean your brush of 99.9% of bacteria in 1 minute, I don't believe there is any other brush on the market that does this and it's satisfies my OCD tendencies tremendously.
I think this is an electric toothbrush that really does combine maximum cleaning power with minimal impact on our planet.
What other people are saying...
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