Quip brush sells emotions, but delivers little technology
If you have been on Facebook recently, you probably encountered one of Quip brush ads. It is a small “electric” brush that has a subscription model to deliver you new replacement brush heads (and branded toothpaste if you choose).
It has a very appealing look, compact size, nice suction cup to store it on a bathroom mirror and a lot of words to differentiate this “simple and cheap” brush from other electric brushes that presumably rip you off. Now I don’t want to say that Quip is a bad brush. It’s soft and nice, I like the look, the size, the storage cup and their toothpaste. However the whole “electric” part is not even close to what “other brushes” deliver. My another one is Philips Sonicare and I can immediately tell the difference.
Sonicare really delivers more brushing efficiency, than a regular toothbrush, while Quip’s vibration is only good to massage your hand, while you brush with it in a way you would to with a regular brush.
I know for a fact that I can use Sonicare to effectively clean any buildup that ends up on my teeth at the end of the day: whether it’s tea or wine or just build-up from food. With my “price bloated” Philips I can feel the smoothness of the teeth surface after cleaning. It just obviously works.
Quip on the other hand makes a huge effort to compare itself to the old fashioned electric brushes, but it’s nothing more than emotional marketing. After brushing with Quip while following their teeth cleaning instructions provided in a brochure that comes with the brush, my teeth felt exactly the same as if I was using a regular soft brush (i.e. not even close as clean as compared to Sonicare).
Here is a quote from the brochure, that comes with the Quip brush:
Vibrating bristles … without the ‘Ultra-Power’ or ‘Whitening’ modes that don’t increase effectiveness, but do cost
Obviously, this catchy wording’s goal it to convince you, that Quip’s vibration is good enough. And the only reason the big companies add more vibration is to rip you off your money. But that is just a manipulation. It can only convince those, who never used vibrating (ultrasonic) electric brushes before.
If like me you had a vibrating brush from a big brand before, you will definitely be disappointed with I quote “sensitive vibration” that Quip delivers.
Now on the price part. With all the aforesaid on the efficiency of the “electric” part of Quip, this brush costs $45 with $5 per refill every 3 month. Regular soft brushes cost starts from $5 for 6-pack on Amazon, and you can find better deals.
Even if you throw away your regular brush every month that adds up to $10 per year, compared to $65 per year with Quip.
You should decide for yourself whether you want to fork off additional $55 for the suction cup, fancy look, a timer that tells you how long to brush and buzzing, that will entertain you while you use your otherwise regular $45-priced brush.
Heads replacement price is not that cheap too. Replacement heads for Philips can be expensive, up to $50 for 6-pack. However in Costco I can usually get them for $40, which brings the cost down to $6.60 per replacement head. Not that much of a “bloating” as compared to $5 Quip’s refill, provided that Sonicare does deliver something more to your teeth, than just sensitive humming.
But I should say compliments to Quip’s brush design, their nice site, great marketing campaign, logistics organization (I received my brush quickly) and a 30-days return policy.
