Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by shiroiushi | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

shiroiushi

No, the electric toothbrushes are called Braun in markets outside the US. I've only seen them labeled Oral-B in the US.

Also, they're pretty lousy toothbrushes IMO. I recommend Panasonic ones instead.

View on HN

In all English speaking European markets they're Oral-B.

https://www.currys.ie/appliances/health-and-beauty/electric-...

Not only that, but they're frequently the top position in the year-end 'best of' on both the legitimate consumer review sites and the more credible outlets

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-electric-too... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/recommended/tech/best-electric-t...

> No, the electric toothbrushes are called Braun in markets outside the US.

In some markets, maybe. In some other markets outside the US, they also use the Oral-B brand.

In both Japan and Germany, I've seen them sold as "Braun".

When? Maybe 10-15 years ago?

Germany: probably 2 years ago. Japan: right now.

I just looked on amazon.co.jp: https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%80%90Amazon-co-jp-%E9%99%90%E5%...

It seems they have both names.

Japan is interesting. Maybe the Braun brand is still pretty strong over there. But in Europe and elsewhere you no longer see prominent "Braun" branding on the packaging - and it's been that way for a long time.

You're right that the Braun logo co-branding still features on the devices themselves, though.

Yeah, the battery in the Oral-B toothbrushes are awful, sonic care are much better

That's not the problem I found. My problems were twofold:

1) The Braun toothbrushes are just nasty. No matter how much I rinsed them off after every use, they collected a bunch of nasty crap in the holder. My Panasonic toothbrush never does this.

2) The Braun toothbrushes only work on a single voltage, because their charger sucks. You cannot take the charger with you when you travel between continents. Any decent modern electronics these days don't have this problem. My Panasonic toothbrush's charger works with 100-240V, 50-60Hz power (worldwide), and this is a model that seems to only be sold in Japan.

Also, the Braun toothbrush is huge. My Panasonic is much more compact.

> "No, the electric toothbrushes are called Braun in markets outside the US. I've only seen them labeled Oral-B in the US."

I can assure you that now days they're Oral-B in most, if not all, markets globally. Certainly in the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand they are no longer sold as "Braun", just "Oral-B".

Here's the Oral-B store on amazon.de, for example: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/stores/Oral-BMarkenshop/page/4553...

Tricky to confirm (no need to follow links), but the first hits on Amazon UK[0], Amazon AU[1], Amazon US[2] are clearly labelled Braun in the images. Amazon Germany[3] and Amazon France[4] too.

[0]: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oral-B-Vitality-Toothbrush-Includin... [1]: https://www.amazon.com.au/Oral-B-SMART-Electric-Rechargeable... [2]: https://www.amazon.com/Oral-B-1000-Rechargeable-Electric-Too... [3]: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Vitality-Electric-Toothbrush-Clea... [4]: https://www.amazon.fr/Oral-B-Vitality-Action-Brosse-%C3%89le...

Yes, but they still feature the "Braun" co-branding on the device, but the primary naming/branding is always "Oral-B".

The co-branding is because the device (electronics) are Braun, and the bristles/brush-heads are Oral-B.

Well, yes, but both the toothbrushes and the brush heads are sold only with the "Oral-B" name in most countries. That is: Braun logo still appears on the device, but not in the product name, box, and marketing materials.

Don't use Amazon for reference, use something like Boots and you'll confirm it immediately.

Alright, here you go https://www.boots.com/oral-b-pro-3-3900--black-and-pink-elec...

Going to the American Boots site is malicious compliance at its finest. I actually lol'd.

Huh? It goes to the UK Boots site for me. Where Oral-B toothbrushes are definitively called "Oral-B".

Does Boots even operate in the USA? They're part of the same parent company as Walgreens so I'd be surprised if they did.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com