Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W review

The Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W is a bit of an outlier among the electric toothbrushes we've tested.

Generally, we've gone for ones costing £100 and up, and usually with an RRP of nearer £200. Not that anyone in their right mind should ever pay RRP for an electric toothbrush, as this is a widely and massively discounted sector.

This, by contrast, can be had for well under £40. Sacrilege! However, the reason we've included the Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W, despite its low cost and stupid name, is that it's an excellent product for the money.

£36 | Buy Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W

• Read our full Best Electric Toothbrush buyers' guide

Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W: cleaning performance

Like the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Sonic, this Panasonic brush uses fast (36,000 per minute) vibrations and ultrasonic waves to clean your teeth gently but thoroughly.

However, presumably as an indicator of why it costs less than half what the Philips does, cleaning is not as effortless. You need to use a bit of pressure and movement to get good results.

That's in contrast to more high-end leccy brushes, where you only need to lightly touch it to your teeth and gum line, and let the brush do all the work for you. In its 'soft' mode, that's even more noticeable, and we wouldn't really recommend using that, as it seemed to struggle to remove plaque without considerable pressure - which of course rather negates the point of having a 'soft' mode.

Interestingly, the brush heads for the Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W have a textured 'tongue cleaner' on the back, which is a neat touch. Obviously, there's nothing stopping you cleaning your tongue with the brush itself, on soft mode particularly, but some may find this addition useful.

Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W: price

The Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W can be had for a bargain £36, with brushes £12 for a set of two, which should be good for 4-5 months depending on how you use them.

In our opinion, this is very keen pricing for the brush, even if the heads are a tad overpriced compared to rivals.

Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W: battery life

Despite being noticeably smaller than most electric toothbrushes we've tried, the Panasonic still easily lasts a week per charge. It also takes the usual full day to fully recharge.

Weirdly, although there's a low battery warning, there is nothing to tell you when it's finished charging or even anything to indicate that it IS charging, when perched on its little inductive stand. Don't worry though; it does charge up.

Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W: design

Even without taking into consideration its cost, the Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W looks and feels like quality gear.

It's also noticeably smaller than most other electric toothbrushes, making it perfect for use when travelling. Okay, none of its rivals are exactly massive, but it's a case of the smaller the better if you prefer to travel light or on the cheap.

The one button feels responsive, there are only two cleaning modes (the fewer the better, in our book), and it's not too noisy, unlike certain toothbrushes we could mention.

Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W: verdict

We're normally rather dubious about cheap electric toothbrushes, but this is an exception.

Granted, cleaning performance is not as effortless as more expensive rivals such as Oral B's Pro 7000, but with a bit of elbow grease, you can get around its shortcomings - although please don't press too hard and damage your gums; that would be bad.

As well as feeling very well made for its price, the Panasonic Sonic Vibration EW-DL82-W also has very decent battery life for its compact size. Even if this wouldn't be our first pick for daily use, the smaller size means we'd certainly recommend it as a travel option.