Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush Review

Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush is a new ecosystem product launched by the company in India. This is a competitively priced sonic toothbrush where the bristles vibrate at high frequency to effectively breakdown and dislodge plaque. 

The electric toothbrush market has been steadily growing for the last five years, but it’s only recently that their popularity soared in India. That’s because electric toothbrushes do have their advantages, more so if you have a kid at home. Dentists recommend them for better oral health and manufacturers are heavily investing in their technological advancement.

In our Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush review, we will discuss its features, advantages, and shortcomings, and will hopefully help you decide if this is a product you should buy.

Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush price and specifications 

Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush Unboxing

• Brush Handle
• Realme M1 Regular Electric Toothbrush Head with protective cover
• Realme M1 Sensitive Electric Toothbrush Head with protective cover
• Wireless charge dock
• Power shaft protective cover
• User manual & Warranty

Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush Review: Design and Build

The M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush has a minimalistic design. We have the enamel white variant with us, but there is also a blue color option that users may opt for instead. The cylindrical handle weighs about 100 grams and the brush heads that affix to its shaft weigh just 4 grams. 

There is only one button on the handle that lets you switch between different cleaning modes that are highlighted with white indicator LEDs. And there is a green battery indicator close to the bottom.

M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush feels fairly solid. The glossy handle doesn’t have a soft grip but a friction coating that works as well. My 5-year old could comfortably use it in spite of the substantial size.

Realme bundles two 3.5mm thick brush heads – one Regular and one Sensitive – with good quality Dupont bristles that are set at an effective 10-degrees angle and have 99.99% anti-bacterial properties. The ‘regular’ brush head (not the sensitive one) has a few blue color bristles that fade to indicate that its time for the replacement of brush heads. Realme, however, hasn’t mentioned how much these replacements would actually cost.

You need not worry about cleaning this brush under running tap water or about using it with wet hands. The Realme M1 Sonic toothbrush is IPX7 rated, which means it has been tested to survive submersion in 1-meter deep freshwater for 30 minutes. As the ‘X’ in the ingress protection rating conveys, there is no dust resistance. 

Realme claims 300 hours of motor life, which converts to 10 years with 5 minutes of daily usage. As an assurance, Realme offers a 1-year warranty with the product.

Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush Review: Performance and Experience

Using the Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush is a very straight forward process. Just apply toothpaste hold the brush to your teeth at a 45-degree angle and press the single button to turn on the sonic vibrations. 

The M1 Sonic can scatter away all the paste within seconds, thus we prefer powering it on only after we have positioned the bristles. Similarly, it’s good practice to turn it off when pulled out of the mouth.

The Sonic motor can vibrate 34,000 times per minute. The intensity of vibrations increases as you progress from ‘Soft’ mode to ‘Clean’ mode to ‘White’ mode. The fourth ‘Polish’ mode involves oscillating bristles at a wider angle. 

You can switch from one mode to next sequentially by pressing the handle button. If you remain using any mode for more than 10 seconds, pressing the button would turn the motor off instead of jumping to the next mode. All modes have an auto-cut timer for 2 minutes, the ideal recommended time for brushing.

There is no sensor to indicate if you are applying too much pressure, but I don’t think I’d need one. I have sensitive gum and yet the M1 Sonic surprisingly proved softer on my gums than my manual soft brush even when I used it in White and Polish modes.

The sonic vibrations make brushing a lot more effective. The oscillating bristles can effectively remove more plaque while being softer and requiring minimal effort. You can get more done in those 2 minutes. Particularly, thorough cleaning of molars and wisdom teeth was simplified.

I also found the toothbrush very useful for brushing my kid’s teeth. Not only because he was excited to try out the new toy, but because it’s hard to make him stick to the basin, and just one minute of brushing (Soft mode) proved enough to get the job done. 

Of course, it will take a few more months to properly gauge the long term impact on oral health, but research suggests that electric brushes are more effective in reducing plaque and gingivitis.

Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush Review: Battery

There is an 800mAh battery inside and the M1 Sonic charges via a convenient wireless charging dock. The battery takes around 4.5 hours for a full charge, but you won’t have to charge it very frequently. If you run out of battery, 5 minutes of charging will add enough juice for 2 days of usage (according to the company). 

The battery mileage you get will depend on the brushing mode. Here’s how long different modes are rated to last: 

• Soft mode – 360 minutes 
• Cleaning mode – 215 minutes 
• Whitening mode – 165 minutes 
• Polishing mode – 220 minutes

Realme M1 Sonic Electric Toothbrush Review – Should you buy it?

Realme M1 Sonic Electric toothbrush exceeded our expectations. It’s well designed, is IPX4 water-resistant, has a long-lasting battery, and is available at a competitive price. 

We realized that it can effectively clean our teeth while being softer on gums than a manual brush – which also makes it an ideal recommendation for kids or people with limited mobility. On the downside, it doesn’t pair with any app and Realme hasn’t detailed whether it will be bringing replacement brush heads in the country and at what price. 

The feature set is comparable to Xiaomi’s Mi Electric Brush T300 that was originally presented at a lower price (INR 1499). However, the Xiaomi option is not yet available and might arrive at a hiked price due to the recent increase in GST.

Pros 

• Decent design 
• Good quality brush heads
• Long-lasting battery

Cons

• Doesn’t pair with proprietary app