Editor's note (30/08/2024): In the latter half of the article, we discuss the currently available Laifen Wave products. Laifen has since provided further information on the current stock of Laifen Wave retail units and new brush heads now in circulation, and these comments have been incorporated in the latter half of this article. The rest of the article is as originally published.
Laifen has announced it will be showcasing a new, titanium version of the Laifen Wave at IFA 2024, a feat the brand claims will make for the “world’s first” electric toothbrush made of the high-end, aerospace-grade material.
While rocket ships and automobile components might be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of titanium, it’s a material also known for its use in the medical field thanks to its non-toxicity and antibacterial properties – qualities Laifen cites as key behind this new version of the Laifen Wave.
Additionally, the brand highlights the material’s durability and visual appeal as key to driving this new version of the brand’s first toothbrush, which launched earlier this year at CES 2024.
The brand is best known for developing one of the best Dyson Supersonic rivals, the Laifen Swift, which launched following a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2022. Since then, it has released a more affordable version (the Laifen Swift SE) and has announced it will also launch two further hairdryer products at the upcoming consumer tech show in Berlin.
Making waves
@techradar ♬ Dance You Outta My Head - Cat Janice
While my personal experience meant I couldn’t quite call the Laifen Wave one of the best electric toothbrushes I’ve tried, judging by some of the customer reviews I’ve read online it’s a real love-it-or-hate-it device, with some hailing its superior clean as superior to the likes of Philips and Oral-B, especially at its low price point.
It combines oscillating and sonic technology to deliver one of the deepest cleans I’ve experienced from a domestic toothbrush, offering 60-degree oscillation with 66,000 vibrations per minute, but as of writing the jury is still out with dental professionals as to whether that’s a good thing on a daily basis.
However, it’s worth highlighting that YouTuber Anoraker was contacted by Laifen following his middling review of the unit he was given earlier this year, claiming this batch of devices sent out to media and influencers in January (which included my own review unit) were defective pre-production samples and not retail units. Laifen has clarified that issues such as the difficulty in inserting and removing brush heads were fixed in all retail models.
The brand also indicated to Anoraker that a new prototype will be phased into the existing retail stock, which he claims fixed some of the major issues by reducing the power of the preset modes on the device and upgrading the brush heads, and also confirmed new toothbrush heads with cushioned backing to prevent some of the jaw-shattering pain caused when you so much as knock your teeth with the head during use.
At the time of writing these heads still aren’t available in the Laifen store, but can be found at Amazon, and as Anoraker highlights, there’s no way of telling whether you’ve received the original retail model of the Laifen Wave itself or the revised prototype. Laifen has also communicated that the Laifen Wave Titanium electric toothbrush launching at IFA features an even more advanced version of the cushioned brush head.
