Electric toothbrush mates simplicity with low-cost subscriptions

You could easily argue that many attempts at modernizing the toothbrush are overkill -- motion tracking and smartphone tie-ins are a bit much for cleaning that should only take a couple of minutes if you're doing it right. Quip (no, not that Quip) thinks there's a better solution. Its newly unveiled combination of a toothbrush and subscription service is just smart enough to keep your teeth in pristine shape. The electric brush's only proper trick is a vibrating handle that stops when it's time to scrub another section of your mouth. The real cleverness comes through the low-cost subscription model: you pay $25 to $40 for a starter kit ($5 to $20 for a non-electric brush) and $10 every three months for both new bristles and two tubes of toothpaste. It's decidedly cheaper than Goodwell's recently unveiled subscription model ($69 before the plan kicks in), and you can buy things piecemeal if you're not down with regular payments.

It's a ridiculously simple strategy, but it might make sense if your biggest challenge is simply covering the basics. If you spring for the electric brush and subscription, you'll always have a reasonably fresh brush that you know how to use properly. Just be sure to act quickly if you want to give this back-to-basics approach a shot. Quip starts shipping its first kits later this month, but it's warning of limited supply at the moment.