Oxo Good Grips Combo Toilet Brush and Plunger Review
The inquiry
- Why y'all should trust the states
- Should you buy a new toilet brush?
- How we picked and tested
- Our pick: OXO Good Grips Compact Toilet Castor and Canister
- Flaws but not dealbreakers
- Runner-up: Simplehuman Toilet Castor
- The competition
- What almost disposable toilet "wands" and in-tank cleaning tablets?
Why yous should trust us
At that place's more to toilet brushes than most people realize. We learned this by talking to a lot of people who spend their lives thinking most toilets, germs, cleaning, and sanitation. (Nosotros besides cleaned a lot of toilets.) Our experts include:
- Jolie Kerr, author of the Ask a Clean Person column on Kinja and the book My Fellow Barfed in My Pocketbook … and Other Things Y'all Tin can't Inquire Martha.
- Charles P. Gerba, PhD, professor of microbiology and environmental sciences at the Academy of Arizona. He is nationally renowned for his piece of work on household microbes, microbial risks, and disinfectants.
- Managers of residential and commercial cleaning services at Merry Maids, Don Aslett, and Make clean My Space.
- Michael Delevante, vice president of product development at OXO.
- Pamela and Katherine Gibbins, a mother and girl with a combined 38 years of professional house-cleaning feel. They tested brushes and took notes on castor functioning.
Beyond those interviews, we read through the relevant sections of medical journal articles, cleaning guides and blogs, and the book Where the Germs Are: A Scientific Safari, by scientific discipline announcer Nicholas Bakalar.
In 2021 we too spoke with James Walsh, vice president of product management for toilet manufacturer American Standard.
Should you lot buy a new toilet brush?
Y'all likely have a toilet castor already, simply you shouldn't continue it around forever. Most people probably accept brush holders that are festering with subconscious germs, and nosotros're waiting too long to replace them.
Many of the experts nosotros talked to suggested replacing your toilet brush "every few months" or "when y'all tin can see the bristles are bent." You tin can sensibly extend the life of your brush if y'all regularly spray it, as well as its holder, with disinfectant or bleach solution. But it's non simply bacteria that should prompt a toilet-brush replacement. As you wear out and flatten your castor's bristles, you can eventually start to scrape the handle itself against the porcelain, causing scratches—and creating new places for germs to hide.
How nosotros picked and tested
Near people endeavor not to think too much about what they're doing when they make clean a toilet. Just when we really considered toilet cleaning for our tests, nosotros realized that the best toilet brush must run across some key criteria. The brush has to reach all the parts of the toilet basin and scrub the bowl effectively. The holder has to be stable, like shooting fish in a barrel to clean, small plenty to fit in a tight bathroom, and designed to allow the brush head to dry. The brush handle must be long enough to keep your easily clean but short enough to let you piece of work around the basin, and ideally be clad in a nice grippy textile. And the brush should be inexpensive plenty that you'll replace it regularly without giving the purchase a 2d idea.
Applying this criteria, nosotros began with a field of more than 45 brushes. Some were prohibitively expensive—actually, a toilet brush should not be a big investment. Many could be bought at but i or ii stores or online retailers, then they weren't convenient to supercede when needed. Most brushes simply had null to distinguish them from hundreds of other cheap, white plastic brushes. And some had terrible reviews. We looked for brushes that people liked, with some basic feature to separate them from the pack, and a combination of price and availability that would allow readers to hands buy ane at present and replace information technology each year.
After narrowing the field to viii finalists, nosotros did the obvious thing: Nosotros used them to clean toilets. We used each of the 8 brushes to clean three different toilets that are used by real humans, at an office and in two different households. To assess each one's cleaning ability, we did visual inspections and watched for the kind of coverage and scrubbing power the bristles provided against the bowl, especially in the hard-to-accomplish spots like down at the outlet and upwards under the rim. We also judged each toilet-brush holder to see whether information technology was easy to clean, hard to tip over, and designed to let moisture bristles dry out later use. So, to go more feedback on our picks, we gathered 24 (surprisingly opinionated) friends and acquaintances—thirteen men and xi women—who offered their judgments on the appearance, design, and features of our finalists.
In 2020, we tested iv new brushes, three of which had silicone bristles. For this second round of testing, nosotros took the same approach: having multiple people use and analyze the brushes and their holders in a real-earth setting.
Nosotros tested an additional three brushes and one "toilet mop" in 2021, to see if any silicone options had improved and to encounter if we could find a budget brush that would brand regularly replacing it less of a hassle.
Our pick: OXO Expert Grips Meaty Toilet Brush and Canister
Our pick
The affordable OXO Expert Grips Compact Toilet Brush and Canister is the best-performing fix nosotros tested. Its brush has fantabulous bristles that cleaned amend than those on any other brush we tested, and the OXO'due south holder totally hides the business end from view and is immensely satisfying to use. This fix isn't the cheapest, just information technology is a better deal than whatsoever of the more than expensive models we saw (including others fabricated past OXO).
The OXO's brush-hiding caddy feels nigh magical in practise, opening and closing seemingly without whatsoever effort. The magic is driven past a spring-loaded, weighted hinge in the base that flips the holder open when you pull up on the brush. It stays open, and then closes when you insert the brush once more. There are actually two pieces inside the caddy: a strainer-like upper expanse that cradles the castor bristles while letting residue water drip out, and a lower basin that catches whatever comes off the brush and then the brush is never sitting in its own muck. Unlike the solid reservoir caddies with cheaper brushes, this one lets the bristles completely dry between uses. The caddy's 5-inch diameter likewise feels stable, like you won't easily tip it over.
The OXO'south sleek base is its most defining characteristic, just its superior beard are what won over our testers. They're arranged on the brush head with two stiffness levels: The white bristles at the top of the head are stiffer, for under-rim cleaning, while the longer, bluish bristles on the lesser provide more give as y'all scrub the bowl. A corrugated texture lets each bristle option up substantial grime without flicking much h2o.
You lot can purchase a replaceable head for the OXO from Amazon, and you lot can occasionally find the heads in stock at Target or Bed Bath & Across. The plastic on the replacement caput we bought fit perfectly, only the colour wasn't an exact match. Be sure not to throw abroad the black plastic coupling on your brush when you lot discard the head (a female person end)—yous'll demand it to adhere a replacement head.
With an overall length of 16½ inches, the OXO Compact is an inch or two shorter than its OXO cousins and our runner-up recommendation. This shorter length is a plus, since cleaning with the longer models at times felt somewhat punishing. The OXO'south length too ways it'south easier to shop the set in an undersink cabinet.
An Amazon reviewer named Kindle Customer hit several common themes: "Well-designed and adept-looking (for a toilet basin brush), small and unimposing, this petty guy not only melds into the bathroom scenery, but carries out its intended function spectacularly. It puts to shame all those other basin brushes we've all accumulated over the years."
The holder and castor come in white, black, gray, and "beige" (beige). "Information technology's simple (and) has smashing potential to go unnoticed," one tester noted. Another said the OXO "looks like a Comic Sans exclamation bespeak." To each their own.
For a year and a one-half, an OXO toilet castor has been regularly used at the house of Wirecutter senior editor Harry Sawyers. "I just pulled it out from behind the toilet to give it a skilful look over (and washed my hands before returning to the keyboard)," he reports. "Information technology'southward in skilful shape. I haven't treated it terribly just have hardly pampered it. I shake the brush out vigorously between uses, and while I see a few discolorations looking down deep in the crevices of the base, there's no buildup in the part of the cradle where the brush sits. I think with a sanitizing wipe, a paper towel, a little alcohol, and an old chopstick, I could become information technology back to nearly new shape in a few minutes."
Flaws but not dealbreakers
Though nosotros dear the look of the OXO, that clever caddy pattern can be a bit tricky to clean. The hinges, peculiarly, can trap water and muck. Air does circulate within the caddy, but you'll experience quicker drying if yous shake out the castor earlier stowing information technology.
And although replacement heads aren't so expensive, they are difficult to observe on a lot of store shelves. (We get ours on Amazon.) Also, if you purchase the black or biscuit brush and holder, you might exist bothered past having to screw on a mismatched white replacement head.
Runner-upwardly: Simplehuman Toilet Brush
Runner-upwards
Simplehuman Toilet Brush
Stylish and unusual
The Simplehuman castor has a sleeker look than any other we tried, and the caddy allows the replaceable castor head to air-dry quickly. Only the unique brush design takes some getting used to.
If the OXO is not available, or you're willing to invest a little more than for an aesthetic upgrade, nosotros also like the Simplehuman Toilet Brush. Whereas the other brushes all sport a discreet, commonsensical look, the Simplehuman—with its stainless steel shaft, sleek caddy, and white pommel handle—is designed to exist noticed. It'south besides a solid cleaner with a squeamish, if unusual, castor and a narrow caddy that can fit in the tightest of spots.
The Simplehuman'south brush looks more like the helmet of a Spartan warrior than a toilet-cleaning tool. Like the OXO'south, the Simplehuman's beard walk a nice line between the stiffness needed to scrub tight angles and the flexibility required to conform to the curved sides of a toilet bowl. Protruding from a central hub in a circular pattern, the uppermost bristles point nearly straight upward and are ideal for getting the underside of the toilet rim. The bristles on almost brushes, similar those on the OXO, stick out only horizontally, and so the handle needs to be lowered to really scrub under the rim. The unusual blueprint of the Simplehuman caput takes a piddling getting used to. "It took a while for me to figure out how to concur it," ane tester said.
Similar the brush, the Simplehuman caddy combines form with part. It has a wide, open back that freely lets air in and around the castor for quick drying. This sizable opening as well allows for easy cleaning of the caddy, something we can't say nigh the OXO.
The caddy as well has a pocket-size magnet at the top that holds the brush in place, suspending it above the bottom of the caddy. This magnet also makes it possible to pick upwardly both the brush and the caddy just by lifting the brush handle—a nice option to accept when you're relocating a moisture brush. The downside of this is it tin be tricky to go the brush out of the caddy. On the first few tries, we ended upward attempting to jiggle the magnet free and even knocked the caddy over at one indicate. Once nosotros figured out that you offset need to tip the handle away from y'all to undo the magnet, it was an like shooting fish in a barrel process. (Merely be aware that if someone is unfamiliar with this procedure, they might have a hard fourth dimension.)
Finally, because of the Simplehuman castor's shape, the caddy is about 3½ inches broad, slimmer than many we found, including our chief option. And then the Simplehuman is a good option if you lot have limited infinite between the toilet and wall.
The build quality of the Simplehuman is very nice, and it feels much sturdier than any other brush nosotros tested. The metallic shaft adds heft, and the handle connections and the bristles all announced to be stable and secure. Replaceable heads are also bachelor. The overall quality combined with the caddy's pleasant features and the brush shape'south functionality justify the relatively high cost of the Simplehuman, which is typically between $20 and $25.
The competition
We tested three brushes in Bound 2021, and the IKEA Bolmen toilet castor is the cheapest of the bunch, priced at just 99 cents. Nosotros hoped the minimal toll would make the prospect of replacing the brush often a little less onerous. While our testers plant it did the job well, (with one, who cleans toilets professionally, fifty-fifty preferring it to our OXO selection), we think the combination of a amend holder and the benefit of only replacing the head instead of the whole brush is worth the more expensive toll tag. Too the IKEA castor cost adds up to at to the lowest degree $5 one time you lot factor in shipping costs, then you'll finish up spending most the same amount replacing it anyway, unless y'all're peckish crowds and Swedish meatballs.
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Nosotros also tested the Mop-it Bowl Brushes subsequently readers commented on their dearest for "toilet mops." These—they came in a pack of iv—plastic handled scrubbers wait a bit like an oversized q-tip, using the fluffy sponge like fibers to both soak up liquid and spread cleaner effectually the basin. They were effective at evenly spreading cleaning fluid and did a decent chore scrubbing, but without a holder they became an annoyance afterward each cleaning (I ended up using a bucket to store them while testing). Also the cheap plastic handles aren't actually great to hold.
The Boomjoy Toilet brush and holder, a silicone tip brush that nosotros found suffered the aforementioned problems as the models we tested terminal twelvemonth, did a poor chore scrubbing due to it'south soft bristles.
In an effort to find a non-plastic option we tried out the Loho Wonderz Natural Coconut Fiber Castor simply it also didn't come with a holder and the shape of the head fabricated it more than of a hassle to use. The common u-shape head makes getting under the lip of the bowl a chip easier, just covers less surface area when scrubbing the balance of the bowl, meaning it'll take more than time to scrub the same surface area every bit our picks. It as well lacked a replaceable head.
In 2020, we tested three brushes with silicone bristles: the Sellemer Toilet Brush and Holder Ready, the Costom Silicone Toilet Brush and Holder, and the TreeLen Toilet Brush Set. Brushes like this have recently showed up at a diverseness of retailers, only unfortunately, none of them were very good at all. These brushes were much softer than regular bristle brushes we've tested and didn't exercise a good task of scrubbing. In addition, all 3 suffered from design flaws, such as flimsy handles (one of which unscrewed while nosotros were using it) and also many unnecessary nooks and crannies, where germs could hide.
The OXO Good Grips Toilet Brush and Canister in white plastic and its stainless steel variant accept replaceable heads and clever opening mechanisms, and in that location's even a flexible cervix on the plastic model. But both models float a slotted property loving cup over the wider bottom base of operations. This does help your brush drip-dry, only you can't get into that dark, largely closed-off bottom expanse for cleaning. In improver, the flexible-cervix castor does not flex very far earlier it feels similar it might break.
From the exterior, the Libman Designer Bowl Castor & Caddy looked like a nifty contender: It'south cheap, has a replaceable castor, and features a holder that closes just has plenty of venting and cleaning access—and it'southward made in the United states to kick. But and then we used information technology. The bristles on the brush were the stiffest of any we tried and arranged in spaced-out clusters. If there is any liquid on the brush when you attempt to slide it dorsum into the holder, it can flick back a lot of water. Cleaning the holder involves either some pinched-finger moves or dropping the whole thing in some disinfectant and and then drying it out. Pass.
We were quick to dismiss toilet brushes whose holders did not permit for airflow, as well as those that had no holder at all. In the latter category, that meant eliminating the swab-manner Fuller brush and a very cheap wire-ring brush. With no identify to shop these brushes, fifty-fifty later drying, at that place was just too much germ spread for us to recommend that y'all stash them nether your sink or stand up them upright on your floor.
And then at that place were other holders (such equally the Domicile Nuts bronze brush and holder) that were too squeamish for their own skillful: made of heavy granite or other stones, reactive metals, or matte white surfaces that would never survive unstained.
What almost disposable toilet "wands" and in-tank cleaning tablets?
When yous search for toilet brushes on Amazon or just at your local store, you're also likely to detect thin wands with clamps designed to exist fitted with "scrubbers" or "refills." The pitch for using disposable or flushable toilet cleaners is seemingly obvious: Flush, or throw abroad, the part that touches the toilet, and then hide the wand somewhere out of sight.
If you buy the Clorox ToiletWand starter kit from Amazon, you can make clean your toilet six times for about $8. The price of replacement pads varies wildly on Amazon, depending on how committed you are to the organisation. The pads are individually wrapped, and the "wand" is not especially strong; information technology'due south not difficult to observe reviews that mention snapped heads. Some companies ask that yous throw out their pads, while others claim their pads are flushable. But your wastewater handling constitute, your septic organization, and likely your landlord or plumber would actually rather not explain information technology over again: Do non flush anything except waste and toilet paper.
As cleaning columnist Jolie Kerr put it: "(Disposable pads) engender lazy cleaning. They don't practice a very practiced task, they don't replace an bodily scrub brush, and it's simply as inconvenient to have to stash those refills as to keep a toilet castor. They're the microwave meals of cleaning." She went on to say, "You lot even so accept to put the pads on the wand, which ways touching the peak of the brush. Practise you want to regularly bear upon the top of your toilet brush?"
Nosotros realize that our proposition of buying a plastic toilet brush and replacing it annually is not environmentally benign. But if you are rigorous in cleaning your toilet brush and its holder, and yous keep an centre on the forcefulness of the bristles, y'all can extend the usable life of your brush, minimizing waste product. In either example, we believe that replacing a solid brush once in a while is improve than regular disposal of chemical-rich pads and their packaging. Ecological costs aside, from a personal dollars-and-cents standpoint, a basic brush is certainly a lot more affordable.
Tank additives, those tablets or discs that can turn your toilet water as blue as a sports potable, are also a bad idea. These discs seem like an easy and maintenance-free option, as they're designed to exist dropped into the tank, where they dissolve over time, spreading disinfectant around the toilet bowl with every flush. But co-ordinate to James Walsh, vice president of production management for toilet manufacturer American Standard, the reality is more than complicated. "We do not recommend using in-tank cleaners because they will void your warranty," he told us during an interview. "They will attack the working tank trim in the tank itself." Basically, these tablets plow the standing water in the tank into a caustic liquid, which can warp the rubber components required to keep the flushing mechanisms functioning. Over time this can lead to leaks and occasionally preclude the toilet from flushing entirely.
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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-toilet-brush/
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