OHSO Marko Travel Toothbrush

This one is for all of you travelers out there. Start rejoicing, because I’m going to tell you about a gadget that will replace that soggy ziploc baggie that no self-respecting gadgeteer should be using. You know what I’m talking about, we all know that Blue and Yellow make Green, but do we really want to use a baggie to hold our toothbrush and toothpaste, when we can use something cool like the OHSO Marco Travel Toothbrush instead? I didn’t think so.

The OHSO (don’t ask me what that stands for, I don’t know…) comes with everything needed for on the go dental hygiene. Two bristle heads, a small tube of Colgate toothpaste, a universal adapter and the OHSO toothbrush housing are included.

The plastic housing is available in a chrome or clear version and is made up of two parts. The bottom section, which doubles as the handle and toothpaste chamber, and the cap.

A vacuum mechanism is built into the OHSO handle which allows you to fill it with toothpaste. The top of the handle has internal threads which match up with most standard sized toothpaste tubes.

It’s easy to just screw the toothpaste tube into the handle as shown above.

To fill the toothpaste chamber, just turn the knob at the bottom of the handle clockwise. As you do so, a vacuum is created which pulls the toothpaste from the tube into the handle. The filling process takes about 15 seconds. As you can see from the pictures above, there’s a window on the side of the handle, which allows you to see how full the chamber is.

If your favorite brand of toothpaste happens to have threads that are not compatible with the OHSO, you’re not out of luck. You can use the included universal adapter. It’s just a soft rubber boot that screws into the handle and makes it easy to use any size toothpaste tube with the OHSO.

After the chamber has been filled with toothpaste, you can unscrew the toothpaste tube and replace it with the bristle head. You don’t need to worry that the toothpaste will ooze out, because it’s vacuum packed.

The included bristle heads are what I would consider soft and relatively small. I personally prefer a medium texture bristle head for my everyday toothbrush, and wish that OSHO would offer different sizes and textures. That said, I used the OHSO for several days while on a trip and didn’t find the size or texture to be overly difficult to manage.

See it in action…

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Dispensing the toothpaste is an easy task. All you have to do is turn the same knob that you used to fill the chamber, but in the opposite direction this time. After a couple of turns, you’ll start to see a thin stream of toothpaste flowing out of the soft rubber nozzle at the base of the bristle head. Point the head down and continue to turn the knob until you have the amount of toothpaste desired. Stop turning and proceed with your tooth scrubbing. Simple!

After you’ve brushed your teeth, you’ll want to rinse off the bristle head, dry it and put the cap on the end. The cap has 3 slit vents on both sides that allow air to dry the bristle head when it’s not in use. There’s also a handy clip on the cap, but I don’t think that most people will be clipping the OHSO to their shirt pocket ;o)

When closed, the OHSO is a self-contained dental hygiene tool. During my review period, I had no problems with toothpaste leaks, jams, etc. My only issue is that the chamber only holds enough toothpaste for 1 day, if you brush 3 times a day. Carrying a separate tube of toothpaste to use for everyday refilling kind of defeats the purpose of the whole concept in my opinion. But for overnight trips or if you only brush your teeth once a day (eew!) it makes a great inexpensive gadget!