Customer Rating: 
Summary: It feels great.
Comment: I was attracted to this product as their TV ad said there was a relationship between the lack of a sterile toothbrush and increased risk for strokes. Later, I found the claim verified from other unrelated sources dealing with health.
I've been using it for about three years and love it. Why? Because it makes my mouth feel so much cleaner. It is noticeable from the first use. It is so pleasureable. Also, my teeth became whiter.
It lasts about a year to a year and a half. I use distilled water, but rinse my brush off with tap water. Our water has a lot of mineral content, so your sanitizer might last much longer.
It is dead when the red light stops going on, it is slow to intake water, and your teeth don't feel as clean. When I get a new one, I'll try running vinegar through it, as another reviewer suggested, to see if it lasts longer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Love it.
Comment: I love this Germ Treminator Toothbrush Sanitizer. It makes me feel like I am doing somthing good for my mouth. The only problem is that the sanitizer has to be pluged in all the time, and only can fit in one electric brushhead at a time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: For clean toothbrushes and a healthier mouth...
Comment: This one really works. I used to get sore throats when using a non-sterilized toothbrush. Used to re-infect myself with colds and bacterial infections. For longest time, had multiple (20-30) toothbrushes and sterilized in top rack basket in dishwasher with water heater on high temp. That worked but time consuming.
Now use Germ Terminator -- just as effective but takes less time and less water and less energy. For best results, use distilled water, but you can use tap too. If you use tap regularly you will need to watch for calcium build up like in coffee maker and run vinegar through it to get rid of calcium build up. I am able to sterilize my Braun electric toothbrush heads (which cost $10 each!) in this unit too besides regular toothbrushes. They fit in the little baskets.
This unit is very light so it will be good for traveling even though footprint not as small as UV travel sanitizers.
I love my steam sterilizer. I am going to buy a second one for traveling.
Why should you buy this unit instead of UV light sterilizer/sanitizer?
Most toothbrush sterilizers are UV light based. I did research on steam versus UV sterilization:
UV light is non-ionizing radiation. Good for destroying airborne organisms and organisms on exposed surfaces that UV light makes contact with. UV light has low penetrating power. Dust, soil, anything that shields organism from UV light will protect micro organism from sterilization. Must keep UV light bulb very clean (dust/soil on UV light will reduce effectiveness). Must regularly test UV light because they lose power to sterilize over time. Sterilization percentage for UV light: 99.95%. Sterilization percentage for Germ Terminator (tested results): 99.999999%
UV light causes sunburns. Think about how a hat or shirt or glass window will protect you from sunburns. UV cannot penetrate these.
For medical/dental tools, doctors use autoclaves which are steam based.
Don't leave home without your Germ Terminator!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A valuable product that too many don't use.
Comment: This is a great product that many don't even know about. And if they hear about it, they are way too quick to assume it is not important enough. They can also get turned off too quickly by the cost which actually is only about the cost of a dental appointment for crying out loud. This is worth the investment and can save us from doctor visits and missed work.
There are some drawbacks as well. One difficulty is not knowing for how long the product is effective. One year, two, three, more? It kills a high percentage of bacteria and viruses on toothbrushes but for how long? How do we know if the product becomes less effective over time for some reason? The product is made in China, which gives me some concern over quality as well as concern about our trade debt and our economy. The correspondence department didn't do well at answering such concerns. The small basket is delicate and one of them broke on me before I had a good idea of how delicate it was. The toothbrushes, at least when placed handle down, have a hot handle after sanitization and there's no warning of this on the Germ Terminator.
In spite of the drawbacks, I feel that this product should be far more commonplace. I am unaware of any other product sold that I would consider this good at toothbrush sanitizing. It uses a natural process of heat and steam and is a great storage unit. Use it on newly purchased toothbrushes too. You don't know where they have been.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Using these for years - they are great!
Comment:
There's nothing like grabbing a warm totally sanitized toothbrush. I have used this for years after I saw the inventor on 20/20 I had to try it out. It works great! Its like using a new toothbrush everyday. Well worth it.
Summary: It feels great.
Comment: I was attracted to this product as their TV ad said there was a relationship between the lack of a sterile toothbrush and increased risk for strokes. Later, I found the claim verified from other unrelated sources dealing with health.
I've been using it for about three years and love it. Why? Because it makes my mouth feel so much cleaner. It is noticeable from the first use. It is so pleasureable. Also, my teeth became whiter.
It lasts about a year to a year and a half. I use distilled water, but rinse my brush off with tap water. Our water has a lot of mineral content, so your sanitizer might last much longer.
It is dead when the red light stops going on, it is slow to intake water, and your teeth don't feel as clean. When I get a new one, I'll try running vinegar through it, as another reviewer suggested, to see if it lasts longer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Love it.
Comment: I love this Germ Treminator Toothbrush Sanitizer. It makes me feel like I am doing somthing good for my mouth. The only problem is that the sanitizer has to be pluged in all the time, and only can fit in one electric brushhead at a time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: For clean toothbrushes and a healthier mouth...
Comment: This one really works. I used to get sore throats when using a non-sterilized toothbrush. Used to re-infect myself with colds and bacterial infections. For longest time, had multiple (20-30) toothbrushes and sterilized in top rack basket in dishwasher with water heater on high temp. That worked but time consuming.
Now use Germ Terminator -- just as effective but takes less time and less water and less energy. For best results, use distilled water, but you can use tap too. If you use tap regularly you will need to watch for calcium build up like in coffee maker and run vinegar through it to get rid of calcium build up. I am able to sterilize my Braun electric toothbrush heads (which cost $10 each!) in this unit too besides regular toothbrushes. They fit in the little baskets.
This unit is very light so it will be good for traveling even though footprint not as small as UV travel sanitizers.
I love my steam sterilizer. I am going to buy a second one for traveling.
Why should you buy this unit instead of UV light sterilizer/sanitizer?
Most toothbrush sterilizers are UV light based. I did research on steam versus UV sterilization:
UV light is non-ionizing radiation. Good for destroying airborne organisms and organisms on exposed surfaces that UV light makes contact with. UV light has low penetrating power. Dust, soil, anything that shields organism from UV light will protect micro organism from sterilization. Must keep UV light bulb very clean (dust/soil on UV light will reduce effectiveness). Must regularly test UV light because they lose power to sterilize over time. Sterilization percentage for UV light: 99.95%. Sterilization percentage for Germ Terminator (tested results): 99.999999%
UV light causes sunburns. Think about how a hat or shirt or glass window will protect you from sunburns. UV cannot penetrate these.
For medical/dental tools, doctors use autoclaves which are steam based.
Don't leave home without your Germ Terminator!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A valuable product that too many don't use.
Comment: This is a great product that many don't even know about. And if they hear about it, they are way too quick to assume it is not important enough. They can also get turned off too quickly by the cost which actually is only about the cost of a dental appointment for crying out loud. This is worth the investment and can save us from doctor visits and missed work.
There are some drawbacks as well. One difficulty is not knowing for how long the product is effective. One year, two, three, more? It kills a high percentage of bacteria and viruses on toothbrushes but for how long? How do we know if the product becomes less effective over time for some reason? The product is made in China, which gives me some concern over quality as well as concern about our trade debt and our economy. The correspondence department didn't do well at answering such concerns. The small basket is delicate and one of them broke on me before I had a good idea of how delicate it was. The toothbrushes, at least when placed handle down, have a hot handle after sanitization and there's no warning of this on the Germ Terminator.
In spite of the drawbacks, I feel that this product should be far more commonplace. I am unaware of any other product sold that I would consider this good at toothbrush sanitizing. It uses a natural process of heat and steam and is a great storage unit. Use it on newly purchased toothbrushes too. You don't know where they have been.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Using these for years - they are great!
Comment:
There's nothing like grabbing a warm totally sanitized toothbrush. I have used this for years after I saw the inventor on 20/20 I had to try it out. It works great! Its like using a new toothbrush everyday. Well worth it.