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kmcg_gw

Toto Washlet: best value/features?

kmcg
11 years ago

I was all set to buy a washlet and then Amazon bumped up its fabulously low prices. Back to the drawing board, and I'd like to get your thoughts on what features are really worth spending money on. This will go on a Toto Aquia II, elongated seat.

The B100 is the cheapest, then the E200, I think. As best I can tell, the B100 lacks a drying function, and the control panel is right next to the seat. Are these deal breakers, in your opinion? Is it worth $300 more to go up to the next level? Are there other differences?

Also, if anyone knows of a great place to buy for less, please do chime in!

Comments (14)

  • kmcg
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks Kashmi! I'm glad to hear yours is still good after 4 years. We also sleep cold, so the heated seat sounds divine!

    I appreciate your tips on Amazon. Having a couple washlets in my basket was actually how I noticed the big price increase. Wish I had purchased when I first looked, but that's hard to do at the beginning of the research. I'll keep an eye on them.

  • MongoCT
    11 years ago

    If I can intrude, let me point you to the Biobidet 1000 as well.

    We have both the Toto S300 and the BB1000, we both prefer the BB1000.

    It has seat warming, water warming, the drying function, all the bells and whistles, with the controls located on a remote.

    Mt wife loves all of the bells and whistles. She says the BB has a more convenient and usable spray range than the Toto. Me, the biggest plus is the handheld remote for ease of use.

    The BB is about $500 for the elongated version, which is what we have. We've had it for two years with no problems.

  • nycbluedevil
    11 years ago

    We have the E200. It has the heated seat and the wall-mounted remote. Has the dryer but it does take a long time. I would definitely not want the controls on the seat--that was a deal breaker for me. I don't remember what the differences are between the E200 and the s300 but I considered it and felt that they weren't worth the price increase--and I skimped on nothing in these bathrooms.

  • anemone2000
    11 years ago

    We have the Toto S300 and love it. The wall mounted remote was a must have for me. I have used Toto washlets that had the side mounted controls and found them very inconvenient. It also seemed to me you needed to have small hips to access the controls easily.

    The dryer, used by itself, would take a very long time but it is does do a great job after a bit of help from TP. As for the deodorizer, living in a house with a husband and a teenage son, I really appreciate it, but I could see it may not be a must have for everyone.

    I also like the instant, limitless hot water (no reservoir) on the S300. I don't know how big the reservoir is on the E200 so that may or may not be an issue for you.

    I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful the heated seat is, especially in the winter. It is one of my favorite features.

    The first S300 I bought was through Amazon Warehouse as "new" but it had a deep gouge in the plastic so it went back. Eventually, I bought ours from Costco online without any problems. They use to come and go on the website, but I haven't looked recently. I have also see them on Overstock.com., but it appears they are currently out of stock.

    Unfortunately, I have never used any other brands so I can't comment on those, but I doubt you could go wrong with any of the top brands. I do highly recommend the wall remote with whatever one you choose.

  • nycbluedevil
    11 years ago

    Right--the other big difference was the instant hot water. My thought was that this feature used more electricity so I took a pass. We have the reservoir on the E200 and there is always enough hot water. I have run it for more than 30 seconds and the water has not run out. We live in an apartment--not sure whether that makes a difference.

  • anemone2000
    11 years ago

    nycbluedevil - it looks like you are correct that the S300 may possibly use more electricity. Besides the sourse of hot water, the other differences seems to be in the types of sprays and their adjustment.

    Either one would be great, it just depends on your preferences.

    Toto Washlet comparison chart below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Toto Washlet Comparison

  • kmcg
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks so much, everyone. We just returned from a trip to Japan, and my husband thinks I'm a little nutty to want one of these. (He found it unnerving when the seat would open the instant you stepped in the door of our hotel bathroom!) For me, it was the trip that sold me. This means I'll likely be the only one to use the features, so I think the E200 would be fine, hot water-wise. It sounds like the control location IS a big issue, so I'll take that to heart.

    I'm going to look at Biobidet too - thanks for that endorsement, mongoct.

  • herring_maven
    11 years ago

    kmcg: "We just returned from a trip to Japan, and my husband thinks I'm a little nutty to want one of these."

    Your husband will come around. When we are sweaty, we take a shower with water; we do not dry wash our bodies with paper napkins. The same considerations apply to cleaning the nether regions.

    Almost all of our family are Japanese, and most of them live in Japan. We are the only family unit among our extended family who have not had an advanced toilet seat in our bathroom for at least 15 years. The impediment in our home in the United States has been significant wiring issues to hook up an advanced toilet seat in either of our bathrooms, but we have bitten the bullet and overcome that obstacle. Next month -- finally -- we will be the last of our family to have an advanced toilet seat toilet.

    But we will not be getting a Toto Washlet. As twice-a-year returnees to Japan, we have constantly monitored the state of the art in Japan, and what we will be buying here for our own home is an Inax Clessence (for use on a Toto Vespin II, which it fits). We prefer the Inax two-wand design to the Toto one-wand design, and the wand flushing and cleansing system on the Inax looks better to us than the wand cleansing on the Totos, also. It does not hurt that, among Japanese, the Inax brand name carries a higher prestige value than does the Toto brand name. (Prestige always should be subservient to function, but, try as we might, we cannot ignore it.)

    You may come to a different conclusion, but we offer another data point for you to consider.

  • zartemis
    11 years ago

    We have the Toto S400 with both the auto open/close seat and the auto flush. Our toilet is in an alcove at the far end of the bathroom, so the seat isn't triggered unnecessarily. These functions have worked flawlessly for us so far.

    Hands-free use of the toilet itself is very nice (of course, you do touch the remote buttons if you want the wash or if you want to raise the lower part of the seat).

    I agree the cleaning is a bit of a pain.

    This is a quite expensive model, but we were able to get one under $1k (but only in colonial white which is a mismatch to our cotton white Toto toilet. Our toilet's hidden behind a wall, so no big deal -- if anyone wants to see how different the colors are, I can take a pic).

  • kmcg
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    zartemis - An alcove is a good idea for that one. I thought it was quite nice to have the auto-open seat, but my husband just thought it was hysterically funny.

    For those who have brands other than Toto, but installed on a Toto toilet, how do the whites mix?

  • adernburg
    11 years ago

    I'm looking for feedback on the USPA 6800 bidet - I think it's fairly new to the US market and there aren't many reviews available. It's cheaper than the S300 (about $499 street price), nice looking, and has a nice range of features and I'd love to hear from anyone who's compared it to other brands/models. Thanks!

  • herring_maven
    11 years ago

    kmcg: "For those who have brands other than Toto, but installed on a Toto toilet, how do the whites mix?"

    We have the Inax Clessence on a Toto Vespin II; the latter is Toto's Cotton White. To the casual observer, the two whites are the same. On very close inspection, the whites may be a little different -- or they may not, because the reflectivity if the Vespin II's porcelain differs from the reflectivity of the Clessence's plastic, so that factor may account for the perception of a slight difference.

  • dianne47
    11 years ago

    We've been in our new home for about 16 months now. I researched bidet toilet seats until I was blue in the face. Hands down the very best value with the best features at that time was the Coco 6035R. I bought the Toto Soiree toilet in Sedona Beige and most bidet seats only come in white. The Coco is also available in a beige color which coordinates perfectly with the Toto beige.

    I just checked the biolifetechnolies.com website (manufacturer of Coco) and there are new models available now. The two-wand feature is very important to me and Coco has that. Coco has an "enema" function, but doesn't display the word enema on the control. The discreet label is "IIP" and that was another feature I wanted but I didn't want to advertise the e-word. Please check the brand before making your decision.

    We've been very very happy with the Coco and I would not give it up for anything. Absolutely no problems with it and it was easy to install.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Coco bidet seat manufacturer's website