Hello all, this thread is not about trash talking, politics or potty mouth. It's actually about toilets. Yes, toilets. I will admit that this is something I have never talked about before in public BUT (no pun intended) I have ran across some things worthy of discussion concerning the plain ol' everyday toilet.
Please allow me to digress. Whist at Home Depot a couple of months ago, I noticed a toilet that was on display at an incredible (to me) price tag. $300 USD.
The first words out of my mouth were "My word, who in the hell would pay THAT much for a freakin' toilet of all things. That's just plain insanity!". This was spoken to members of the Pro desk, of which I am a pro-member. Now I am sitting there thinking to myself that normal toilets go for anywhere around 90 to maybe 150 and after all, they are "just" toilets. I thought the design meant everything and that the design justified the cost. In other words, the fancier the design, the more modern it looked, the more expensive it was....but after all, it's still "just" a toilet. One would be throwing out perfectly good money that could be better spent on high end gear, right?
At least that's where my mindset was when I blurted out those words.
The guys at the desk came back with, "You want it, it's yours for 20 bucks. As is". Actually, there were two toilets there. One for $300 and one for $200. They said that I could have both for $40 if I took them out of the store now as is. They explained to me that they were the display models that were sitting up on the shelf high above most human hands and that they needed to get rid of them. Well, truth be told, I was in the market for two toilets but not at that kind of price range. My word, it's just a toilet, right?
WRONG!
Long story short, I purchased both toilets at an incredibly low price of 20 bucks a pop. Admittedly, this was well below the normal price of a 90-$150.00 toilet so I was pleased at the deal. Anyone would be, I would imagine. They sat in my garage for a short stint and then I went ahead and installed them. WOW! (Never thought I would say that about, of all things, a toilet)
The cheaper one flushed like the other one in my house.......count to yourself......"one one-thousand, two......
Already flushed. Before you could say "two-one thousand". It was done with the deed and moving on with life. This, from what I understand is a "high performance toilet". Okay, cool. So now I have two high performance toilets (which by the way NEVER clog) Good deal, especially the second toilet for $20. Nice!
So, I go to install this thing they call a "Vortex". This one was the ridiculously priced toilet at $300. Whatever....I'm thinking that it's just a fancier version of another run of the mill high performance toilet.
WRONG AGAIN!
This baby does what IMO every toilet should do. It does the quick flush but it swirls the waste around the entire bowl quickly, as it cleans. Key words, *as it cleans*. Two months have gone by and we have yet to break out the scuba gear to clean the bowl of this toilet. It really is "self clean". It looks today as if we just installed it today and we haven't lifted one finger to clean the bowl. Not one. A quick wipe to remove "spray" from our 5 year old child on the bowl lid every once in a while and that's it. Once again, flushed and cleaned in "one one thousand, two...*flushed and done*
The kicker with this toilet is that when it goes to refill the water in the tank, it's like they sealed the tank lid way better than any other toilet I have ever experienced. The decibel level is that of a 58db dishwasher. In other words, you can't even hear it, even if you are standing right next to it as it refills the tank, so when I say it's "done"? I mean it, it's done. About a second and a half of soft noise water washing and the bad is gone and life goes on, even if your wife is sleeping not too far away. This is great for those nights when duty calls and the bathroom you choose to use is nearby your better half. Not once has my wife woke when I went for a midnight or later potty break, which is not an easy feat considering she wakes easily. Very easily.
Okay, enough with my glowing reviews of these above par performers of one of the the dirtiest tasks of the household. Now down to some other aspects that I can really dig....once again, not expected from a "toilet"
The Vortex sits at a higher level than the normal $90-150 toilet. This, for a 6' tall man, is a blessing in disguise and more than welcome. I never knew that toilets could come in different heights, I had always thought that they were all standard unless perhaps you special ordered one or something. The other one still sits higher but is so close to normal height, it wouldn't matter to most IMO. The other thing about both toilets is something I had always seen at a higher price but still scoffed at. That being the soft close lids. This is something I had always turned a blind eye too but knowing now what I know..... $40-$50 for a toilet seat! Are you kidding me? This had always been my thought process.
Well, truth be told, after a month of the soft close toilet seats? I wouldn't have anything less now. I couldn't tell you how many times I dropped the toilet seat by accident in the middle of the night (or anytime for that matter), disturbing, interrupting or waking up other family members. At O'dark 30, who's paying attention to placing the toilet seat back down softly anyway? Not a concern anymore.
So, after this long...and I am sure boring rant about the one thing we never talk about here at the WBF, my point is that all toilets are NOT created equal. I never knew this until recently but I thought I would share my little bit of trivial poop.
No pun intended.
Tom
Please allow me to digress. Whist at Home Depot a couple of months ago, I noticed a toilet that was on display at an incredible (to me) price tag. $300 USD.
The first words out of my mouth were "My word, who in the hell would pay THAT much for a freakin' toilet of all things. That's just plain insanity!". This was spoken to members of the Pro desk, of which I am a pro-member. Now I am sitting there thinking to myself that normal toilets go for anywhere around 90 to maybe 150 and after all, they are "just" toilets. I thought the design meant everything and that the design justified the cost. In other words, the fancier the design, the more modern it looked, the more expensive it was....but after all, it's still "just" a toilet. One would be throwing out perfectly good money that could be better spent on high end gear, right?
At least that's where my mindset was when I blurted out those words.
The guys at the desk came back with, "You want it, it's yours for 20 bucks. As is". Actually, there were two toilets there. One for $300 and one for $200. They said that I could have both for $40 if I took them out of the store now as is. They explained to me that they were the display models that were sitting up on the shelf high above most human hands and that they needed to get rid of them. Well, truth be told, I was in the market for two toilets but not at that kind of price range. My word, it's just a toilet, right?
WRONG!
Long story short, I purchased both toilets at an incredibly low price of 20 bucks a pop. Admittedly, this was well below the normal price of a 90-$150.00 toilet so I was pleased at the deal. Anyone would be, I would imagine. They sat in my garage for a short stint and then I went ahead and installed them. WOW! (Never thought I would say that about, of all things, a toilet)
The cheaper one flushed like the other one in my house.......count to yourself......"one one-thousand, two......
Already flushed. Before you could say "two-one thousand". It was done with the deed and moving on with life. This, from what I understand is a "high performance toilet". Okay, cool. So now I have two high performance toilets (which by the way NEVER clog) Good deal, especially the second toilet for $20. Nice!
So, I go to install this thing they call a "Vortex". This one was the ridiculously priced toilet at $300. Whatever....I'm thinking that it's just a fancier version of another run of the mill high performance toilet.
WRONG AGAIN!
This baby does what IMO every toilet should do. It does the quick flush but it swirls the waste around the entire bowl quickly, as it cleans. Key words, *as it cleans*. Two months have gone by and we have yet to break out the scuba gear to clean the bowl of this toilet. It really is "self clean". It looks today as if we just installed it today and we haven't lifted one finger to clean the bowl. Not one. A quick wipe to remove "spray" from our 5 year old child on the bowl lid every once in a while and that's it. Once again, flushed and cleaned in "one one thousand, two...*flushed and done*
The kicker with this toilet is that when it goes to refill the water in the tank, it's like they sealed the tank lid way better than any other toilet I have ever experienced. The decibel level is that of a 58db dishwasher. In other words, you can't even hear it, even if you are standing right next to it as it refills the tank, so when I say it's "done"? I mean it, it's done. About a second and a half of soft noise water washing and the bad is gone and life goes on, even if your wife is sleeping not too far away. This is great for those nights when duty calls and the bathroom you choose to use is nearby your better half. Not once has my wife woke when I went for a midnight or later potty break, which is not an easy feat considering she wakes easily. Very easily.
Okay, enough with my glowing reviews of these above par performers of one of the the dirtiest tasks of the household. Now down to some other aspects that I can really dig....once again, not expected from a "toilet"
The Vortex sits at a higher level than the normal $90-150 toilet. This, for a 6' tall man, is a blessing in disguise and more than welcome. I never knew that toilets could come in different heights, I had always thought that they were all standard unless perhaps you special ordered one or something. The other one still sits higher but is so close to normal height, it wouldn't matter to most IMO. The other thing about both toilets is something I had always seen at a higher price but still scoffed at. That being the soft close lids. This is something I had always turned a blind eye too but knowing now what I know..... $40-$50 for a toilet seat! Are you kidding me? This had always been my thought process.
Well, truth be told, after a month of the soft close toilet seats? I wouldn't have anything less now. I couldn't tell you how many times I dropped the toilet seat by accident in the middle of the night (or anytime for that matter), disturbing, interrupting or waking up other family members. At O'dark 30, who's paying attention to placing the toilet seat back down softly anyway? Not a concern anymore.
So, after this long...and I am sure boring rant about the one thing we never talk about here at the WBF, my point is that all toilets are NOT created equal. I never knew this until recently but I thought I would share my little bit of trivial poop.
No pun intended.
Tom
