Who could forget the stress of the great bathroom tissue shortage of the COVID-19 pandemic The good news is you can buffer yourself from future supply chain breakdowns by adding a little modern technology to your toilet. A bidet seat can reduce your reliance on paper products and improve your hygiene routine at the same time.
A bidet toilet seat is a drop-in replacement for your existing toilet seat that ties into the water supply for your toilet. The basic concept uses a directed stream of water to clean the desired area of your body without the use of bathroom tissue. In my personal experience using these devices for the past five years, I do not require more than a few sheets total when drying off or even the use of bathroom tissue at all. Once I started using one, I found toilets not equipped with these devices to be comparatively primitive — it’s hard to go back to the old way of doing things once you start.
800-pound gorilla in the drop-in bidet washlet space
Without any doubt, Toto remains the 800-pound gorilla in the drop-in bidet washlet space. Its toilets can be found throughout Asia and Europe in hospitality businesses such as hotels and fine restaurants. As with Apple, which has multiple ranges of products to fit different price points and feature sets, Toto has also created various levels of price points. Currently, at the mid-range level for the industry, the recently introduced C5 (includes remote) is the lower-level option that will meet most household requirements at the $400 to $500 price point. The C5 replaces the older C200 with a greatly improved design and an eWater+ nozzle cleaning system. The Toto C5 is much slimmer in appearance than its bulky predecessor and features an updated remote control as well.
Toto offers its bidet seats in two colors: A standard Cotton White and a Sedona Beige — the second of which is less common and is typically more expensive. Seats come in both standard and elongated versions.
While it is possible to find competitive, below-retail prices for some of Toto’s products using online retailers such as Amazon and large hardware chains such as Lowe’s, keep in mind that the company is usually pretty strict about product servicing and proof of purchase, and only wants to repair products sold by authorized distributors. Fortunately, Toto now has its own authorized store on Amazon.
- Pros: Toto is the most established company in the space with the best reputation.
- Cons: By far the most expensive of options when compared with its competition, only works through a distributor model, will only honor warranty repairs from products sold by its authorized distributors.
- Alternative to consider: The C2 Washlet is the least expensive Toto, but it comes without a remote.
High-quality electric bidet at about half the price
Brondell is a company that produces a wide range of high-quality electric bidet products at about half the price of a comparable Toto model. If Toto is Apple, then Brondell is Android. That’s not a bad space for the company to occupy. As with Toto, typical features include variable pressure, variable water temperature, variable position nozzles, and heated and automatic seats. The base-level Swash 300 starts at around $269 and goes all the way up to $649 for the most advanced model, the Swash 1400.
- Pros: Technologically progressive, well-established company like Toto.
- Cons: Also going up in price because its products are in high demand.
Has garnered excellent reviews
Bio Bidet, like Brondell, is also a premium manufacturer of bidet products. The extremely popular and higher-end BB-2000 ($699) has garnered excellent reviews and is considered an even better value than the much more expensive Toto S550E.
- Pros: Many features, highly price competitive with both Toto and Brondell
- Cons: Some users have reported that the build quality on several of its models was not as high as the top 2 competitors.
Under $300 bidet that’s an excellent value
Due to the heavy demand for electric bidet products, the prices have all skyrocketed, and what used to be the bargain brands such as Brondell and Biobidet have gotten more expensive and harder to find in stock. Companies like Alpha Bidet, which came on the market in 2016, have been aggressively marketing highly competitive products like the Alpha JX, which is in the sub-$400 price point, and the Alpha iX, which is under $300, are excellent values.
- Pros: Lots of features for the price, one of the lowest-priced electric seats that comes with a remote.
- Cons: Relatively new company when compared with the competition. Some users report lower water pressure than its competitors, and cracking plastic after extended use.
- Alternative to consider: The Alpha JX bidet toilet seat falls in the sub-$400 price point.
Which bidet toilet seat is right for you?
Most non-electric bidet models use a single, non-adjustable stream of water, while others can direct the flow with an adjustable nozzle and have adjustable pressure. In electrical models, features might include heated seats, air drying, variable water temperature, variable stream positioning, and oscillating movement. You’ll also see features for lighting, automatic bowl cleaning, and automatic seat lifting using occupancy sensors.
The undisputed leader in this space has been Japanese bathroom giant Toto, with its Washlet series of products. Traditionally, the company’s bidet toilet seat products have had a base price of over $1,000 retail. However, due to heavy competition from other vendors, such as Brondell and other companies in the bathroom and plumbing supply industry, the prices on these devices have fallen considerably, down to about $300 for Toto’s most basic model (and at the $250 price point and under for competing models). Some very inexpensive models, which do not require an electrical outlet and only use water pressure and mechanical valves to adjust the water stream, have sold for less than $100 — but caveat emptor when it comes to build quality.
As you can see in the feature chart provided by Toto below, there are many different features that are listed, and pricing can vary widely depending on which features you need.
A comparison of Toto bidet seat models by feature set.
Toto
Why did we choose these bidet seats?
The electrical bidet seat industry has been dominated largely by one company over the last 20 years — Toto. Therefore, everything else in the space is effectively copying that company’s products and feature sets. Toto is by far the safest option in terms of its reputation, reliability, and customer service, but it is also the most expensive player in that industry. Brondell is a solid #2 choice, and Biobidet is not far behind, whereas Alpha is a relative newcomer in the industry. We chose the models based on recommendations at different price points by internet retailers and local bathroom supply companies.
What are the best mechanical bidet toilet seats?
In the $150 and under space, most products are purely mechanical, which do not require an electrical outlet, such as the Tushy, the Clearrear, Luxe Bidet, and the incredibly fast-selling Tibbers on Amazon. All of these use the same basic design, some of which can adjust the nozzle positioning, while some have fixed nozzle capabilities. Tushy has some differentiation with its Spa model, which can tap into the hot water supply of your sink to mix with cold water to provide a warm spray. Some of these companies, Clearrear, especially, offer discounts of up to 15% when several devices are purchased at once.
How easy is it to install a bidet?
The installation of these products is relatively straightforward, as shown in the included video with this article. For electric devices, such as the Toto model I demonstrated, you will need a GFCI-rated outlet close to the toilet to plug it in. If you need to connect it to another outlet in your bathroom near the sink, replace the outlet with a GFCI socket (if it doesn’t have one) and use an outdoor-rated extension cord until you can hire an electrician to install an additional outlet.
How the water splitter, the main component of a bidet installation works.
Jason Perlow
Most — if not all of these bidet seats — come with a water supply splitter that provides water to the cleaning nozzle. They require only a small wrench to do the installation and connection to existing plumbing. A typical installation should only take about 15 minutes, including removing the original toilet seat, cleaning the toilet surface, installing the water splitter, mounting bracket, and the seat itself.