TOTODrake Two-Piece Elongated 1.6 GPF TORNADO FLUSH Toilet with CEFIONTECT, Cotton White - CST776CSG#01

First of all, this is a 5 star toilet. If you look at the 1 star reviews bringing the overall score down, they are ALL due to shipping problems: those buyers received broken parts. Those reviews have nothing to do with the quality of the toilet.Perhaps those buyers purchased from a different seller. Mine was impeccably packaged. Both tank and bowl were separately packaged with plenty of protection, then those two boxes were in a larger box that was stuffed with protection.Installation was easy. I'm a 68 year old man and I've worked in construction but this was only my second toilet installation. I used a "Better than wax" seal to make things easier. I installed the bowl first, then the tank. This made installing the tank a little more challenging (I had to lie down on the floor and squeeze under to access the bolt nuts.) But I knew that would be the case. I did it that way so I would only have to lift the bowl to attach to the floor. (The bowl is around 60 pounds, the tank around 30 pounds. At 68, I'd prefer not to lift 90 pounds!)The tornado flush is uber-efficient, and takes about 3 seconds. It takes 30 seconds for the tank to refill.The CEFIONTECT works great. When I get up to pee at night I don't flush so I don't wake my wife. Even after a month of that the bowl looks pristine.I've seen several YouTube videos where plumbers rave about the Toto Drake, calling it hands down the best toilet on the market in this low price range. If, after years of use, I have some reason to change this review, I will. Until then, I very highly recommend this toilet.

I ordered two of these toilets. One came perfect. The other came busted because Amazon used UPS for shipping. For me UPS usually breaks 50% of the stuff I have shipped. As for the toilet, I think it's wonderful. It comes with everything you need for installation except for the wax ring and the toilet seat. But it's very well-made and I like the hurricane effect when you flush it. Amazon replaced the broken one, and now I have two of them installed. I would buy this one again as long as it's not shipped UPS. If you buy the extra help and delivery to inside your house, Amazon will deliver it themselves. Then you have a much better chance of it being in perfect shape and not cracked.

I'm sure this is a good toilet. I've heard many great things about TOTO and the Drake toilet, and I even picked this one for its shorter height ("comfort" height is not comfort for short people like me). However, these toilets would not stop arriving shattered. I tried two different replacements, and those were cracked too. The tanks arrive fine, but the bowls are always broken and the boxes those ship in are always incredibly flimsy. It's just wasteful all around.

Shopping for a new toilet is one of the most challenging things you can do for your home. You have a primary expectation: Successful flushes in all usual circumstances with one flush. But you ultimately have no way to tell if a new toilet will perform in it's hoped-for fashion until it's installed, and then it's really too late to change your mind. You can't simply return it like an ill-fitting garment or a defective device.I searched on and off for weeks and weeks for a new toilet to replace an old cracked one. There are so many variations and claims that it's hard to sort through and know what to believe or expect.I settled on a 1.6 gallon flush because I feared that less water would not perform to expectations. I then relied on reviews, both good and bad, and tried to draw consensus conclusions. But then I had to find a product that could be delivered to my area, and that added additional challenges.I settled on this standard-height Toto product. So far, it has performed admirably. Flushes are short, but powerful and thorough. The short flush still gives me concerns, but that's a result more of habit.This is not described or designed as a "dual flush" unit, but you do kind of have that option. A quick activation of the lever is actually adequate for all flushes (so far), but if you feel comfortable with a longer and stronger flush, just hold the lever down a second or two longer.The bowl is described as having a non-stick coating of some sort, and so far (it's been several months) performs as advertised.Toto advises against using chlorine bowl cleaners and says that soft bristle brushes should be used with gentle swipes of the bowl.Keeping the bowl clean of mildew has also been a concern. I have long used chlorine tablets (I hate blue water cleaners), and they have performed admirably, but I've had to get used to periodic changes of the flapper and become inured to watching the tank bolt heads corrode. Given the caveats by the manufacturer against chlorine tabs, and the atypical flush/flapper design, I didn't want to invite early parts replacement challenges, so I looked for an alternative.I’m hoping that the warning against using chlorine bowl cleaners is more of a legal CYA than an actual warning, but be advised.For the new toilet, I went with the Fluidmaster 8300 Flush 'n Sparkle Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaning System with Bleach Cartridge. (That system has a “blue water” septic-safe option.) When properly installed (pay attention to the water going into the fill-tube and not the tank), it has the advantage of sending chlorinated water directly to the bowl while totally bypassing the water in the tank. Again, so far, this has worked extremely well. The only drawback so far is knowing when the cartridge must be replaced. With a tab, you just lift the tank lid and look. The Fluidmaster must be removed (a simple twist) to be examined. That’s not necessarily a big deal (I haven’t tried it yet), but I can see it being an annoyance. The Fluidmaster claim is 90 days of typical use as they define it.An alternative I'm looking at for other toilets in the house for using up my current supply of chlorine tablets is Kaboom Scrub Free! Toilet Bowl Cleaner System, which works with a similar logic to the Fluidmaster, again bypassing the tank water. (This system also has a “blue water” septic-safe option.) It uses what appears to be a smaller tablet than the ones I’ve been using, but I think that can be adapted by quartering the current tabs.I hope that this review has been helpful and that it eases your purchasing choices.