Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this to use in my RV. I basically live in my rig, and spend a lot of time boondocking. This of course means no hookups, and only 60 gallons of water maximum in my onboard water tank. The blackwater tank that came with the rig became my enemy. I hated having to deal with that thing, and deeply resented the water that was flushed away and needlessly wasted using it. I had sometimes to move my rig just to get rid of blackwater. The tank was nasty, and it was both too small and too heavy when full. I hated it. So I tore the toilet out, plugged the toilet hole with a plug from Home Depot and got a Nature's Head composting toilet to replace it. I put an external sluice valve on end of the exterior waste water pipe, and ran my former black and grey water tanks together, doubling my grey water capacity. No more black water to hassle with, no more water loss through the toilet. Blackwater is toxic waste that is a pain to dispose of safely and legally, grey water is water with a little soap and organic particulate in it, nowhere near as much stress to deal with. I was liberated. It was bliss. The Nature's Head is a good toilet. A vast improvement. But it had a few drawbacks: it didn't in my experience so much compost as merely mix feces with peat moss.. The fan that vented the thing and kept it from smelling died on me, and was a pain to replace. Then, there were the insects that it attracted. I got some of that lawn care insecticide that claims it can kill 500 species of insect and hit the toilet with that stuff every time I changed the composting material, which solved that problem for good. It also lacked a toilet seat, and didn't look like a normal toilet, and you had to be sure to use it properly (you couldn't mix #1 with #2, but had to make sure they each went down their respective proper holes) all of which put some of my guests off. The really decisive problems though were the fact that I finally realized that the vent hose that I had run underneath the toilet through the O ring that the original toilet had rested on, thereby venting the exhaust into the old blackwater tank was probably going to have to go through the bathroom ceiling and roof of the rig to work properly. I did not want to do this. I do not like holes in my roof. Also, that damn toilet was heavy when full, and a pain in the posterior to deal with when I had to change the compost. This was necessary only every 4-6 weeks, and much much less annoying than dumping my blackwater tank every week or so, but it was still a hassle. I started looking for alternatives, and noticed this. It costs about a tenth of the price of a Nature's Head.. Would it work? Well, yes. I can tell you that it in fact does. I've been using it since May 10th, and it is terrific. It has basically the same type of plastic and design aesthetic you see in an airplane bathroom or porta potty. The difference of those contexts to my situation is only one, sometimes two people are ever using it, and I can keep it very clean. I am 6' 2" and weigh 250 lbs, and it is completely comfortable to use. Not as tall as a normal toilet, but almost. It's definitely sturdy enough to support my weight. It gets used once or twice day on average. It's now June 23rd, and the 5 gallon blackwater is about 3/4's full. I'm going to have to dump it soon. I've been able to use it so long without filling because I've avoided putting much toilet paper or urine in it. If you've travelled extensively throughout the developing world where the plumbing is either non existent or not that robust, and stayed with the locals and in cheaper hotels as often as I have, you'll be used to disposing of your toilet paper in the trash. I use wet wipes and dispose of them in a small dedicated frequently emptied trash basket with a lid. Also, being a guy, I can easily avoid putting urine in the the toilet. Women might find that a little trickier, but if you are clever anyone might be able avoid filling the tank with too much liquid. Try keeping paper and liquid out the tank. Save volume. It's worth it for me, because the less time I have to spend emptying the thing, the happier I am. The blackwater tank has a capacity of 5 gallons, the same as one of those 5 gallon food service buckets, but seems so much more compact. It has a gauge on it to tell you how full it is, but you'll be able to see that every time you open the pull valve to flush it, if you look. And that is the only time you'll probably see or smell much of anything unpleasant, so I don't leave that hole open very long. The tank is the base of the toilet, and is detached when you empty it. It can be carried like a suitcase to a RV park sewer duct, outhouse or regular toilet to dispose of the waste. There's a rotating tube on it to make emptying it easy. Five gallons of volume weighs about 50 lbs when full of liquid and light solids, so it's heavy, but not nearly as heavy as my old Nature's Head waste receptacle was when full. The waste tank is attached with clamps to the upper "blue/white water" tank (I call it blue, because I put blue toilet bowl disinfectant in it to help clean the bowl when flushing). There is a cap on the right corner behind the seat to fill this reservoir, and a plunger button on the left corner that you have to pull up and push down in order to flush this water into the bowl. Then, when you want to empty the bowl, there's a handle on the front of the box that you pull to open the valve that drains everything into the blackwater tank. I keep one of those Clorox toilet bowl cleaners with the detachable disposable heads on hand, along with a high powered spray bottle with detergent in it. I do a quick ten second cleaning basically after every use. I've been playing with the water flush, seeing how much and what sequence of flushing is most effective, again with the goal of using as little liquid as necessary. I am also going to put a railing around it, attached to the bathroom wall, to keep it secured when the rig is moving. I briefly had a few gnats flying around the thing a couple weeks ago, but I hit the interior of the blackwater tank with the aforementioned insecticide, and that solved the problem. There has occasionally been a very slight oder, but it generally does not smell at all when closed up, which it is 99.99% of the time. Overall, it is much less noisome and offensive to me that the old black water tank and toilet that I originally had. What else can I say? I am not at all ashamed to confess it: I am in love with my toilet. It is a beautiful thing. --- Further Observations, 9/17/19 : I'm glad people are finding this review helpful. Having been using this toilet for five months now, I have a few more comments. First, this toilet will in fact will last six weeks before you have to empty it, if you use it only once or twice a day, and keep liquid out of it. If you urinate in the toilet regularly it will probably fill up within a week or less, seeing as we can put a gallon or more of liquid through ourselves a day.. I said it doesn't smell much. But in fact as it gets full, it will probably begin to smell a bit, especially if the weather is warm and humid. This, I think, is a due to the fact that the bacteria in the blacktank that give off the unpleasant odors increase as volume of fecal mater (bacteria food) increases. More bacteria = more smelly gas. The solution to this, that I find works pretty well, is to put a few cups of bleach in the "white" flush water tank. Bleach will kill the bacteria, and kill their smell with them. Also, the one (in my opinion only) big draw back that this toilet has is that it is aesthetically does not look like a "normal" toilet. This to my mind is the only thing that gives a regular RV toilet any advantage over this. I never tried to seriously restrict water usage when flushing my original regular RV toilet due to the fact that fecal matter and toilet paper tend to accumulate in the RV blackwater tank, and create a layer of sediment that diminishes the tank's capacity. This sediment can become *very* difficult to wash out, and I found you basically need to use organic bacterial septic tank additives to eat the sediment and keep the tank clear. The beauty of this toilet is that when you empty it, you can really clean the blackwater tank to get all that sediment completely out. You do not need to worry about restricting your use of liquid because of this. This is really, really satisfying. I like my tank completely empty and clean. Sediment in a blackwater tank is the worst. I said I was going to put a railing around the toilet to secure it when the rig is moving. I did not do this. Instead, I put a 1.5' x 3' teak grill mat atop a couple 2 x 4" slats to pop it up off the floor and hide the old toilet ring. The toilet sits on this teak grill. I polish the mat up with teak oil. It looks and works pretty nice. When the rig is in motion, I put the toilet in my bathtub. It's a short tub, and the toilet has very little room to slide, and basically no room to tip over. If it were to tip in the tub, the consequences would be far less disastrous than if it were to tip and leak onto the rig's floor, which would be - um, how say? - rather unpleasant.. One last thing: I weighed the tank when I emptied last time, when it was about 9/10's full. It weighed in at 39.8 lbs. That's probably 20 or so less than the large awkward receptacle on my old composting toilet (if I had to guess).. The fact that it is much more compact, and can be carried like a suit case, makes this tank much easier to carry around when full. Major advantage to this toilet over the composting one. Upshot: I still love this toilet. Its drawbacks are all due to the fact it is a toilet: toilets are a bit nasty, it's an inescapable reality. This one has for me many comparative advantages over a regular RV toilet or the composter. We'll see how well it holds up over time. If I have any major problems with it, you all will be the first to know. --- Further comment, 09/10/20 Again, I'm pleased people are finding this review helpful. I have a few further comments on this thing, after using it for over a year. First, if you use it consistently for more than a week at a time without emptying it like I do, bleach and insecticide are your best friends. Bacteria and bugs will infest the feces if you let them. Put bleach (several cups or so) in the “white” flush tank, and spot clean the bowl between uses with a high pressured bottle with bleach solution in it. Bleach kills bacteria (smell) and insects, both. An occasional lawn care insecticide hit, every week or so, is also advisable. If you use this toilet for a month and a half straight without emptying it like I do, you must use bleach and insecticide to keep it bug and smell free. Second, you should empty the tank when it is about 3/4’s full. If you let it get over 9/10’s, the orange dump spout on the back could start to drip septic fluid.. That’s an undesirable outcome. Empty before completely full, else things could get messy. Third, if you are using it constantly like I do, you should hit - thoroughly clean from the sides and underneath - the flush valve on the left hand interior side of the bowl with a high pressured rinse when you empty it. Make sure that valve stays clear, so that it flushes properly. Fourth, I’m still very pleased with this purchase. It's held up very well this past year or more. I have no doubt it will last me many more years of continual use. Last, I’ll note that I paid 99$ for this in May of 2019. No comment on that fact, merely an observation. --- 01/30/21 Been using this daily since purchase, and it's holding up perfectly. I've found that best practice is to add about a pint of bleach along with a cup or so of lawn care insecticide to the flush white water tank while re-filling it when dumping and cleaning the blackwater tank. I one pump flush and scrub with a toilet bowl brush basically every use. This way you can get to six weeks or so without any insect infestation, or much smell. You can buy lawn care insecticide by the gallon at any hardware store.