Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've revised my review to reflect just how difficult this toilet is to clean. The original review appears below. The problem is that there are indentations on the sides of the holding tank - one each in the front and the rear to serve as handholds, and two on the sides to provide space for the latches that hold the upper and lower halves together. These indentations are deep and effectively partition the inside of the holding tank into four separate compartments that are connected with each other only in the middle. Other than by turning the tank upside down, there's virtually no way to get waste to flow into the section where the drain is located, and even then, waste gets caught in the narrow channel around the trap door. No matter what one does to try to move the waste to the outlet, some will always be caught in another quadrant. I find it takes a minimum of a half-hour to an hour to get all the feces out of the holding tank. Even after rinsing a dozen or more times until the effluent is running clear, there will still be pieces of fecal matter passing through the drain. Sometimes, the fecal matter is too large to pass through the drain, which has a fairly narrow bend. When that happens, the only way to get it out is through the trap door, sometimes by hand. The bottom line is that in the interest of making the holding tank easy to handle, it is nearly impossible to empty solid waste, nor is it possible to clean the inside thoroughly. The handholds should have been made just large enough for a large adult hand to grasp the tank rather than having them extend all the way to the bottom of the tank. The latches should have been recessed into the top half of the unit, where the indentations wouldn't have made any difference, rather than the holding tank. Finally, the pressure relief valve should have been placed where it could be accessed from the front of the unit, so pressure could be released when the unit is in use rather than just when it's being emptied. As designed, the only way to dump a large load from the bowl is to physically stand, close the lid and open the trap. To do otherwise is to risk being sprayed with one's own waste. I can't help but wonder if the people who designed this have actually used it in real world situations. Here now is the original review: I spent quite a bit of time researching different makes and models of portable toilets before settling on this one. We live in a one bedroom, one bath apartment in New York and are 2 weeks into remodeling our one and only bathroom. We arranged to use a neighbor's shower down the hall, but we can't exactly ask the neighbors to use their toilet, day and night. Using a portable toilet is the only practical way for us to continue living in our apartment during the month-long renovation. First of all, the Serene Life toilet is very sturdy to sit on and is about the same hight as a standard toilet. It's constructed of high-density plastics and should last years - not that we will need it that long. It's easy to set up, easy to fill and very easy to use. I wasn't expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised at how well the flush mechanism works. The toilet reminds me of the toilets on an airplane. The bowl is small and shallow and it uses a fraction of the water of a normal flush toilet, but it does the job effectively. I've had no trouble working the trap door. The one caution I have is that it's not that easy to empty all the waste. In the interest of making it easy to grab onto and lift, there are a lot of indentations for hand holds, which separate areas of the tank from each other, making it difficult to empty. No matter what one does to tilt and rock the tank, three is always some waste water left sloshing around inside. By thoroughly rinsing with water until the effluence runs clear, virtually all of the waste can be dumped out, but it takes persistence. I have yet to clean and store the unit, so that may end up being more difficult.