Have you ever been camping in the woods? It’s all fun and games until you find yourself in need of a toilet.
If you have ever used a shovel to dig a small hole for your business instead of using a portable camping toilet, you can probably relate. Even the most clumsy portable toilet can be a luxury compared to squatting in the woods, or god forbid, hanging your business over a boat.
In fact, portable toilets are pretty useful when you go camping, boating or any other place that doesn’t have a clean and fixed toilet. Portable toilets for camping are not only convenient and inexpensive, but they also give you privacy and an enormous amount of decency when you want to use the toilet outdoors.
To make the choice of which portable toilet for camping is the best, we’ve created a Top5er list with the 5 absolutely best toilets in 2020.
Best Camping Toilets Of 2020 – Top5er list
We’ve compiled a list of the most popular portable camping toilets for camping based on quite a few factors. Starting with the capacity, weight and flush number of each toilet and up to how popular they are and how much does a camping toilet cost. Here is the list of best outdoor toilets:
Let’s check what to actually look at when choosing the perfect portable camping toilet. We’ll also cover what types of movable toilets there are and what are the problems you can encounter (and how to fix them quickly).
Let’s start off with the overall summary you can quickly check in the infographics below to get a bit of a grip on what to look for when buying a portable toilet:
Best Overall Portable Toilet
1 – SereneLife Outdoor Camping Toilet Review (Best Of All)
When it comes to outdoor toilets, the overall best pick is SereneLife and it’s quite easy to see why just from the picture. It is robust and durable; these are two very important qualities when it comes to portable toilets for camping where you need for a toilet to withstand dirt, rain and other nasty problems.
SereneLife is the #1 portable toilet. Despite having advanced features, it’s very easy to use and robust enough for camping.
As you can see from the list of best camping toilets, they all have 5-6 gallon capacity. What makes SereneLife an outdoor toilet better than all the rest is the flushing technique and convenience.
How to flush a portable toilet? Most of them have a flushing method but the SereneLife toilet is the easiest and more reliable to use. You can see the flush nozzle of the outdoor toilet that you just press like a normal toilet button and start the flush.
Being above 11 pounds, it is the heaviest reviewed toilet for camping. Well, how heavy are the best camping toilets for outdoor? About 10 pounds is the short answer. We’ll see a toilet that weighs only 3 pounds and is very movable. However, when designing a camping toilet, you really need to have two separate parts – the water tank and the bowl, along with the sealing waste valve, waste tang tube with cap and so on. All of these add weight to the camping toilet making it a bit less portable but much more comfortable and useful.
The SereneLife toilet holds 5.3 gallons in the portable toilet water tank which is enough for more than 50 flushes. Oh, and just look at the reviews on Amazon. Have you seen a product that would have a 4.9/5 star rating? Pretty much everybody loves the reliability of the SereneLife toilet.
How much does the best portable camping toilet cost? About $100. If you’re spending $300+ for a tent, then $100 for doing your business conveniently shouldn’t be a problem at all. You can check the price of the portable toilet here:
Luggable Loo is a literally a bucket with a toilet seat. But it is the simplest, lightest and cheapest portable toilet for camping, fishing and hiking.
At first sight, Luggable Loo looks pretty much like a bucket you do your business in. And guess what, it’s exactly that! With an addition of a toilet seat, the Luggable Loo is the cheapest camping toilet on the list.
Admittedly, it looks like a bucket but this portable toilet bucket is the only one of all camping toilets that has more than 1,000 positive reviews on Amazon. And most of them are very positive at that! What makes this bucket with toilet seat the most talked-about outdoor toilet?
It’s simple. It’s light. It’s cheap. That’s right, you literally get what you see. A 5-gallon bucket you can do your business in.
Being light is very important for a portable toilet. In fact, how portable a toilet pretty much comes down to size and weight, and this bucket with toilet seat weighs only 3 pounds. Which camping toilet is perfect for camping or fishing? Well, Luggable Loo is one strong choice.
The Luggable Loo doesn’t have the option to flush. Do all camping toilets flush? Some do, some don’t, but the ones who don’t are easier to clean and less can go wrong with them.
But the real reason everybody loves Luggable Loo is the price. How much should you spend on a camping toilet? You can spend $200 for a luxury version but the Luggable Loo is pretty much the cheapest portable toilet you can get. You’ll need $40 for one of these and you don’t have to worry much about it breaking down. For this price, the camping toilet is pretty much expendable.
If you want a simple and light toilet for fishing, camping or hiking, you can check the price below:
3 – Porta Potti Portable Toilet Review (The Luxurious One)
You can even find some luxury even as far as outdoor toilets are concerned. The Porta Potti toilet is a choice for everybody who wants to go to the loo at a camping trip the same way you do at home. The Porta Potti is basically a mini standard toilet. It comes with a big 5.5-gallon waste tank and a 4-gallon water tank that is enough for about 70 flushes.
Porta Potti is the most indoor-like portable toilet. With 18 x 18 x 16 inches dimensions, it’s also the biggest toilet on the list.
If you’re looking for an RV portable toilet or for longer trips, the Porta Potti will do the job. The design of the outdoor toilet is quite impressive – it’s sleek and modern, and it even comes with comfortable seat height.
The height of a camping toilet seat is on average quite lower than for an ordinary toilet (even below 13 inches). Porta Potti offers a considerable 15-inch height from the floor to the seat.
When you’re asking yourself what is the best portable toilet for camping, RVs, vans and so on, you have your answer. The great thing about this high-end outdoor toilet is that using it feels like you’re at home in your own bathroom. It even has a compartment for a toilet roll.
How do you carry the camping toilet around? That’s very important because you don’t want to just touch one of these all over the place. As you can see from the image on the left, the Porta Potti has a handle between the water tank and toilet bowl. That’s how you can pick it up and carry it wherever you want. Nonetheless, be aware that despite weighing 10 pounds, it can weigh more than 30 pounds when fully filled with water.
It’s also easy to clean it. We go through the section on how to clean and how to dispose of the camping toilet waste further on. For example, some RV or camping places have a designated ‘dump space’ where you can empty a camping toilet. Cleaning it can be a messy business but the curly edges and few joints Porta Potti has makes cleaning an outdoor toilet easier. On top of that, it has a rotating pour-out spout that’s useful when you’re emptying the portable toilet water tank – you won’t get the backsplashes.
Sealed valve: it is golden. Portable toilets can start to give away a bad odor, especially if left for a few days in the sun, as you might imagine. The Porta Potti has a special sealed valve that prevents bad odor from spreading. Like all high-end toilets, it’s leak-proof which further prevents odor from spreading from the camping toilet.
Being a high-end toilet, it also has the highest price. Nonetheless, for $30 or so extra you’re buying the most expensive portable toilet but also the most comfortable and best-looking one. Check the current price here:
4 – Zimmer Comfort Camping Toilet Review (Easiest To Carry)
Zimmer Comfort is a small and practical outdoor toilet for travel and camping. It has two separate parts made out of polyethylene – the 5-gallon waste tank that you can easily empty, and the 3-gallon freshwater holding tank.
The 15″ high x 14″ wide x 14.5″ dimensions make it one of the smallest camping toilets that you can normally seat on. Sure, there are some even smaller toilets for hiking, but doing your business sitting on those feels like trying to hit a paper cup with your business.
A great thing about the Zimmer camping toilet is that it can both be neatly packed for trips and camping, and, above all, it is light. While an average toilet for camping has a weigh of about 10 pounds, the Zimmer Comfort toilet weighs less than 6 pounds. You can pick it up quite easily, even if it’s filled with 3 gallons of water.
Here is how it works in 3 easy steps:
How to use a portable toilet.
As you can see from the toilet photos, the upper compartment holds the water and uses a sophisticated flush to use as little as possible water to flush. The lower compartment holds the waste and it can be cleaned out quite easily with some portable toilet cleaning chemicals and water.
The key feature of the Zimmer Comfort toilet is the sealing waste valve that is a must for all decent camping toilets. The seal makes a permanent barrier between the upper compartment and the lower waste compartment. This, in turn, keeps the waste and the bad odor trapped in the lower compartment. If you worry about the stink from the portable toilet, your best bet to keep down the odor is by buying a camping toilet with a sealing waste valve.
To even further keep down the smell when you’re on vacation and use an outdoor toilet on a daily basis, you can use deodorizing tablets that sanitize the smell of the toilet even further.
You can buy one of the smallest outdoor toilets below and add the deodorizing tablets as well:
5 – Camco Standard Travel Toilet Review (Standard Toilet For Outdoors)
There is nothing special about the Camco Standard toilet for camping. And that is exactly the point! The Camco Standard has all the standard specifications that a good camping toilet should have.
Standard camping toilet by Camco.
What is the portable toilet made out of? The standard polyethylene hard plastic, of course. It has all that an outdoor toilet needs; a 5.3-gallon waste tank that is well-connected to the 2.5-gallon water flush tank. You can get something like 40 flushes from that 2.5-gallon camping toilet tank.
The upper water part of the toilet bowl is separated from the lower waste tank by a valve lock that seals perfectly and takes care of the odor. On top of that, it prevents leakage from the Camco portable toilet. To keep the two parts together, the connection is reinforced with side latches as well.
What are the dimensions of a standard camping toilet? 15.5″ x 14″ x 16″, which is larger than a small toilet for camping (#4 pick) but smaller than the high-end toilet for the entire family (#3 pick).
Nonetheless, if you need a sturdy-looking and reliable toilet for camping, RV or a boat, and you’re not picky about how it looks like, the Camco toilet is a suitable option:
We can all agree that picking the best toilet doesn’t seem to be the most important task in the world. But on the other hand, we do spend quite a bit of time in our lives sitting on a toilet.
We have to buy a toilet, regularly clean one, look out for an environment while doing our business. And most importantly, a toilet has to be nice and homely. Why?
Well, we spend up to 30 min per day on the toilet. That is about 1 week per year – just sitting on a toilet (even more if we use mobile phones). That’s a lot! This also means that we better make a well-informed decision when it comes to buying a toilet (you’re looking at $300-$500 prices).
Best Toilet Of 2021 (With Reviews)
Many things come down to picking the best toilet. At Top5er, we made a shortlist of 5 absolute best toilets, based on how popular they are, what costs they entail, how easy it is to clean them, how they look and so on. Below the list, you’ll find the individual toilet reviews:
We’ll go above and beyond to look at every aspect when it comes to choosing and buying the best flushing toilet. What to consider when buying a toilet, what are the prices, the regular problems to be aware off – in fact, we’ll go right down to how to measure your bathroom and even screw sizes you’ll need with this all-in-one comprehensive 2021 toilet guide. Oh, and by the way, in the Top5er fashion we’ll start with the 5 absolute outstanding toilets(to give you an idea what most popular toilets look like).
What to consider when buying a toilet? [Infographic]
Before going over our top 5 picks for the best flushing toilets, we’ll quickly cover the basics of picking a toilet (you’ll find the details about the best ways of looking at toilets a while further).
Usually, we already have a space in a bathroom reserved for a one-piece or two-piece toilet, but this is about it. We’ve taken care to give you some preview of what things to consider when buying a toilet, neatly packed into the infographics (check it out before moving on):
In short, few things to consider are how comfortably we want to sit (floor-to-seat height and elongated bowl), do we want the modern one-piece toilet or the standard two-piece and always be sure to look at the warranty – we’ll cover those in the best bowl reviews as well.
Best One-Piece Toilet
1 – Swiss Madison St. Tropez Dual Tornado Flush Toilet Review
When talking about best toilet brands, we’ve all heard about Toto, Kohler and of course American Standard. How come that at the top of the list we find a bit edgy Swiss Madison toilet? Well, here are quick facts that will make your bathroom design juices flowing.
The Swiss Madison has created the No. 1 dual tornado flush toilet – the ‘St. Tropez’ model. It is the 1st Swiss Madison model that outperforms TOTO, KOHLER and American Standard toilets.
Swiss Madison, the St. Tropez model, is an exceptional one-piece toilet. Just look at how it looks in the bathroom setting (on the left).
Type of flushing? It has a dual tornado flush – saves water and is thus good for the environment and your water bill.
Comfortable 18-inch height and elongated seat – that is one of those modern soft closing toilet seats.
It’s has a staggering price for such a stylish one-piece toilet (about $300 or so). And best of all, everybody loves it. In fact, it is one of the most popular and best selling toilets on Amazon.
We’ll cover the basics of what makes a great toilet below in the toilet buying guide but it’s safe to say that Swiss Madison #1 toilet has all the right qualities. We don’t need to lose words about the modern toilet design because that’s quite apparent from the photo.
That’s the clear advantage of one-piece toilets; they look modern by default and some of them, including the Swiss Madison toilet, has a soft closing toilet seat.
As far as the comfort is concerned – the elongated toilet seat is a must for a comfortable loo experience. The 18-inch seat height is a bit above average what other toilet producers offer and it does make a slight, but noticeable difference. Given that we spend quite a bit of time on a toilet, comfort is after all very important.
With a dual flush, the best Swiss Madison toilet is eco-friendly. Old toilets can use up to 4 gallons of water per one flush. With dual flush toilet, you can choose to use only 1.0 gallons of water for urination and 1.6 gallons for more serious business (you know what we mean). The average flush should come up to 1.26 gallons which represent a significant reduction of water consumption and you spend less on a water bill.
What everybody really loves about the Swiss Madison toilet is the price. The best one-piece toilets should be available at above $500 but the No. 1 toilet costs much less, you can check the current price here:
2 – TOTO Drake 2-Piece Toilet Review (Best Budget Toilet)
Most of the best toilets are still two-piece ones with a separate water tank and bowl. What really can lack (but shouldn’t) with two-piece toilets is a sense of modern style. The TOTO Drake toilet is an exceptional example of a 2-piece toilet that can match in style any one-piece toilets. And it has a ton of other benefits as well.
TOTO Drake is one of the most affordable TOTO’s two-piece toilets.
As far as comfortability goes, the TOTO Drake is designed to have an elongated bowl. This provides you with additional seating space – it might be as little as 2 inches but even 2 inches means a lot when it comes to the best toilet bowls. The TOTO Drake seat height is about 17 3/4 inches. This is quite the industry standard height. What is important to know is that the TOTO Drake you see on the left comes without a toilet seat. If you buy a toilet seat with an above 1 1/2 inch thickness, you can get that seat height up to or above 18 inches.
What is the TOTO Drake flushing system like? Well, being one of the best TOTO toilets it has a G-Max flushing system installed. This can guarantee low toilet water consumption because it brings down the one flush quantity to 1.6 gallons of water. In the instructions or other best toilet reviews by TOTO you can see something like 1.6GFP/6.0LPF when they talk about how much water does the toilet use.
The GFP and LPF are standard units of for toilet flush; what does GFP mean? It’s an abbreviation of ‘Gallons Per Flush’. It’s a similar meaning when you ask yourself what does LPF mean when it comes to toilets. It’s an abbreviation for ‘Litres Per Flush’, a unit of toilet water consumption that is predominately used in Europe and other non-US markets.
One difference between one-piece toilets like Woodbridgebath toilet and two-piece toilets like TOTO Drake is the space they take. How much space does a toilet take? Well, a two-piece toilet is usually quite bigger because we have to put the separate tank somewhere. The TOTO Drake toilet has a 12-inch rough-in (rough-in, as explained below, is the distance between the toilet flange and the wall behind the toilet).
General tip: You can find toilets with 10-inch or even 14-inch rough-in distance and generally two-piece toilets have a 12- or 14-inch rough-ins while one-piece toilets are smaller and have a 10- or 12-inch rough-in distances from the toilet flange to the wall.
A special feature of TOTO Drake toilet is the fast flush. This is possible because this affordable toilet comes with a 3-inch flush valve. The standard valve is 2 inches wide. Simply put, the wider valve allows for a faster flush because you can fit more water through the toilet valve at the same time.
If you check the price of the toilet, you’ll quickly see why we have designated it as the best budget toilet on the market. It has all the good things a two-piece toilet can offer and it cost only about $300. Nonetheless, before you decide to buy TOTO Drake toilet, count it that it comes without a toilet seat.
A toilet seat can cost as little as $20 if you know where to look for the cheapest toilet seats. Oh, and the warranty is standard 1-year limited warranty – not as great at with the #1 best toilet – but it will get you the required security and peace of mind when you decide to buy the toilet:
3 – American Standard Champion-4 Toilet Review (Best High-End Toilet)
If anything at all, you’ll see what a good warranty for a toilet looks like when you see the 10-year worry-free warranty that American Standard offers for one of it’s best Champion-4 toilet. And that’s not an only exceptional feature this American Standard toilet has to offer.
Champion-4 has a design of a two-piece toilet with the looks of a modern one-piece toilet.
If you look on the left, you’ll quickly notice what a fusion design the Champion-4 truly is. You don’t have to be a toilet expert to see that American Standard fused the design of the one-piece toilet with the looks of a two-piece toilet. Do you notice it?
You can clearly see the toilet tank and it’s actually quite wide for a tank (also has a neat flushing handle). But when you look at the bowl, you can see they are fused together to form one of the best designed one-piece toilets.
The bowl is elongated here as well and the seat height it 17 3/4 inches, the same as with the TOTO Drake toilet, yet this one does come with a toilet seat.
What really makes American Standard Champion-4 one of the best toilets on the market is, however, hidden to the naked eye.
So to speak, the machinery of the toilet happens within the toilet itself. By now you’re probably asked yourself what does Champion-4 stand for? After all, the AS decided to name the toilet after some important feature.
That special toilet feature is the 4-inch accelerator flush valve. The standard flush valve is 3 inches wide and even with #2 TOTO Drake with a 3-inch valve we saw the advantages of quick flushing. Well, the Champion-4 is a class of itself when it comes to blizzard quick flushing. The 4-inch valve does all the flushing the toilet needs in one sitting in three times less time than a regular 2-inch standard valve would.
So is this a toilet with a bigger water consumption? Not at all. The water consumption of Champion-4 toilet is comparable to #1 and #2 top toilet – it consumes 1.6 gallons per flush. However, it does not have a dual flush like Woodbridgebath toilet that would allow you to choose between a big and small flush.
That big 4-inch valve does entail a thing or two, like a siphon trap way, for example. When you have a high-capacity toilet like American Standard Champion-4 is, you’ll also need a wider siphon trap way. The #3 best toilet on our list comes with the widest siphon trap way in the toilet industry – it is a 2 3/8 inch fully glazed siphon. A standard siphon trap way side is 2 inches. Even though the increase from a 2 inch to 2 3/8 inch siphon doesn’t seem much, the bigger siphon can handle an almost 70% larger mass than an ordinary one.
And if you’re worried that this high-end and high-capacity toilet might be sticky at times, have no worries. Firstly, it is a one-piece toilet that it is easier to clean. And secondly, all the internal toilet parts are impregnated with an EverClean surface. That is the toilet surface impregnation American Standard is famous for in toilet industry, you can see on the right how efficient an effect it has on maintaining the cleanliness of the toilet.
As far as the price of the toilet is concerned, you’re looking at a high-end toilet with a middle-range price. It comes with a spot on the 10-year warranty that pretty much the best warranty out there it can still cost less than $500 (and it comes with included seat). You can check the current toilet price here:
4 – TOTO Ultramax II Het Toilet Review (Best TOTO Toilet)
TOTO is one of the most well-known if not the most popular toilet brands around. They’ve been in business for more than 100 years and have made a number of the best-seller toilets in their time. The Ultramax II Het is, given all the features, their top toilet.
By the way, you know why we think the best toilets are made in Japan? Well, simply put, because TOTO is a Japanese company and they make the best toilets in the world for quite a while now.
TOTO has designed one of the best looking and most efficient toilets, and it even comes with the Double Cyclone technology.
If you check the Ultramax II Het design on the left, you’ll notice that is has a similar design to the #3 pick on out top toilet list. The Japanese have perfected the one-piece toilets that look and feel like two-piece toilets. This is a part of the transition from traditional toilets to modern and the Ultramax II Het design is exactly that – traditional but modern.
As far as comfortable sitting is concerned, the best TOTO toilet comes with an elongated bowl but has a lower than average seat height – 17 1/4 inch height is a bit below 18-inches. However, the ADA standards require toilet manufacturers to have a seat height anywhere from 17 inches to 19 inches, so this fits right in.
The mastery of the best Japanese toilet is its flushing efficiency and Double Cyclone flushing technology. You know that we’ve asked ourselves how much water does one toilet flush use, right? With all the previously reviewed best toilets, they used about 1.6 gallons per flush. The TOTO Het toilet is much more efficient when it comes to flushing. What does HET actually standards for? High-Efficiency Toilets – and here is the eco-friendly WaterSense approved and bill saving effect they have:
HET toilet by TOTO requires only 1.28 gallons per flush (this translates to 4.8 liters per flush). That is full 20% less water per flush than other already eco-friendly toilets. According to Conserve H20 organization, this can literally translate to few 1000s of gallons per water saved. You can even calculate how much that saves you in water costs.
Add Double Cyclone technology to this. You might wonder what the Double Cyclone technology is when it comes to toilets. Most toilets, most probably even the one you have at home, use gravity to clear the water and feces in the toilet. The Double Cyclone adds, well, two cyclones that help the gravity do its work more efficiently. It can be a bit difficult to explain but here is the picture that really gives you an idea what the Double Cyclone technology is:
Double Cyclone flushing is designed to flush more efficiently to preserve water.
As you can see, the Cyclone Technology forms two powerful jets of water at the left and at the right side of the toilet bowl. This additional water thrust pushed and cleans the feces more effectively, and it requires less water in the process.
The whole inner side of the toilet is coated with SanaGloss that acts as a kind of a self-cleaning ion barrier that protects the toilet. When it comes to cleaning it’s usually useful to know what do you clean SanaGloss with, and the answer is that a simple soap or disinfectant will do.
Given all the additional technology that TOTO Ultramax II Het comes with, the price is a bit higher than with the other toilets on our list. The original price of one of the best TOTO toilets can be as high as $800 but if you buy it on Amazon, you can usually get a below $600 deal, check the current price here:
Another all-favorite brand of toilets is KOHLER. They are a big US company with over 150 years of tradition in pretty much everything that relates to plumbing. Of course, this also includes them making the best American toilets. We picked the Cimarron Comfort as the best KOHLER toilet precisely because it is the peak achievement in toilet design and performance.
KOHLER Cimarron is one of the best two-piece toilets with a comfortable seat height, powerful flush system, and timeless design.
To start off, this is one of the best looking two-piece toilets, consisting of K-4309 bowl and the K-4421 tank. While other companies like TOTO prefers to go with one-piece toilets that look like two-piece toilets, KOHLER is staying true to the traditional toilet model that has been around for decades. Just remember that even the best two-piece toilets are harder to clean than simpler one-piece ones.
Despite having a standard look, the best KOHLER toilet is anything but standard. With everybody in the toilet industry trying to decrease the flush volume, KOHLER invented its own AquaPiston technology. It has enabled them to deliver a fast, powerful and low-volume flush. How many gallons does the best KOHLER toilet use?
Well, thanks to the AquaPiston technology, it requires only 1.28 gallons per flush. That is even below the modern best toilet standard of 1.6 GPF.
On the other hand, it’s seating arrangement of Cimarron Comfort KOHLER toilet is, as the name says it, very comfortable. What makes a toilet more comfortable?
Two things – the elongated bowl that does require more space but gives back in comfort, as well as 18-inch floor-to-seat height. Unfortunately, the KOHLER Cimarron Comfort toilet comes without a toilet seat – which means that we can only say that a toilet seat of standard thickness will bring the seat height to 18 inches.
The KOHLER toilet that comes with standard 1-year limited warranty costs considerably less than the best TOTO toilet. When considering how much you’re spending for two-piece toilets vs. one-piece toilets, you’ll find that two-piece ones are much more affordable. This is the case with the best KOHLER toilet as well:
As we’ve seen going through the best toilet picks of 2021, the Swiss Madison toilet is an overall #1 pick and hands down the most popular 2021 choices for modern bathrooms. We thought it best to look at it and learn what makes the T-0019 model such a successful toilet. This will help us better illustrate and understand the whole toilet buying guide.
We will go through all the considerations when it comes to buying a brand new toilet, down to the siphon size and the basic plumbing fixes. If you don’t find the information you’re looking for, just do a quick comment and we’ll try to help you as best we can.
When it comes to basic toilet design, the first thing we should as if we want a one-piece or two-piece toilet. We have covered some of the one-piece and two-piece toilets in our list, here we’ll focus on the Woodbridgebath toilet simply because it is the best toilet of 2021:
First of, the Swiss Madison is a one-piece toilet. Most of the toilets we use in our homes, restaurants, hotels and so on are the two-piece settings. They are comprised of a toilet tank that holds up to 2 gallons of water and a separate bowl that we sit on. This is the old-school toilet standard that is quickly being replaced by the new standard – the one-piece toilets.
Why are one-piece toilets better than two-piece ones?
One-piece toilets are stylish, easier to clean but more expensive. In the photo: TOTO Neorest (costs almost $5000).
Well, two-piece ones are generally cheaper but harder to install (you have to put two pieces together) and harder to clean. You can imagine that there are all kinds of cracks between the toilet bowl and tank and lots of nasty stuff gets caught up there.
Woodbrightbath one-piece toilet costs about $300 if you can find a good deal, and in fact, the average cost of a flushing toilet is about $400. However, the T-0019 is an exception when it comes to pricing (a good one!). Most of the one-piece toilets cost $50-$200 more than two-piece toilets. For example, one of the most expensive toilets (costs almost $5,000) is TOTO’s Neorest and it is, of course, a one-piece toilet.
Preference comes down to you: Nonetheless, the choice between one-piece vs. two-piece toilets comes down to you. Both are quite comparable when it comes to doing your business, but you’ll notice the difference in elegance, cleaning requirements and the price of the toilet itself.
2. What makes a toilet comfortable? (Elongated bowl and 18+ inch height)
During the list of the best toilets of 2021, we have talked a bit about what makes a toilet comfortable. Considering we spend about half an hour per day being seated on a toilet, comfortability is something we should definitely factor into the equation when we’re buying a new toilet.
How comfortable a toilet is generally a subjective matter – you might find one comfy and the other one very disagreeable. Nonetheless, there are two objective things that roughly speaking make toilets more comfortable.
The obvious one is the bowl. Here we have two varieties of toilet bowls – round and elongated. The best toilets usually have an elongated bowl. As a matter of fact, all the top toilets on our Top5er list have elongated bowls. What is an elongated bowl anyway? Here are two KOHLER toilet bowls – one is round and the other is elongated:
Round (left) and elongated (right) toilet bowl. You can’t really see the difference until you sit on them.
A standard bowl was round (not a circle, more like an ellipsis) until a few decades ago. Someone has a great idea: if you want a more comfortable toilet experience, why not just make the bowl longer? And the elongated toilet bowl was born. Obviously, you have more space now and all the guys will know the struggle of sitting on a round bowl with little to no space in the front.
Of course, longer bowl and requires you to reserve more space in your bathroom for the toilet. The difference, however, is quite small – you’ll need an additional 2 or 3 inches from the wall. For a standard bathroom, this shouldn’t be a problem, but if you have a small bathroom, you might check out some round bowl toilets as well.
An edgy idea if you want an even more comfortable toilet experience.
The second less obvious contributor to toilet comfortability is floor-to-seat height. ADA regulations require all toilet seats to be 17” to 19” from the floor. These are the comfort height toilets (you can check out Top 5 Comfort Height Toilets list here).
Experience shows that some people find a 17-inch height less comfortable. A general rule here is that best toilets as far as comfort is concerned to have 3. a floor-to-seat height of 18 inches or more.
Side note here: producers many times talk about floor-to-bowl height which is not the same as the floor-to-seat height. The seat thickness is the difference there. Why do they do that? Well, quite often the toilets are sold without a seat, so they can’t really talk about floor-to-seat height, can they. An easy calculation is to add a 1 inch or 1 1/2 inch to the floor-to-bowl height and we’ll get the floor-to-seat height. This is because a regular toilet seat has a thickness of about 1 inch or a bit more.
3. Eco-friendly And Saver Toilets
When it comes to great toilets, they also have to be great at conserving water. About half of the water we use in our home is used in the bathroom and the biggest water drain in the bathroom by far is the toilet. This only means that we can save quite a bit of water if we’re smart when it comes to choosing a toilet.
How much water does one flush of toilet use anyway?
Not too long ago, even the best toilets used even up to 5 gallons of water per a single flush. Today, the best toilets use innovative technology to reduce water consumption to about 1.6 GPF. This a result of stricter ADA requirements and not only saves us big time on water bills; it is primarily designed to protect the environment and enables us to have better control over our water consumption.
General tip: When choosing a toilet, just make sure that it doesn’t use water unnecessarily. That means that toilets with 1.6 GPF / 6.0 LPF are already a great choice, and anything below those numbers is considered exceptional and eco-friendly.
Toilets with WaterSense label use 20% less than average water per flush. That’s 1.28 GPF or less.
As a matter of fact, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formed a so-called ‘WaterSense’ label. It is quite a nifty label that is connected with all kinds of products which use 20% less water than an average product.
In the case of toilets, if a producer like TOTO or KOHLER can achieve a 20% reduction in water flush volume, they can use the WaterSense label on their products. If you check our post about the best low flush toilets, you’ll notice that the first 3 spots are reserved for TOTO and KOHLER toilets.
The innovation in the toilet industry has allowed for the creation of water-saving toilets with different systems like HET and G-Max flushing system (that’s the one in the best TOTO toilets).
20% less than average GPF brings the water consumption down to 1.28 GPF or less. What is important to remember, however, is that dual-flush toilets can be exempt. For example, the small flush in the best dual flush toilets can be as little as 1.0 GPF but the big flush is usually 1.6 GPF which is too much to be given a WaterSense label.
4. Toilet Warranty Standards
Toilets are built to be as durable as possible. A toilet should be replaced only every 20 years or so. And, after all, the cost of the toilet is quite high and you should always check the warranty that comes with the toilet.
Usually buying a toilet is quite risk-free because they’re built to last for ages. We’ll cover the common problems with toilets below but they can be quite easily fixed. What can’t be fixed is if we get a defective toilet right from the production line and this is exactly why the warranty is the most important for.
The golden standard as far as toilets go is a 1-year limited warranty. Anything above 1-year is great, anything below 1-year is below average warranty.
KOHLER, for example, is a company that offers a 1-year limited warranty with most of their toilets. American Standard, on the other hand, can offer some great warranty on specific toilets.
Here is an example of an exceptional warranty for the #3 on our list – American Standard Champion-4 toilet. Here is an excerpt from American Standard product warranty page:
This toilet comes with a limited lifetime warranty on chinaware, a limited 10 year warranty on all mechanical parts of the toilet and a limited 1 year warranty on the toilet seat if included with product.
As you can see, the toilet warranty is actually a warranty on specific parts like chinaware, mechanical parts (that’s usually flushing system) and toilet seat.
When reading the warranty focus on the mechanical parts warranty. Those are usually the most complex and expensive to fix. That is, of course, if you don’t choose one of the fancy electronic auto lifting seats – those can be costly to replace as well.
The main thing to remember is that a warranty is a standard consideration when buying a new toilet. Everybody gives you some kind of warranty, just make sure you read the small print and you’ll be able to compare different toilets as far as the warranty goes as well.
Hope You’ll Enjoy Finding A New Toilet
Hopefully, we’ve given you some things to think about when choosing a new toilet. As we’ve learned, it actually quite an important and interesting part of bathroom design. Besides that, it is the one we spend most of the time sitting on in the bathroom and that uses up quite a bit of water.
In any case, always look for durability and water conservation when it comes to the best toilets. You want an elegant piece that will serve you for 20 years or more and will not be a drain on your water supply and will be friendly to the environment.
Even something like picking a perfect toilet can be fun!
Do you know which is one of the most overlooked bathroom parts?
You guessed it – the shower arm.
The shower arm is supposed to be as unnoticeable as possible. That just means that it has to be reliable – the best gooseneck shower arm is the one you don’t ever have to worry about because it fits perfectly and holds for 10 years or more.
We prepared a Top 5 straight and gooseneck shower arm reviews. Three of them are “S” shaped (gooseneck shower arms) that lift the showerhead for 5” or more, and two of them are straight, strong and long – perfect for mounting rainfall showerheads.
“S” or gooseneck shaped shower arm lift a showerhead. Straight arm is best for bigger rain shower heads.
You pretty much know by now if you need a gooseneck or a straight shower arm depending on where the piping enters your shower area. Here is a simple rule of thumb:
Piping far above your head? You need a straight shower arm.
Piping in your general head area? You need a gooseneck shower arm (lifts the showerhead above your head).
Shower arms are attached to the wall with a 1/2” NTP screw. The flange usually comes with every shower arm.
How much does a shower arm cost? The arms are relatively cheap and durable – you’re looking somewhere between $10 to 30$ for standard models (which are more than enough). Of course, you can find MOEN shower arms that cost more than $100 – here is one for about $150.
1. Purelux 16” Extra Long Review – Simply The Best Pick
Picking the best shower arm is not rocket science. Purelux 16” shower arm is all about not being noticed – and that’s exactly what you want in a shower arm.
This is a straight and very long model (16 inches). The simple design and the length make it suitable for pretty much any showerhead. It will hold anything from the standard 8” showerhead to the big 16” rainfall head. Why?
The only stainless steel shower arm that will hold anything from 8” standard showerhead to 16” rainfall head.
Purelux shower arm is made out of stainless steel. If you go through the Top5er table again, you’ll see it’s actually the only shower arm that is made out of stainless steel – others are out of varying qualities of brass. Brass is a standard material for shower arms but if you want a higher grade material, you go for stainless steel shower arm.
It has a nickel polish that fits neatly in every bathroom design.
Basic features: It’s 16 inches long – that is very long for the shower arm and it enables you to fit any showerhead (you don’t have to worry about tight spaces). Of course, if you have a small shower room area, go for a 12-inch one instead.
It comes with the flange (the part that surrounds the arm at the wall) and it’s easy to install (2 minutes and no tools).
You can check the price of this shower arm below – it should cost $20 or so.
2. LDR 520 High Rise Review – Best Gooseneck Shower Arm
If you need to raise the showerhead with a new shower arm, the straight models won’t help you. That’s what the gooseneck shower arms are for. The best one of those (that also raises the showerhead the most) is LDR 520 High Rise model.
This arm will raise the showerhead for full 10”. Other models elevate the head 6 or maybe 7 inches up. However, unlike with Purelex or other straight shower arms, you have to be careful what kind of showerhead you want to attach to it. Look at the LDR 520 design first to see where to screw on the showerhead:
LDR 520 rises a showerhead full 10”.
At one end (the one which goes into the wall) you see a flange that comes with the arm but I want you to focus on the other side. If you see how the angle of the arm looks like you should be asking yourself what kind of showerhead can you mount of the shower arm.
For example, the big square 16” rainfall shower head won’t work here because it’s simply too big. The LDR 520 gives you the 10” inch rise but, when considering it, have in mind that this shower arm is most appropriate for a standard-sized showerhead. For example, a 6” shower head would be a perfect fit. Luckily, most of us have standard showerheads which can be simply mounted on the LDR shower arm in a minute.
You be careful about two things:
Less distance from the wall (about 5”).
Thin-walled brass.
With straight shower arms, you can get even 16” inches away from the wall. On the other hand, the “S” shaped arms put less distance between the wall and the showerhead, so keep that in mind, especially with the LDR 520.
The other thing to be careful about is the thin-walled brass. Brass is a great material but if it’s thin-walled you must not twist it because the outer layer will just peel away and the whole things will rust. It also isn’t resistant to damage as much as solid brass is.
3. SARLAI 16” Shower Arm Review – Best Budget Straight Arm
SARLAI is a well-known brand when it comes to bathroom supplies such as showerheads and other faucets. And yes, they have their own 16-inch long shower arm as well.
The great thing about these longer shower arms is that you can mount any showerhead on it. In fact, anything from the standard 8” head to the big 16” rainfall showerhead will fit on the end of the arm (look at the 2.5” extension at the end).
The design and the dimensions are pretty much the same as with the #1 pick. Here are the dimensions:
SARLAI 16” shower arm dimensions.
You can see the 1/2” NPT that is the standard with all shower arms. When figuring out how much weight can a shower arm handle, the 1/2” screw is designed to hold up even if you mount the heaviest rainfall showerhead on it.
However, compared to the #1 shower arm pick, there are two differences:
SARLAI’s shower arm is made out of solid brass (instead of stainless steel).
It has a chrome finish (instead of a brushed nickel)
Of course, it is better to have stainless steel and brushed nickel (that’s why Purelux shower arm is the #1 pick) but SARLAI is somewhat cheaper – even up to 20%.
Other than that, the SARLAI is a solid choice regardless of if you’re choosing one of their dual showerheads or their best straight shower arm.
4. MODONA Gooseneck Solid Brass Shower Head – With Satin Nickel Finish
The “S” shaped shower arms have a bit of an advantage over straight ones; namely, the producers can play a bit with the design to create a beautiful shape. This is most distinctly seen with the MODONA shower arm – it’s one of the most beautifully designed shower arms out there.
On top of the beautiful “S” design, what gives the MODONA shower arm an edge is the satin nickel finish. That is a high-end finish that will fit in the well-decorated bathrooms. Here is the arm with the satin finish:
MODONA created one of the most beautiful shower arms.
If you look closely, the “S” neck part of the shower arm actually goes to the wall a bit – this is a design feature yet unseen with other arms. What this does is give you the space to mount even the biggest shower heads.
The “S” shaped arms usually lack this extra space. Yes, they do lift the showerhead for up to 10”, you simply can’t put a 16” rain shower head on it. Well, with the MODONA you now can.
The distance from the wall is also an incredible 12 inches. Usually, only a straight shower arm will deliver such a distance, but the unique design of MODONA is much longer than a standard “S” shaped arm for the shower.
It is also made out of solid brass through and through and with a 5-year warranty, you won’t have to worry about the durability. The beautiful design and the quality material, however, do raise the price somewhat – this shower arm will cost you a little less than $30.
#5 HANEBATH Gooseneck Shower Arm – Most Luxurious Pick
When designing a high-end bathroom, you should look at details and a shower arm is usually a detail that is easily missed. For luxury bathrooms, a HANEBATH Gooseneck shower arm is a smart and elegant choice.
The core of the shower arm is made out of brass and you can choose between brushed nickel and oil-rubbed bronze finish. For most bathrooms, the brushed nickel fits in nicely but if you have darker colors in the bathroom, the bronze is a more elegant fit. Here is how the bronze version of HANEBATH Gooseneck looks like:
HANEBATH Gooseneck with an oil-rubbed bronze finish. Appropriate for darker bathrooms.
As you can see from the design, you can fit a 12” square showerhead without tilting it. Can you fit a 16” head without tilting it? Sadly, no. The very large showerheads cannot be used with the HANEBATH shower arm.
Many people go absolutely mad because the bronze color you see is something they were looking for for a very long time. However, here is a fair warning: the picture shows the shower arm being darker than it actually is. Even when you look at the HANEBATH shower arm, you see that isn’t bronze color – it’s too black. That’s probably the angle or the lighting of this particular show – just be prepared that when you unwrap it, it will have a bronze-like shine, not a black one.
The price of the HANEBATH arm is the highest in our top 5 selection of the best shower arms. You’re looking at something like $30 or so.
When picking the best gooseneck shower arm, there are all the things from the shape of the arm to the distance from the wall and the material that you have to consider. For example:
What is shower arm made out of? The material most commonly used for bathroom faucets is brass. Just a warning here: there is a difference between solid brass shower arms and thin-walled brass arms. The solid brass is always better; however, if you can get a shower arm made out of stainless steel, go for stainless steel – that’s top-notch material.
How far does the shower arm extend the showerhead from the wall? The dimensions here are very important because there is an optimum place where a showerhead should be. Any distance from 10” to 20” is ok. Obviously, if you have a bigger shower head – maybe something like the big and popular 16” LORDEAR rain showerhead – you’ll need a longer shower arm (for straight arms) or will have to count a bit if you have an ‘S’ shaped arm. The simplest way, of course, is just to get the long 16” shower arm (just be careful if you have a really small shower area).
Do you need to raise your showerhead with a shower arm? If you have the shower piping somewhere around your head area, you’ll need an ‘S’ or ‘gooseneck’ shower arm to get some extra height. You don’t want to crunch while taking a shower, right? The ‘gooseneck’ shower arms can raise the showerhead even up to 10”.
Where To Learn More About Shower Arms?
Of course, we didn’t cover everything in this Top5er piece. You’re welcome to research on your own but here are some great blogs with shower arm reviews:
A Great Shower – they feature top 8 shower arm extensions and help you out of a jam if your piping was installed by a hobbit.
Best Shower Heads – this is a site primarily about shower heads but they have an excellent guide on how to buy a shower arm for every kind of showerhead.
jchansdesigns – if you need to look at some high-resolution photos of shower arms, this is the right address.
Back To You
Now it’s time for your questions or recommendations.
If you’ve used a specific shower arm, tell us how it went. If you have problems with how to install a shower arm, you can tell us the model in the comments and we’ll try to help.
Here is the deal about the dual shower head: you’re probably already using one even though you only have a single shower head.
This is how most of us use a showerhead:
Firstly, leave the showerhead mounted on the wall. Enjoy the big focused water splash on our bodies.
Seconds, take the showerhead (it’s effectively a handheld showerhead) and clean all the ‘nooks and crannies’ where the wall-mounted head can’t reach.
How to use 2-in-1 shower heads? The whole purpose of a double shower head is that you can do both at the same time.
The basic setup of a dual shower head in 2018 is that you have:
1st shower nozzle is stationary.
2nd shower nozzle is handheld.
Double-headed shower head means wall-mounted + handheld shower head.
We’ll go through all 5 the best twin shower head reviews and all of them have a stationery + handheld showerhead combo (the #4 pick has a wall-mounted nozzle). The 2-in-1 shower head with a handheld head is pretty much the industry’s standard. You don’t really have a double shower head where both of them would be handheld or both would be wall-mounted.
1. Hydroluxe Full-Chrome Double Head Review: Classic Best Seller
When it comes to the dual shower heads, the most popular and well-known one is the HydroLuxe full-chrome head.
Why is Hydroluxe an instant bestseller? It’s the only shower head to have more than 6000 reviews on Amazon.
It’s the standard and no-nonsense double showerhead. If you’re looking for a basic model, the Hydroluxe is the epiphany of basic.
It comes with two separate shower heads – one is stationary and the other is handheld. How do the dual shower nozzles work? Easy, you can install them like a regular showerhead – just attach them to the pipe and that’s it.
Both shower heads are 4 inches; this is pretty much the standard size. Where the Hydroluxe double shower excels? Two words – shower settings.
Each showerhead has 5 different shower settings. The names here are pretty self-explanatory:
Wide rain
Power massage
Stay-warm mist
Eco rain
Pause mode
The design of both showerheads is the same – that’s why you get the same 5 settings with the stationary head as with the handheld one. It also makes fixing a double shower head a bit easier.
The Hydroluxe handheld showerhead also comes with a 5 feet stainless steel hose. This is more than enough to maneuver even if you have a large shower. On the other hand, however, the stationary head has limited maneuverability.
2. AquaStorm by HotelSpa Double Shower Head: Budget-Friendly Choice
AquaStorm double head is very comparable to the #1 Hydroluxe. In fact, they both have two 4 inch shower heads; one is stationary while the other is handheld with 5 ft shower hose.
What they also have in common is the price. While it’s very difficult to find a double shower head under $20, the interval between $20 and $30 is actually the sweet spot for the most popular 2-in-1 shower heads.
The AquaStorm paired shower head is under $30 as is the Hydroluxe one but with Hydroluxe you get 5 different settings. With AquaStorm you get an extra setting for the same price:
AquaStorm has 1 extra shower setting (compared to #1 Hydroluxe).
The Rain/Mist and Rain/Massage shower settings can only be achieved with 2 shower heads. 1st one is ‘Rain’ and the 2nd one is ‘Mist’. Not only does this give you unparallel showering experience, it also provides a way better water coverage than an ordinary shower head.
While other shower heads come in chrome (industry standard), the AquaStorm comes with a silver finish. That’s great for a budget shower head under $30.
With twice the water hitting your body, you can at least theoretically take a shower in half the time. Nonetheless, people do prefer to be in the shower for longer if they enjoy the shower and even if you’re buying on a budget, you can afford the AquaStorm shower head.
How to install the double shower head? It’s as easy as with #1 pick. You won’t need any tools at all and it can be done in minutes. First, you screw on the whole stationary shower head with a holder for the second shower head. Second, you attach the 5ft stainless steel hose that comes along with the shower heads, and you finish with attaching the handheld AquaStorm head to the hose. That’s it!
3. AquaDance 7” Double Shower Head Review – Best Premium Head
There are not many showerheads that have the ‘Official American Standard’ title but AquaDance is one of them. What the standard means? Simply that the showerhead was tested over and over again by US showerhead experts and performed as it should. In short, it is a proof that AquaDance dual shower head a solid and reliable head.
The two shower heads are both made out of stainless steel. This does bump it in the next price range but you know what you pay for – stainless steel with a chrome finish gives makes the AquaDance our premium showerhead choice.
Now, about the sizes of both shower heads:
AquaDance stationary head is big (7”) and the handheld head is small (4”).
With the #1 and #2 best dual shower head review, we had 4” showerheads. The AquaDance is the first head on the list that has a big stationary shower nozzle – full 7 inches.
This just gives you an extra water coverage – imagine being blasted with a 7-inch shower head in the face. Just be careful not to buy the AquaDance shower head (or any other bigger nozzle) if you have a low water pressure. Big shower head and low water pressure don’t really work – you won’t get the pressure you want.
You’ll get a lot of shower settings to choose from: namely, 6 different settings both on the big stationary shower head and 6 on the smaller handheld showerhead.
The price of the AquaDance 2-in-1 shower head is a bit higher than a standard dual head but you shouldn’t pay more than $50 for it.
4. DreamSpa 9” Wall Mounted Dual Shower Head Review – The Big One
DreamSpa head are one of the kind. In our best double-headed shower head review you’ve seen that most heads are 4” and you have a stationary-handheld combination.
What separates DreamSpa is the wall-mounted showerhead. You’ve read that right – it is not a stationary head that you mount on your shower installation. The big 9” DreamSpa shower head is mounted on the wall, like this:
DreamSpa is the only dual shower head with a wall-mounted head in Top5er picks.
Of course, mounting a shower head on the wall will require some tools and it’s not as easy as with other shower heads. But is it worth it?
If you enjoy a rainfall shower head, the DreamSpa is well worth it. It also provides you with a completely different experience; most dual showerhead systems have a stationary shower nozzle that sprinkles the water upward. In the case of DreamSpa, the water just falls down because of the wall-mounted showerhead design.
This will help with the low water pressure as well. It is usually advised that if you have a shower head bigger than 4 inches, you should really have a good water pressure. The combination of poor water pressure and a 9-inch shower head is a no-no, but the DreamSpa nozzle is facing down instead of up. That helps a bit. Not a lot, mind you, if you’re struggling with bad water pressure, this is not the right pick but if you have a standard pressure, the 9” head actually won’t be a problem.
You’ve probably noticed the ‘PUSH BUTTON CONTROL FLOW’ on the DreamSpa photo. This is also something that is unique to the DreamSpa dual handheld showerhead – you can easily just press the button and turn the head on or off. HotelSpa, our #5 pick, has this functionality as well.
Overall, the DreamSpa is the most complex and luxurious dual shower head.
5. HotelSpa Dual Shower Head Review – No-Nonsense Simple Head
This might be the #5 pick but for someone who likes simplicity, this is the best dual shower head to buy. Why?
Because the HotelSpa duo heads are just so simple. To install and to use, it’s a tool-free installation and you really get what you see with it. Check it out:
HotelSpa no-nonsense dual shower head with ON/OFF switch.
You get the big 6” stationary head and the ON/OFF 4” handheld head to complete the showerhead duo.
The ON/OFF switch is especially useful if you want to conserve water or if you just need a single shower head. You don’t always have to use both shower heads if you have a 2-in-1 shower head.
Some people think that ‘dual’ means a ‘2 person shower head’. Not really.
This kind of shower head was designed for a single person use. And what’s so great about it?
Two things:
Incredible water coverage (2x water).
Great if you have low water pressure.
The best-paired showerhead with a handheld head obviously delivers 2x the water. Usually, one shower head is for your face and the other is a handheld for everything else.
Double shower heads are also ideal for low water pressure. If you have a low water pressure in your piping, you know that it’s hard to shower with that amount of water coming out of a single showerhead.
Two shower heads deliver twice the water amount, regardless of low pressure. Important to note here is that the dual shower head doesn’t increase water pressure but it does double the water flow.
The bad thing about the shower head duo is that you use 2 times as much water.
How To Pick The Best 2 In 1 Shower Heads?
We picked the best 5 double shower heads in the list below. Here are some important features we based our picks on:
Size – How big is the twin shower head? The standard size of a showerhead is between 4 and 5 inches. With the 2-in-1 shower head, we have two shower heads. Usually, they are the same size but with some dual settings, the mounted head can be bigger (even up to 9”).
Number Of Settings – How many settings does a double shower head have? Every showerhead can have a number of settings like ‘Power Rain’, ‘Massage’, ‘Stay-Warm Mist’ and so on. A bigger variety of settings is usually better but, let’s face it, we only use up to 3 settings. Anything above that is great.
Low Flow Adapter – Does the dual shower head come with a low flow adapter? A low flow adapter (or aerator) is useful if you want to conserve water. It will simply reduce the water flow if you so wish. Of course, if you have bad water pressure, you might want to remove the aerator to improve the pressure.
Price – How much does a double-headed shower head cost? Some of the expensive shower heads can cost more than $100. However, in the best 2-in-1 shower head reviews of 2020, you’ll see that $50 is more than enough to get a great showering experience. Usual prices range from $20 to $40.
Back To You – Which Dual Head Do You Recommend?
If you own or had an experience with a certain model of a double-headed shower head, please do share your experience in the comments.
Try to mention the best and worst aspects of the dual shower head you used.
There are only so many simple things that bring joy to us every day. A yummy meal is one. A hot shower is another. We’re going to look at Top 5 best rain shower head reviews simply because standing under a shower and feeling the rain is magnificent.
Unfortunately, we can’t sing and dance in the rain every day, but with a very good rain shower head, we can come close to that.
And if your vocal cords are anything like mine, you would prefer your family being spared of listening to you sing under the shower. Nonetheless, we’ll look at some best rain shower heads and we hope they inspire you to sing under the shower.
What is a rainfall shower head?
Basically, a shower head that doesn’t need to be handheld and that feeling like rain falling on your body.
Top 5 Rain Shower Head Reviews
We created a quick comparison table for you to see some features of rainfall showerheads head-to-head(pun fully intended).
As you can see, there are some major differences in shower head size and thickness of the nozzle. In Top5er tradition, we’ll go through all 5 best rain shower head reviews starting with the best-rated one (according to Amazon reviews):
No. 1 Rain Shower Head Pick
1. LORDEAR F01082CH Shower Head Review – Best-Rated Rain-Like Shower Head
It’s easy to see why LORDEAR F01082CH shower head is praised by all. It has everything a 1st-time buyer of rainfall shower head needs.
Polished chrome with 12” size is standard and, honestly, more than a majority of us need for an exuberating rainfall shower experience. You can go for 16” Koko Brand if you would like to feel like in a rain forest experiencing downpour.
Easy installation and maintenance are great as well. Of course, every rainfall shower head cleans you well enough, but how do you clean the shower head itself in return? Easily:
Cleaning 196 silicone nozzles of LORDEAR rain shower head is quite an easy task.
Well, even the worst rain shower head review is kind of good. I mean, 3-stars is not bad at all, and I’ve yet to see a shower head which wouldn’t have at least one review about ‘everything was crap, I ain’t buying this again, the only true rainfall shower is in under a rainfall’.
In short, if you need a rain experience every day for years on end, LORHEAD shower head does feel like rain falling on your body.
2. SUN RISE Ultra Thin Rain Shower Head – Best Luxury Shower Head For Rainfall Experience
Let’s talk about the shower head technology with the Sun Rise shower head. To fully recreate the natural feeling of rain in your bathroom, we need some good tech. Rain is a natural occurrence but recreating it is not easy at all.
Sun Rise went above and beyond with the technology with their ultra-thin rain shower head (state-of-the-art tech actually enables it to be ultra thin in the first place).
We didn’t go into details about their air energy technology but you can look at what is the entire point of it:
Air sprays water droplets to mimic the rain
Full rainfall experience even with low water pressure(very important!)
Sun Rise shower head is ahead of time.
It’s quite unlike any showerhead you’ve ever used. And the best thing? Once it’s installed, you operate it as easily as a normal wall-mounted shower.
This review is not surprising at all. ‘Outperforms all other rain shower heads’ has a nice ring to it. This review was nothing extraordinary – of course, people love advanced air tech rainfall showerheads.
However, I was most impressed by the next review. The customer had a problem with the 1st Sun Rise shower head she bought. And with the 2nd! But she was so impressed by this rain shower head she went to out get the 3rd one and now loves it.
I mean, this is some dedication. But if you want to have a truly wonderful shower on a daily basis, the Sun Rise, when perfect, does provide you with it.
Oh, and the costs. All high tech products have a higher price tag and the best Sun Rise rain shower head is no different. The original price is a whopping $239.99. That makes it both luxurious and, well, overpriced.
If you want to get it much cheaper (every 75% off), make sure you buy it over Amazon because they have some serious discounts on it. That’s how you can buy a luxurious rain shower head for a fraction of the cost. Here you can check the current price of Sun Rise shower head:
3. HotelSpa Giant Rain Shower Head – The ‘Golden Standard’ Of Rain Heads (But A Bit Outdated)
The word ‘Giant’ is really interesting here. Back in the day when HotelSpa rain shower head established itself as the new standard, it’s 10” x 14” dimensions were deemed ‘giant’.
With today standards, the dimensions of HotelSpa Giant rain shower head are quite of standard size. Nonetheless, this head remains as one of the best rain shower heads to this day. Admittedly, it is now a bit behind the newer silicone nozzles and advanced air technology that other modern rainfall showers have.
Back in this shower head prime days, the adjustable extension arm was the cutting-edge feature. HotelSpa rainfall head excelled exactly because of incredible ease their extension arm could be adjusted to fit pretty much everybody wanting a rainfall experience under the shower.
The famous adjustable extension arm in action.
Being around for longer than the other 4 best rain shower heads means it has been tested out more. It is the old-school design but HotelSpa is also durable and reliable – you won’t have to buy rain shower head after rain shower head to test them out. This one has been tested thoroughly, to say the least.
If you’re looking best solid rain shower head and don’t want to spend too much, the HotelSpa rainfall head is the well-tested choice.
4. AKDY AZ-6021 Plastic Shower Head – Best Budget Rain Shower Head
Yes, all shower heads don’t have to be made out of stainless steel. The AKDY rain shower head is made out of plastic. With stainless steel, a lot has to be done to avoid corrosion (it has to be stainless), but with plastics, corrosion is not a problem at all.
This is a little 8” rain shower head that is installed in minutes and you need little to worry about it later as well.
The best part of being out of plastic is that it can be cheap. And it is! AKDY’s head is one of the cheapest rain shower heads around. Fortunately, cheap doesn’t mean ugly here, just look at it:
Quite a beautiful rain shower head.
It is also the thickest of the Top 5 best rain shower heads. This has everything to do with being made out of plastic – steel is tougher than plastics, obviously, so you need more plastic to get the same strength.
The experience of showering with a small rain shower head is quite amazing according to Markies:
I would think that it is ideal for people buying rain shower head on a budget. A nice example are college students. I know that I would want a nice relaxing shower if it would cost as little like this one.
5. Koko Brand Rain Shower Head – The Biggest Shower Head For A True Rainfall Experience
With Koko Brand shower head we come to the ‘the bigger it is, the better‘ statement. Why? Well, for one, you won’t find a lot of bigger rain shower heads than the one Koko Brand offers. It’s full 16 inches by 16 inches. To most of the people that is a bit excessive, even for a luxury shower.
However, if you have a big bathroom and want to test out how it feels like standing under a rainfall in your bathroom, you can go right ahead.
One piece of advice: Be sure not to care about the water bill with this one. The Koko Brand rain shower head rains down the water and the water consumption is what you would expect. For example, for the best 8” rainfall shower head you will pay 4 times less for water than with this one (if we assume the flow through the nozzles is the same).
Koko Brand is big and bulk – do you find it a bit excessive?
As you can see, the giant rain shower head is not wall-mounted. Instead, it is installed directly on the ceiling. This also means that rainfall shower head installation is not as easy as with the others.
The water pressure also has to be higher than with a standard head simply because Koko Brand requires that much more water.
All in all, this is a big expensive shower head. But it does throw the most water at you and it really feels like a downpour. It feels amazing if you can afford it.
Here is a quick list of best rain shower head features we considered when choosing the rain-effect shower heads:
Rain shower head size – ‘Size matters’. Well, at least for some. The bigger the shower head (more inches, god this is now embarrassing) the better the showering experience. Bigger showers heads are also pricier.
Weight – heavier rain shower head means better quality.Simply put, durable and high-quality materials are heavier. Fortunately, these shower heads are mounted and you won’t have problems with your hand falling off like with some really heavy handheld showerheads.
Material – what is shower head made out of? In most cases, stainless steel. However, hard plastic is also a choice here – it is a lower quality material but it is light and it is cheap. If you’re looking to buy a rain shower head for $20, plastic shower head might not be a bad idea.
Do You Need A Rain Shower Head (Alternatives)
In the end, we at Top5er always want you to ask one question – ‘Do I really need a rain shower head?’.
That is to say, we want everybody to make an informed and smart decision when buying anything, be it a shower head or an office chair or even a little thing such as a travel kettle.
That’s why we come up with few alternatives to buying a rain shower head:
Just use the regular shower head. If the point of showering is to get clean, a standard non-rain shower head will do as good a job as even the best rain shower head. However, if you’re in it for the experience – you know, coming home after work and wanting an exuberating shower – than a regular shower head is of little use.
Enjoy in the rain. This is by far the best experience and only the best rain shower head comes even close to that. From time to time it’s great to enjoy a true downpour but that doesn’t happen every day and you can’t actually use shampoo and soup while standing in the rain outside.
Anything else? You’re welcome to suggest below.
Your Suggestions For The Best Rain Shower Head
If you have some experience with any of these showers heads or even a different one, do us all a favor and describe it in the comments. We like to read about both positive and negative views to know what to watch for and what excited you about your pick.
To rain shower or not to rain shower, that is the question!
