A desert breeze across your bottom

The Toto Washlet C5 bidet offers an experience most people agree is excellent, whether they’ve used one for years or are totally new to it. [Our pick for the best bidet seat, the Toto Washlet C5, on a toilet with the lid open.]( Michael Hession YOUR GUIDE Harry Sawyers A lot of Wirecutter’s recommendations make plenty of people happy, but we can’t usually say a pick will be something everybody loves. One exception: bidets. More specifically: the [Toto Washlet C5](. This seat costs hundreds of dollars more than the good-enough toilet seat you’ve been using your whole life, yet virtually nobody regrets investing in it. What the deuce? At the height of the [2020 toilet paper shortage]( there I sat, with two wet paper towels in one hand and three dry ones in the other, thinking: Really, is this the best you can do? I figured if I could get myself a bidet, I’d probably save paper and also regain dignity. The situation was severe enough that I didn’t think twice about accepting a used one—yes, a used toilet seat—from Wirecutter senior writer Doug Mahoney. Doug himself [became a reluctant convert]( after testing over a dozen of them (technically “bidet toilet seats,” or “washlets”) for [our guide](. When you buy through our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. [Learn more]( › After disinfecting and manhandling the downstairs toilet, I was all set up, already learning to ask my kids not to trick the seat into thinking it was occupied so they could spray water across the bathroom. In quieter moments, I actually got to use the C5 as designed. And I came to appreciate how this magical oval could be so beloved that people who buy one often double down on it, buying better bidets to replace the featureless seats still parked on other toilets around the house. “I came to appreciate how this magical oval could be so beloved.” For all the bliss of easing onto a prewarmed seat first thing in the morning—from the 100-degree water washing you off to the heated fan blowing like a desert breeze across your bottom at 8.83 cubic feet per minute—the C5 is not perfect. You still need a little toilet paper touch-up at the end. You’ll get too familiar with your body’s geometry as you seek the optimal spray angle. The wand arm makes strange gurgling noises that’ll scare your kids right off the seat. You will lose the remote control, and you’ll discover this loss while in no position to get up and go look for it. And you can forget about setting anything on the toilet seat cover, because the bidet hardware raises up one end, so it’s as tilted as a hill. How it started The US arrived late to the world of bidets and washlets. In the old days, it was our puritanical past (with a dose of xenophobia) holding us back, according to [research in The Atlantic]( and elsewhere. But feature-rich electronic toilet seats have been mainstream fixtures in parts of Asia for some time now, and greater awareness (as well as world events) have helped the North American market begin to catch up. By spring 2020, the toilet paper shortage had also become a bidet shortage. “We sold everything we had in the US in a week and a half," said Bill Strang, Toto’s president of corporate strategy, e-commerce, and customer experience. How it compares After testing more than 16 bidet seats and washlets in at least three homes since 2016, we’re sure the [Toto Washlet C5]( strikes just the right balance of features, price, and usability. Most people agree their experience with this bidet is excellent, whether they’ve used a bidet for years or are new users. - Other bidets have similar abilities, but none of them are quite as easy to get the hang of as the C5—perfect both for experienced bidet users as well as folks trying one for the first time. - We’ve found that very few people actually regret getting a C5—more often, they find they have a lot of preferences, and they value the easy control over all the options. - Some people come to this product by purchasing an inexpensive model and then upgrading to a better one. Bare-bones, entry-level models that use cold water start as low as $30. But electric models, with premium features like a heated seat, warm water, and spray controls, start at around $200. We think the best value for full-featured models hovers around the $400 or $500 level, like the C5. Read more in our guide to [the best bidet toilet seat or washlet](. When to buy We’ve seen the best prices on bidets around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Toto’s list price for the C5 is $780 as of September 2021. Don’t pay that much. The numbers $431 Average street price $415 Best price we’ve ever seen Make it last If certain members of your household tend to leave a few drips on the seat as they exit the commode, you’re gonna want to wipe those off, since the heated seat tends to cook them into crusty little stains. The [C5 manual]( has other predictable cleaning instructions, as well as a handy guide to the one-year limited warranty (skip to the last page). [View email in browser]( You are receiving this email because you signed up for Wirecutter’s Newsletter. Getting too many emails from us? To stop receiving these, [unsubscribe here](. 
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