Brondell Swash Thinline T44 bidet evaluate: king of the throne

It’s our lot in life to poop. We eat stuff, digest it, after which the waste should be expelled. That’s simply the best way it’s, which implies we’re destined to spend a not-insignificant portion of our time sitting on the porcelain throne. So why not make that as nice an expertise as potential? And in case your rest room seat could make the expertise higher, cleaner, and extra comfy, then does it not deserve its personal throne?

Behold the Brondell Swash Thinline T44, the very best bidet seat I’ve ever sat on. And for $700, it had higher be.

The Thinline T44 is a bidet rest room seat. These kinds of issues have been round since 1980, when the Toto Washlet debuted in Japan, they usually’re much more handy than the outdated standalone bidets they’ve kind of changed. At its most simple, the bidet rest room seat matches in your rest room bowl, connects to the water provide line, and washes your butt. They are often as low-cost and easy as one thing that blasts you with chilly water whenever you open a valve. The Thinline T44, from San Francisco-based firm Brondell, is on the opposite finish of the spectrum.

I’m not a bidet rookie right here. I reviewed one (really from Brondell) 13 years in the past, and I’ve been a convert ever since. I additionally simply spent three weeks touring round Japan, the place practically each rest room (together with these on high-speed trains) has a bidet seat connected. Almost all of them are made by Toto, they usually vary from probably the most fundamental water sprayers to full bogs with built-in bidets.

The T44 has a heated seat, immediately heated water (temperature adjustable) to wash your bottom, a separate jet to wash your entrance aspect (a characteristic not typically really useful by medical professionals), and a scorching air dryer, so that you want little or no rest room paper. The jets may also be repositioned or set to oscillate, and you may modify the extent of water strain, too. It encompasses a nightlight (three completely different colours), a deodorizing air filter, and self-cleaning jets. All of that is managed by way of a modern distant management, with a cradle you’ll be able to stick with the wall inside straightforward arm’s attain.

None of these options might sound novel for those who’re accustomed to bidet rest room seats. The distinction is that they work higher than any I’ve tried prior to now, together with items from Bio Bidet, Kohler, Tushy, Brondell, and, after all, Toto.

The T44 has a variety of strain settings, from very mild to stronger than most of us would (or ought to) select. The cleansing could be very thorough. The seat heats shortly and extra evenly, with fewer hotspots in comparison with older items I’ve tried from Brondell and others. The water temperature stays extra constant than different fashions I’ve used, too, which often hit you with a cold stream. The new air dryer’s fan is stronger and does a greater, focused job of drying your bum (although it’s nonetheless a far cry from a Dyson Airblade hand-dryer, and the hairy-butted amongst us will most likely want two or three dry periods and nonetheless require a little bit of TP). After I was touring by Japan, I used to be shocked to search out that the overwhelming majority of bidet seats don’t have air dryers in any respect, which I believe is an important characteristic. They have been solely included on some extraordinarily high-end items, and even on these, the dryers lacked horsepower.

The factor that actually stands out concerning the T44, although, is how little it stands out. Whereas it nonetheless seems like a cyber-toilet from outer area, it’s a lot thinner than your typical bidet rest room seat at simply 3.9 inches excessive. That’s lots taller than your commonplace rest room seat, however a lot lower-profile than most bidet seats. For instance, Toto’s best-selling Washlet C5 is sort of 6 inches tall on the again. This makes the T44 look extra like a contemporary, luxurious rest room seat than a chunk of medical gear. It’s additionally extra comfy to take a seat on.

Putting in the Swash Thinline T44 is less complicated than you’ll count on. Merely take away your outdated seat and shut the water provide valve. Flush the bathroom to empty the tank after which disconnect the water provide line. Set up the included hose with the T-connector between the valve and the tank. Mount the seat on the bathroom, join the hose to the bidet, flip the water again on, verify for drips, plug within the energy, and also you’re good to go. Truly, that’s one factor to think about: not all loos have energy retailers, mine included. My rest room and bathe are separated from the sink and vainness, the place the retailers are. I needed to get a really skinny extension twine and use some guides to maintain it tightly pressed to the doorjamb, in any other case my door wouldn’t shut. Even with that, I take into account the set up easy and price it.

There’s room for enchancment. Whereas I really like that it has two user-preset buttons, setting these modes requires you to make use of a secret collection of button presses you’ll be able to solely discover within the handbook. Very unintuitive. You want an much more elaborate collection of button presses to vary the default drying length. That is the place a Bluetooth radio and a easy telephone app can be useful, if just for adjusting settings.

There are additionally a pair bizarre little bugs and quirks. For instance, if you choose your person profile, it’ll wash you with all your desired settings. However if you need a bit of extra washin’, and also you hit that button mixture once more, one thing will get misplaced and it’ll overlook to incorporate oscillation or one thing. I additionally had some points whereas utilizing the T44 with my ft on a Squatty Potty sort factor (sure, I do know, what number of rest room equipment can one man have? Go away me alone!) One thing concerning the angle of my legs or weight distribution would generally journey up the occupancy sensor, so I couldn’t get it to clean me till I stood up for a minute or so to permit it to reset. I went forwards and backwards with Brondell’s wonderful technical assist staff, however we by no means obtained to the underside of it. The assist staff couldn’t replicate it of their testing, so it’d simply be my bizarre physique or one thing. The difficulty turned very uncommon after I moved the mounting bracket ahead so the seat was a bit extra flush with the bowl’s rim, nevertheless it’s one thing to think about.

I hope Brondell steals a number of the bidet seat options I attempted in Japan for the following era. As an illustration, a lid that robotically opens whenever you step into the toilet. Having the ability to elevate or decrease the seat with a push of a button on the distant management. Some have been even related to the flush mechanism; the bathroom would flush, and the lid would shut whenever you push a button on the distant. Are these obligatory options? No, however they’re good to have.

These minor gripes apart, I completely love this factor. It’s a lot extra comfy to make use of than rest room paper, and you’re feeling a lot, a lot cleaner. To not point out that it’s largely a hands-free expertise, so when you push the button on the distant, you’re free to proceed doom-scrolling in your telephone. Whereas that’s true of most bidet seats, the additional highly effective jets make this one work lots higher than another unit I’ve examined, and it’s simply the best-looking and most comfy to take a seat on. Positive, I want they may turbo-charge the air dryer to scale back my rest room paper utilization much more, however, in the end, the Swash Thinline T44 is the very best your butt can get.