Toto Eco Drake or American Standard Flowise Cadet 3?

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Purple Goat

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I really wanted to get the Toto Eco Drake, but I can't let go of the fact that Consumer Reports rated the Toto Eco Drake lower in "Liquid Waste Removal" (Eco Drake=Good, American Standard Flowise Cadet 3=Excellent) and rated the Eco Drake noise level Good, while it rated the the Flowise Cadet Very Good.

(I really, really wanted the Eco Drake 2, but I had to eliminate it because I want a regular height toilet.)

What to do? Toto Drake? Flowise Cadet? Help!
 

Jadnashua

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If you search around, you'll find that Terry knows the people that came up with the Mapp tests, and they agree that anything over 500g is overkill. The Drake in real-world use is fine. CR ends up flushing stuff that is not really indicative of the real stuff. Many of CR's toilet best picks have turned out to be dogs in the real world, either in quality, or operations.
 

Gary Swart

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Every toilet that CR has ever rated as an excellent buy has proven to be a dog, but the big problem with AS is they seem to put lots of toilets on the market that should have been rejected at the factory. Many of the pro plumbers on this forum will not install them because they have so many they have to waste their time exchanging. Toto has something like 1% defects. If you do want to go ahead with AS, inspect the unit very closely at the store for blemishes and poor casting. Make sure it sets level with no rocking. You can do the same tests on a Toto of course, just don't expect to find any problems.
 

Terry

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I guess you have to decide if your neighbor that does book keeping of living knows more about plumbing then a plumber.

He doesn't .

Go with what the plumbers are recommending, the Toto.

I don't tell you what baby food to go with, they do.
I don't tell you what hamburger is best, they do.
I don't tell you which bicycle is bet, they do.

But then, I"m just a plumber that sells thousands and thousands of toilets, and has been plumbing since 1974.

Novice, expert, gee what a tough decision.
 

Redwood

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Hmmm Consumer Reports Top Rated...
They rated the Am Std Champion #1 at one time...
4 designs ago...
What a dog that was...

I seem to recall a few others of their greatest picks as well...
The Cadet 3 isn't 1/2 bad...
If you get one that isn't defective and replace the flapper with a Korky flapper...
 

Achutch

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FROM EXPERIENCE: Drake is the better choice

In 2005 I bought my first Drake for the main bathroom. Since then, it has functioned perfectly and still retains all its original parts.

In 2008 I painted and redecorated my first floor half bath. To save some money, I bought a Cadet 3 at a box store. If you read my posts, you will see that it took 3 tries to get a bowl that was marginally acceptable. I had no issues with the quality of the flush of the Cadet 3; it never plugged and it rinsed well. It also retained its original flapper. But I was not completely happy with some blemishes in the glaze and a slight ridge in the bottom that was not smoothed out. However, since it worked, I put up with them.

HOWEVER, in the past several months, we noticed an odor coming from the Cadet 3 bowl (read my posts and observe the photos). We found defects under the rim that looked like peeling or large voids in the glaze, plus some cracking in between the water ports.

We went to a PLUMBING SUPPLY HOUSE where I bought the first Drake and replaced the Cadet 3 with the Eco Drake. This half bath is the one I use before leaving for work in the morning, and the Eco Drake gets heavy duty cargo to ship! I have found no difference between the flush of the 1.6 Drake or the Eco Drake, nor have I had any problems disposing of "liquid waste" in either. It all goes down the first time every time.

The lady who sold us the Eco Drake also had the Cadet 3 on display. She told us just what the pros on this site have been warning about: the toilets sent to the box stores are factory seconds or worse. The Cadet 3 in the plumbing supply house was "completely different" than those in the box stores, implying better quality. (The display model looked perfect to me too). But after a bad experience with a certain brand or model of anything (auto, washing machine, etc.) there is no room for a second chance.

From a CONSUMER: My advice is to spend the extra money and buy the Eco Drake.

Respectfully submitted,

achutch
 

Ian Gills

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After a great deal of thought...

...I'd go for the Cadet 3.
 
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I really wanted to get the Toto Eco Drake, but I can't let go of the fact that Consumer Reports rated the Toto Eco Drake lower in "Liquid Waste Removal" (Eco Drake=Good, American Standard Flowise Cadet 3=Excellent) and rated the Eco Drake noise level Good, while it rated the the Flowise Cadet Very Good.

Not sure what they are about with regards to liquid waste removal, my 3 Eco Drakes have been flawless for that in the year I've had them. (And nearly flawless in solids, I had to flush one of the children's deposits a second time because it had a lot of paper and got off to a slow start. Had a similar experience with one of mine. Both cleaned up as expected on the second flush. Works out to about 1 in 750 solids flushes in our home requiring a double flush.)
 
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