What’s your opinion of the build quality of this Mansfield Summit 3? -PICS-

[stephenk]

I know some people here don’t say a lot of nice things about Mansfield, but most of the complaints I’ve read are about the builder-grade Alto toilets. I’m moving into a new home in a couple weeks and I will be replacing two toilets. One of the models I’ve been considering is the Mansfield Summit 3. This model is a 1.6 gpf unit that's made in the USA. A local big box store was running a sale on the ADA elongated bowl for $149 + tax (regularly $179). It includes a seat and hardware. I picked it up since the sale ends tomorrow. I’ll have a couple weeks to decide if I want to keep it and install it or box it back up and return it.

I don’t have access to any other toilets like the Toto Eco Drake (one of my other top choices) to compare the build quality to this Mansfield unit.

So, how does the build quality on this look, considering the price? Does anyone have pics of other brands to compare?

Because of forum rules on the number of linked images in a post, I'll have to break this into multiple posts.

Bowl
You can see one small pock mark in the glaze on the back and a small nub, but I don’t know if the nub is supposed to be there or not. It may be normal and leftover form manufacturing.

[stephenk]

This is a closeup of the passage that carries the water from the tank to the bowl. I don’t know the correct term for it.


Closeup of the transition from the bowl to the trapway.

[stephenk]

Here are some closeups of the outlet on the bottom of the bowl and inside the trapway.

[stephenk]

Tank
The back of the tank isn’t glazed very well, but I’ve read that’s pretty normal on toilets, since that part isn’t seen once it’s installed.

[jadnashua]

The thing I look at is the shape and path of the drain in the toilet...see how yours tries to make the waste make a sharp right-angle bend to go down the drain? That does two things...slows things down, and if you happen to deposit long or hard logs, they can get caught there.

The back of the toilet tank is somewhat irrelevant for most installs. You can tell it is a builder's grade toilet as they didn't take much time to finish it nicely. Now, will you notice it while in use, maybe not unless it clogs.

[Terry]

In that price range, a Kohler Wellworth would have looked better.

And TOTO would definitely look better! But then you didn't pay much, and that's a factor.