I previously owned a 1.28 GPF toilet in the upstairs bathroom. Due to the fact that the drain was somewhat offset, it did not flush well. I then went with a 1.6 GPF toilet from American Standard. It was a great flusher but it had some new micro coating that was suppose to keep it cleaner. Well, it worked great until about a year later when all the ceramic coating started wearing down and there was a big stain in the bottom of the bowl that could not be removed. It worked great but looked disgusting and my daughter hated the look. After reading several reviews here and from professional installers, I learned that TOTO has a great reputation.

The toilet came packed about as well as any product that I have received in shipping. Not a scratch or any damage whatsoever. I have installed quite a few toilets and this one was just as easy. The first thing I noticed was that it had a great flush and remained clean and has so for the past six months. I have waited to write this review to make sure it was as good as I thought it was. I have yet to have it not flush or get stopped up. I am so impressed with this toilet and in my opinion, it's the best one that I have ever used. The professional reviews were spot on.

As to the flushing, it is great. A few reviewers said that you had to hold the flapper down for quite awhile to have it flush properly. I did not find that a problem at all. If you slightly hit it, it will flush with less water for a less than full bowl, but if you hold it down (no longer than a regular flapper in my opinion), it will flush a full bowl and a lot of toilet paper. Again, I have yet to see it struggle with this type of flush. As to the sides not getting clean, I have yet to experience that either. Maybe someone received a bad one because this one is as clean as the day I installed it. If they keep making them this good, I will always pay a little extra and get a TOTO. Best made toilet by far!!!

Toto toilet engineering of their Drake line is excellent (this is one of the Toto Drake line). This is confirmed by many of the reviews. This review discuss in a little more detail some specifics of why this model is excellent. High cost and aesthetics do not mean a toilet will perform well. One does not ordinarily talk about ones toilet - especially by model, like one does a car. So, if you find a review of a toilet's true performance too scatological for your tastes - stop reading now. But do buy the toilet, it is a great buy. Be sure and search around to find one with free shipping ... it is heavy.

Scatological information begins now:

You may not know but there is a standard way to measure how large a bowel movement a toilet will handle. A special paste is used to make standard size and consistency "objects" (yes, they mimic in some ways the natural stool) and then the amount of "objects" moved by the toilet is measured. This toilet is rated at 900 grams (almost exactly two pounds). This model's performance does not occur by accident - believe it or not some toilets are carefully engineered. But this is not the best of it.

Three particular items should be reviewed:

First: The type of bowel movement handled. This toilet excels at all types of stools. The most difficult stool for almost all toilets, is the large mass soft stool, such as one might have from eating a lot of roughage. The problem with this type of stool is that the stool firmly fills the bottom cavity of the bowl like a plug. Most toilets (even expensive ones) have a hard time to (or can't) get the whole mass moving. Often a plunger would be needed to help things along. A poorly designed toilet may be able to move a large mass (like 900 or 1000 grams) of well formed stools but utterly fail to move a softer solid mass. This toilet is engineered so that when the flush occurs, first there is a strong pulse that comes from below the stool plug and lifts the entire mass up slightly so that the normal flush mechanism can proceed unhindered. It is an excellent and possibly unique design.

Second is the round bowl design of this particular model, where there is also sufficient water in the bowl to generally keep the stool from leaving streaks. In oblong bowls, often there is little water in the "flat" section and streaking and stool movement is often is a problem. Even some round bowls are not engineered to keep the stool usually suspended in water. This toilet has been designed with attention to this. I for one, don't like to clean streaks, so I welcome this design. (It is not perfect, but is better than most).

Third is the diameter of the opening between the tank and the bowl, and the diameter and coating of the exit line. These are hidden, non-obvious items of large importance. Both diameters are large in this Toto design. That gives a more rapid water entry to the bowl (hence more forceful) and a wider exit line which helps significantly if the stool is of large diameter, or is large in soft mass (as discussed above).

It took me a while to learn the details of excellent toilet design. High cost does *not* imply excellent design. If you are tired of problems with the toilet or of having to use a plunger too often, pay attention to the details. At this general price point with this excellent engineering, this particular toilet is a best buy.

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I reviewed Cons Rpts and they rated this #3; however, the readers vociferously disputed the #1 & #2 ranked models. They felt the # 1 & 2 may have done good under laboratory conditions, however, in real life, the quality of those models was poor, used specialized / exotic (expensive) components in the tank.

After reading reviews on Cons Rpts and Amazon, I locked into the Toto Drake for the following reasons:

1) Simplicity - the design used gravity and standard / universal components in the tank
2) Simplicity - no training sessions for guests, single standard flush lever
3) Larger flapper diameter
4) Quick / authoritative waste removal
5) Sides of bowl completely washed with each flush
6) Style

My only concern was the "skid marks" left after #2 waste removal. After using a week now, skid marks vary, but really are no more than my old water guzzlers. If you think about it, your current toilet probably leaves skid marks after a flush, but how often do you stare in your toilet? My routine is such I go #2 shortly after waking up. Before I leave for work, I go #1 and any skids are dissolved and bowl rinses clean.

The Toto Drake does not come with wax ring or seat. I opted for the Home Depot seat $5.75. It looks nice, is comfortable, matches the Toto 'cotton White" color, and no reason to pay any more.

[edit] After a couple more weeks of use, skid marks are not an issue. This truly is a perfect toilet. The wife said the cheap Home Depot seat is comfortable and looks like it was made for the Toto toilet.

First off, the price was great, and shipping via Amazon Prime was awesome. I would guess that the shipping cost would have covered the Amazon Prime cost for the year -- so that was a great deal! Plus, even though the order said it might take 1-2 days longer, I actually got it a day early!

Installation was pretty straight-forward, just like any other toilet installation. The only thing I had to buy were the wax ring and the flange bolts (they come with the wax ring). Everything else was included and the instructions on how to install and hook up the tank were VERY clear. They did not want to be ambiguous about how to tighten the tank! Almost micromanaging in the instructions but that's a good thing!

After installation, I gave it a few flushes and was really impressed by how quiet both the flush and the refill are. I am always worried about that when going in the middle of the night ... I don't want to wake anyone with a powerful flush!

The toilet has very clean lines and the round bowl really has a small footprint in my small bathroom - which is great. I ordered the TOTO soft-close seat as well, and it perfectly lines up with the bowl. No overlap. Love the clean-ness about that!

Unfortunately, I had a little stomach problem last night and had to run to this toilet! It was it's 2nd day on the job and hadn't really been put to a serious test -- until last night. WHOA boy. Yeah TMI I know, but we're talking about a toilet here. There were big pieces, little pieces, and some other junk in the bowl. I have no idea what I ate but I guess I didn't like it!

Anyway, I had to flush ONCE and the TOTO took care of everything. Cleaned the bowl up nice and got everything down -- very impressed!

Hopefully that will be the most rigorous testing for awhile .... good toilet though.

Replaced my worthless piece of poop American Standard, which just swirled the contents. A friend in the construction trade warned that I might have to pay upwards of $300 for a really good toilet. But being half-Scot, who throws nickles around like manhole covers, I thought I'd try this affordable TOTO. Works like a toilet should - blasting the refuse down the drain - no swirling.
Either its about 1/2" longer than my previous one - or the builder of my house put the hole/pipe too close to the wall, because I had to take out part of the baseboard to make it fit. Bit of a pain - but I'm not blaming TOTO. My seat fit this CST743.
It arrived a day before the earliest scheduled delivery date and was really well packed - no cracks despite the UPS guy kicking it down his truck...geeesh.
NOTE: You'll need a new gasket with goo for any toilet installment and it said on mine it should be at 80 degrees - so I put the package out in the sun for awhile. Big mistake. Much of the goo melted, and became unattached from the rubber, and stayed stuck on the plastic covering.
Kudos to TOTO and Amazon for a pleasant transaction....I'm reluctant to give 5 stars for "loving" a toilet. Just can't do it. But you'll like it.