I would have been seriously disappointed in buying a Toto if I had discovered the American Standard Cadet "3" models after paying through the nose for Toto's name. I was literally at the plumbing supply store picking out a Toto when the girl showed me the AS Cadet "3". I saved $300 plus I got the AS version of Sanigloss which the Toto Drake (right height, oval, white) did not come with. AS puts that finish on all their toilets, not just a few. To put this purchase into perspective, I've lived in hotels 50% of the time since 2004. I've seen way more toilets than I should have. The Toto Drake is a fine toilet, but it has absolutely NO performance value over what the AS Cadet "3" offers for $300 less. They are identical designs! The hotel I'm in now has the Kohler Cimmaron model. It's good, too, but still more expensive than the Cadet "3". I agree about not skimping on the rental. Again you don't need to pay $400+ for anything to get a great toilet. If you spend $180 for an AS, you'll never have to pay a plumber to come out. One plumber visit would pay for the toilet.

Is your sewer pipe plastic or cast iron? Plastic is definitely noisier - one of our friends has a $1.2M spec home in Old Lyme, CT, and the noise of the toilet (in either upstairs bathrm), an upscale American Std, can be heard in every single room both upstairs and downstairs. Some builders skimp on the insulation between floors and interior walls, too, which makes it worse. Sound then travels and echoes through the walls. I noticed that a friend's house, a standard tract development home, has a much noisier bathroom on the main floor than ours, where I know the walls were insulated. We have the Ultramax, and consider it very slightly noisier than the cheapo it replaced. But the fill is quicker, so overall we consider it quieter.

Some toilets are designed to have the strongest possible water pressure, even though it migt not need that much. The Flush Valves in the market follow the same principle. So how to Quiet Your Toilet without spending a lot of money? Well... there is a new valve called The Toilet Zilencer, which allows you to control very easily your toilet water pressure, to meet your confort level, so you still have a good flush but the noise is kept under control. I have two of these valves working in my loud toilets, and now they are very quiet, and can use them at night without any problem.

We built our house 5 years ago and this was an important subject for us since our old house had horrible Kohler toilets that clogged all the time. We went with the AS Champion line and have had NO issues with them at all. However, we did have to change our MB toilet to something different because we wanted a bidet seat. I looked all over and finally decided on a Toto. Not sure which model, but it would the most recommended one. It seems a bit lower/wider than the AS ones and imho is a much better toilet all around! I wish I had put it throughout the entire house. Plus it was less expensive than the AS. Just my two cents.