We have a hand shower on a slide bar as our only fixture. We can use it as a fixed head or hand shower. We really like it. We had both a fixed head and hand shower in our previous house and we never used the fixed head shower because we preferred the hand shower. In our new house we only put in a hand shower. It is great to rinse down the shower after showering and when cleaning the shower.

We had a fixed head and then added a slide bar when they became available. In our present shower we have a slide bar. I like the slide bar and hand shower much better.

I'd skip the fixed and just put in a handheld with a slide bar. So nice to be able to adjust the height for different users and aim it different ways, plus use it for rinsing the corners and filling things as mentioned above. I also like that you can adjust it to shower just your body if you want to skip washing your hair.

Agree with the above. Our last house had showers with a handheld on a slide bar only. That covered all the bases - most of the time we treated the handheld as a permanent fixture, but we had the flexibility to take it off the rail if we wanted. Win-win.

Thanks everyone for the advice. This gives me a lot to think about. I was ready to ditch the hand held but sounds like everyone likes it. Is the slide bar solely for adjusting the height of the hand held or does it serve any other purposes too? For instance, can you put the hand held on it and point it towards a sore back and get it spray just there, like a spa? Or does the head always just face down-ish? Or does it depend on the head?

I so wish I had splurged and put in the hand held along with the fixed head shower! I miss it when I clean the shower, when I help my young child in the shower, and when my elderly mother came to visit and I had to help her. All generations would have been covered! Instead, I have a fixed head shower and all of those things are a much more challenging!

Thank you pds. These comments are so helpful. I've also been thinking about what's best for my elderly mother when she visits.

If I decide to go with a hand held and small cradle (instead of bar) and a fixed head, where is the best location for the hole in the wall for the hand held to come out of (mostly a height question) and also the best location for the cradle? Thanks again!!

Like several above, we have the hand shower on the slide bar without the fixed head and see no need At All for a fixed head. I believe it could tilt enough to blast on the lower back but have not needed that. The bar IS for height adjustment and I sometimes move it up since the wife is shorter, but I often don't bother. A slight tilt is often enough. And yes, dog and shower cleaning and other things are very useful.

i like the handshower if you have children. it makes it convenient to wash their hair. i also like the handshower it makes cleaning the shower walls and tub easier.

I'll join the chorus.....we have a fixed shower head and a handheld on a sliding bar. It's the best part of the shower! SO WORTH IT. I'd never do it any other way. Our diverter is such that you can have both on, or each one on separately. IT's the best.

Yes, joining the chorus here. We have two baths, and both have a fixed head and a handheld on a sliding bar. Unless everyone in your house is the same height, the sliding bar is fabulous. When our kids were little, we had it at the shortest setting. With their heads above the spray, they loved standing in the shower. We also have diverter control, so we can choose -- 1/2 fixed, 1/2 handheld, or 100% of either. Maximum options for whatever (short or tall) people prefer.

With your shower being small, I see no practical reason to have two heads.

Because you are interested in a hand held, and because an elderly person may be using it, I'd recommend that. For elderly, I'd recommend a slide bracket so if they want the shower at a height other than the fixed bracket height, they lower the slide and still keep two hands free.

When I've had injuries, I've thoroughly appreciated the hand held aspect. Can't raise an arm? Spray directly. Can't get a certain part of your body wet? Hand hold and get the water only where it should be.

If you really don't want a slide bar and prefer fixed brackets for the hand held, put one bracket at standard height, and after you've used the shower a bit, you can mount the second wall bracket where you prefer. Thigh-height for shaving legs, etc.

Count me in as a vote for just a handheld on a fixed bar. Place the bar high enough for reasonable height. For ours, the holder for the handheld not only slides up and down the bar but also pivots so you can aim it anywhere you want. Perfect for cleaning for if you just want to rinse your feet etc. I don't see a need for a fixed shower head at all.

Ours is Vida brand and we love it. Very nice quality and finishes, doesn't look or feel cheap in any way. Vida handheld bar shower. Its not exactly this one that we have, but very similar. I'd buy another again without hesitation.

Enjoy!

I'm on the other side of that fence. I've lived in or owned 12 houses. Every time I move to a house with a hand sprayer it is nasty looking. The hose is so stiff it feels like it will break if you move it. The nozzles are always clogged with calcium. Just ugh! Usually I change it out for a regular shower head before the first use, but in one house I was not allowed to remove the hand-held. To compensate I took it apart, soaked everything in vinegar, and reassembled it. That did a lot to loosen the hose and, of course, cleaned the calcium deposits. After that I let it hang loose when I finished the shower so all the water would drain out of the hose and nozzles.

I don't get the idea of using it to spray the walls down. Aren't they already sufficiently wet? Do you have mud splashing up on the walls near the end of the shower? Hair?

I wash my dogs outside.

I use either vinegar or CLR to clean my handheld shower but we don't have exceptionally hard water. I can see it being an issue if you have hard water as it is generally hard on all plumbing.

The one we have from Vida is modular. If you need to replace pieces, the head, the hose etc, they are available as stand alone parts.

My hand held is part of the shower head.

I used the hand held to wash shampoo/conditioner and hair color off the shower walls. We have just the high cradles instead of a fixed showerhead and I have installed them for relatives.

I can't imagine a shower without a handheld for a variety of functions from cleaning the actual shower - I hose down the glass and tile as the last step to get rid of any splashes as well as being able to reach nether regions of the body more easily.

I actually have two - one is by my bench and one is at the other end by the traditional shower head. My hand held units are slim but do the job just as well as a round hand held but I think are a bit more elegant as part of the design - mixing form and function perfectly.

This is the hand held by the bench and is the perfect height to access while sitting comfortably.

This is the hand held by the shower head which is not in the picture as it is at the traditional height versus the hand held which is at the level of my control valves.

Thanks again everyone! We decided to keep the hand held because of all these comments. This has been very helpful.