linelle: "Washlet seat? Holy crap. I had no idea. When things get that bad, I just stick my butt under the tub spout and start over." "Washlet" is a registered trademark of Toto; no other manufacturer can advertise its seat as a Washlet without risking a suit for trademark infringement. However, like "Scotch" tape and "Band-Aid" bandages and "Xerox" copiers and "Coke" cola beverages, a lot of people use "Washlet" as if it were a generic descriptor. Toto Washlet advanced toilet seats are very good, but are not the best of breed; that medal belongs to Inax advanced toilet seats. Inax -- which is the #2 Japanese plumbing fixture company in size but in Japan has a more prestigious image than Toto -- invented the category, and has remained the technological leader in that category for 30 years. Lixil, the name of the corporate group of which Inax is a part. purchased American Standard last year, and you will see a lot more of Inax in the United States going forward, I am sure. (My guess -- only a guess: American Standard will play the Toyota role in the United States, while the Inax brand will play the Lexus role.) But as to the story of advanced toilet seats as a purchase that you W-I-L-L make in the future, you should know that, in Japan, more than 90 percent of households already have them, and the Japanese now look down on our primitive American toilet hygiene in the way that we North Americans view the use of pit privies in third-world countries. Anybody who has used an advanced toilet seat for a period of more than a week or so is not going to go back to a primitive toilet seat. Never ever, ever. As to advanced toilet seats, Americans are in the stage that we were in in the early 1980s: "Why would I want a computer in my house?" Here is a link that might be useful: Rose George tells it like it is

Thanks all! We ended up getting the soft close (it was actually free thanks to the intercession of my local plumbing store maven Jackie. I highly recommend her to anyone in LA if anyone's interested). I have to say that to me, the soft close doesn't really matter much; the lid gets left up most of the time anyway. In truth I find it a little annoying waiting for it to close down when necessary, but not really a big deal. What I do note, however, is a complete "YUP" to stacey's point. We also have always had wooden toilet seats. I think my parents got one at some point in my youth and I thought it the height of sophistication, to tell the truth. It's a weird teensy thing I felt it hard to let go of from deep inside. But like Stacey, I've come to really like the toto seats. I was worried about the steep angle but it is actually quite, um - how to put this delicately? - it's very functional. And it's not obtrusive as a negative. It's an impressive piece of subtle but deep engineering! Whatever does this mean about the difference between our cultures? I couldn't presume to guess but I'm sure others have... Hi Breezy. I did one bathroom that *finally* just got finished, um, almost: still need two lights. And I am thrilled with it. I have one to go. Guess I did another one too that I also like, but it's not done yet either. But the decisions in that one are not oppressive. The utterly undone one, though ... oy.

Researchers say that it is very unlikely that you will catch an STD from a public toilet seat. Many of the organisms that cause STDs can't survive outside the human body for long and need a particular environment in which to thrive. These environments cannot be found on a toilet seat. Crabs and scabies pose the biggest risks to those who sit on an infected toilet seat and, even then, the risk is infinitesimal. Herpes is, perhaps, people's biggest concern over contracting STDs via toilet seats, but again, the risk is extremely small because the virus can't survive long outside the body.

My Toto washlet automatically opens the lid when someone approaches and then closes the lid when you walk away. it can also be programmed so that it raises the SEAT when someone stands in front of it as a man would when he is urinating. It then closes the seat and the lid when the person walks away. I feel your pain in terms of someone leaving the seat up because a few times I have literally almost fallen into the toilet beause I wasn't expecting the seat to be up. The lid is theoretically supposed to be left down in terms of "politeness" but to me that isn't as big a deal as a seat being left up although it is nice that the Toto toilet lid is automatic and so my toilet lids are always down. My washlet was not cheap but it was SO worth it and is on my list of best things I got when I remodeled