Toto C5 Washlet Review 2023

The Toto C5 Washlet was the best bidet overall in my larger review of the best bidets. Ahead, learn more about why this superior washlet won.

If you’re looking to upgrade your bathroom, the Toto C5 Washlet won as the best bidet overall from my tested best bidets review. It stood out from the competition as a comfortable, luxurious and easy-to-use addition to your toilet. When it comes to selecting a bidet or washlet, the Toto C5 Washlet has functionalities and features that, according to my testing, should satisfy most bidet users. It's easy to install, intuitive to operate and comes with extra features that, while not strictly necessary, make your trip to the bathroom that much more comfortable and enjoyable.

The Toto C5 Washlet won best bidet overall in my tests since it has the best range of features.

Choosing a bidet for your bathroom is a deeply personal choice, depending on what you find most effective and comfortable. Read on to learn about the particular features of the electric Toto C5 Washlet and why it won in my tests.

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Style: Electric seat, hot water model | Special Features: Dryer, deodorizer, premist, remote nozzle cleaning, two user presets | Warranty: 1 year | Requires an outlet: Yes

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Whether you’re looking to install a bidet to cut down on toilet paper—because wiping isn't comfortable or possible for you, or because you want a more thorough clean for your rear—the purpose of a bidet is the same: to rinse your butt and remove bathroom mess. While any bidet will do that, the Toto C5 Washlet does that in more style and comfort than the other models I tested, thanks to its sleek aesthetic, seat warmer, adjustable water temperature and heated air dryer. It operates via a simple wireless remote—the best-designed remote of any model I tried—which eliminates that sometimes awkward process of trying to figure out a side panel.

I found that the Toto C5 had an easily adjustable stream of water that allowed me to adjust the water pressure without ever getting to a setting that felt too high, while another model I tried had a firehose-like intensity that I found extremely unpleasant. I also appreciated that the installation process went particularly smoothly compared to other models, thanks to clear instructions and thoughtful touches, like a small sign on the plate that attaches the bidet seat to your toilet that indicates in which direction it should go. (You might be surprised at how difficult that is to figure out otherwise.)

Toto is a well-known name in the fancy toilet game, and so it's not a surprise that the look of the bidet is also very nice. The only thing to watch out for is that adding a bidet seat does slightly decrease the surface area of your toilet seat, in order to accommodate the electronics hidden at the back of the seat. "Overall, you're going to notice that the size of a seat is about an inch to an inch and a half smaller than an actual toilet seat," says James Lin, founder of TheBidetKing.com "That's because they’re made for the Asian market—here in the US we have on average bigger butts." That's true for the Toto—it definitely leaves a little bit less real estate. Still, even the space adjustment didn't detract from the overall aesthetics or functionality of the seat. I found that even the sacrifice of an inch or so wasn't a big deal stacked up to all the other reasons the Toto C5 was my pick, like its built-in deodorizer, user presets and pleasing-to-use remote.

One of the little touches that put the Toto C5 above the other models I tested was the feature that enables you to program your exact preferences for angle, pressure and temperature into the remote. It has two user settings, which is perfect for my household, where just my husband and I are the ones using the bidet. It's not that big of a deal to dial in your own preferences every time you use the bathroom, but the one-touch setting was remarkably convenient.

The Toto C5 Washlet has 2 user presets—perfect if you live with a partner and want to save your ... [+] bidet preferences.

The Toto C5 remote user settings also allow you to customize—and save—your preferred air-drying temperature and seat temperature. That was useful for me, since I really like a toasty heated seat, particularly in colder weather, but my husband finds it "off-putting and creepy" to sit on a toilet that's preheated (Your mileage may vary.) Thanks to its user settings, the Toto elegantly accounts for individual preferences.

Another feature that put the Toto C5 at the top of the list is a small, built-in deodorizer. It is, as James Lin explains, essentially "a small exhaust fan" to help reduce unwanted bathroom odors. (The Toto puts the exhaust through a charcoal filter as well.) Though my bathroom has a built-in ventilation system, I found that the built-in deodorizer freshened the room noticeably more quickly, and was basically silent.

The Toto C5 also has a patented "e-water" system that helps constantly sanitize both the bidet nozzle and the toilet seat. "E-water" is just water that has been treated with a small electronic charge thereby, per Toto, making the water slightly more acidic and turning it into a more effective cleaning agent. Whether that's scientifically accurate or not, I appreciated that the e-water system pre-misted the toilet bowl every time someone sat on the seat, making cleaning the toilet easier.

I’m a veteran journalist in the lifestyle, culture and food space, with bylines in New York magazine, Food & Wine and Vox, among other publications. (I’ve also tested the best pillows, best meal kit delivery services, best juicers and best coffee grinders for Forbes Vetted.) For this piece, I installed and used six bidets, and spoke to a plumber, an anal surgeon and the self-proclaimed BidetKing about the best features and models.

Of all the bidets I tested, the Toto C5 was the winner, thanks to some extra, particularly useful features. But it has a few drawbacks. For one, you can't close the lid of the Toto C5 and sit on it as you would a normal toilet seat—it's made of flimsier plastic that won't support a person's weight. For another, it's expensive, at a list price of about $500. After weeks of testing, I think it's worth the investment for the absolute best bidet. But if you’re interested in a bidet seat that has many of the same functions, like an air dryer, heated seat and adjustable water temperature, for less, I’d look to the Alpha JX, which comes in at over $100 less, and has all the features the Toto does except for the bowl mister, user settings, and deodorizer. If you don't care about those functions, and just want something that gets the job done without muss or fuss (and doesn't require an electric hookup), I would point you to the Tushy Classic 3.0, a cold-water model that will clean your butt just fine.

The way I tested each bidet was fairly simple: I installed every model on my own toilet and used them. During the installation process, I noted whether the instructions were clear or convoluted, and whether there were any particularly difficult points in the process. Then I used the bidet for several days, taking note of which functions were particularly helpful, and testing the various water pressure, temperature and drying functions.

To test the best bidets, I timed how quickly they cleaned off shaving cream on a saran-wrapped ... [+] toilet seat.

I also had my husband try out the bidets and give me notes on his favorite. Since I’m 5-foot-4 and he's 6-foot-4, our different body types and shapes were informative in the testing, as well as our different preferences on what we found to be an optimal bathroom experience. I also tested how quickly the bidets cleaned off a path of shaving cream on the seat that I had saran-wrapped, a very Three Stooges experiment that nonetheless demonstrated the relative force of the water streams involved.