Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We purchased this toilet to install in our off-the-grid cabin. All the product components were well packed, and the toilet arrived in good shape, in a very large, but sturdy box. Installing the toilet was straight-forward. Installing the required vent was not. The instructions for this, as others have noted, are basically nonexistent. The company could and should do much better than leaving you to figure it out for yourself. Since our cabin is off a long, bad, dirt road, we wanted to get it right. No quick trips to the store! Nevertheless, we got the vent installed. As for power, right now it is connected to a 12 volt battery. We've used the toilet for nearly a year, on several weekends a month. With two of us, I have emptied the compost section only twice. Not pleasant, but tolerable. I empty the liquids container much more often though. Again, not pleasant, but tolerable. This toilet is not for the squeamish! I would have rated this as a 5 star except the instructions for the required vent were so poor. But remember, this is a composting toilet, and you have to do something with the resulting waste. Figure out how you are going to manage that before you purchase this toilet. I went to the garden store and bought composting soil, and that has worked well. We take the composted waste away in a double plastic bag to dispose. Because there is always at least a week between a last use and when I empty the container, the composting is well along. However, to use it in your yard you would want to finish it in a stand-alone composter like you would purchase at a garden store. As for using it at our cabin, we are on National Forest land, and gardens are not allowed. We use regular 2-ply paper, just like at home. My husband likes to use a coffee filter when going #2. I don't. Your choice. You have to explain to guests how to use it. I do the girls. He does the boys. So that is a little weird. The seat is a little narrow, but comfy enough, and the lid is very nice. The toilet is sturdy, and seems as if it will last a long time. Update: I used to empy the liquids container every time we used our cabin. I was afaid not to. Now I empty it only when it gets full. There is no difference in the ick factor. Cheap plastic gloves are useful (and necessary when emptying the compost part). I empty the liquids container, then fill it partway with hose water, swirl the water, dump that, then replace the container into the toilet. You do not rinse the compost part of the toilet when you empty that. UPDATE #2: We've owned and used the toilet for about 1.5 years now. With experience came some changes. A few months ago, we started to have a really bad smell in the bathroom. No, make that the cabin. We needed to keep the bathroom door closed all the time, and the windows in there open too. I called the company, and got wonderful advice - 1) Don't use composting soil. Use peat moss, which comes in a large plastic bag. It is dry-ish. I was told to wash out my toilet. Not fun, especially since I have a very limited water supply. But I did that. Then I added the peat moss and water, which were pre-mixed in a bucket. Be sure to add enough water so that the crank turns freely. I guessed too little, so I added some water and it worked perfectly. Since then, I added some more water. We have no bad smell now. 2) Then, we had small flies. Lots of them. Another call. I was advised to add 4 cups of diatomaceous earth, which you can purchase at a pool supply company. We did that. Also, I added a small piece of window screen to the air intake port on the side. I cut a round piece and it stays on with a rubber band. That seems to be working. Overall, I still say this is a very good purchase for situations where you must have a non-flushing toilet. I wish the instructions included with the toilet mentioned using a piece of screen. Wait - it would have been best to include that in the box when it shipped. Plus the rubber band, of course. I also wish the hint about using the diatomaceous earth was included in the instructions book, too. It was my fault for not following the instructions to use peat-moss.