All local sources have said they used to be better but now other brands have caught up and it's not worth it.
Since the Totos are comparably-priced, how can they be "not worth it"? Remember, salesman tell you whatever they need to tell you in order to sell you what they want to sell you. There are all sorts of incentives -- cash and prizes -- thrown at salespeople and professionals to move a certain volume of a certain item. This is how we ended up with the world's crappiest air conditioner, when the matriarch went to pick up the one we told her to get at PC Richard. She came back with an awful one, rather than the specified one. How did this happen? The salesman told her that this one was "better". And, now on the defensive, she said, "The man at PC Richard knows more about air conditioners than you do." Well, maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. But one thing is/was for sure: whatever he knew, what he told her had nothing to do with what he knew and everything to do with the bosses wanting to move the crappy air conditioners off the floor. Or you go into a bar and order Smirnoff. The bartender wants to move the $10 vodka, and so tells you either that he's out of Smirnoff or something like, "Let me pour you some Ketel One instead. Believe me, you'll thank me in the morning." And his manager gives him points for upselling.
What would I do? I wouldn't buy anything from those guys. (Ferguson...PUH-LEESE.) I would find the Toto I wanted, see what Supply.com was selling it for, and then call around and ask five local plumbing supply places (look in the Yellow Pages for plumbing supply, whether or not they say they sell Toto, because they can get it) for their best price on that model and color of Toto, without being a jerk and telling them the online price. That's just for you to have an idea of a "street" price or a little lower than the street price. In our experience, two will be jerks, two will be nice, two will have a stupidly-high price, and at least one will be nice and have a good price. That's who I would buy it from.
The joy of this forum is being able to get a variety of views from people actually on the ground installing and using the stuff, who aren't trying to sell you anything.
And -- GEEZ -- if you're going to spend $250 on a toilet, get the Toto Entrada or the Toto Original Drake and pocket the difference.
