I like it!
I bought my first one about 2 years ago. I was aware that there was a rebate program offered through my city's water company, for water saving toilets. I also knew that Sam's club had this one for about $100. It took me a while to learn whether this toilet qualified, because the brand seemed somewhat obscure. Nothing under Quality Craft was on the list. I eventually figured out that this was an Alexis toilet, and that model was on the list.
The same website hand performance ratings of all the toilets on the list. Guess what, the Alexis had the lowest water usage rating, and the highest flush power rating. Those, coupled with the low price, made this seem like a no brainer.
As others have mentioned, places like Sam's and Costco seem to have items for a short while, then they disappear, so I bought on quickly. As it turns out, this is not one of those items, they still have them 2 years later.
Now, I mentioned that there was low cost. What I did not mention, was that the rebate on this, was $130. Therefore, not counting the sales tax, I made a $30 profit on this toilet, paid $100, and got $130 back! That rather destroys the "you get what you pay for argument" in my personal case, since I paid nothing, this toilet would have to cause damage to not be a good value.
Did it live up to my expectations? It exceeded them. It is obvious when you see it in operation, that it is indeed, low water usage. The tank has a Styrofoam liner inside to reduce the volume of water, and to reduce the sweating that occurs on some parts of the country where the supply water is cold and the air is humid. Nice touch.
The capacity of the bowl is a bit scary, there does not seem to be enough water volume. One looks and thinks that defecation will land on the porcelain, not in the water, and that turns out to be the case often, I do not like that. However, the water at flush time almost always cleans the bowl of, and in fact, does so better than the American Standard toilet than this replaced, so it is hard to complain there.
Flush power? Definitely! It is amazing. Yes, we have been able to clog it a few times, but compared to the American standard, I would estimate that this happens maybe 1/5th to 1/4th the time. When it does clog, the vast majority of the time it will clear itself on a second flush. If not, then the plunger comes out, just like every other toilet I have owned. However, this brings me to my first gripe about this toilet.
When using a plunger, the exit at the bottom inside of the bowl, is somewhat rectangular shaped. That means that a round plunger does not make a very good seal. The plunger does work, but not as well as it could. Still, the plunger is effective, it takes perhaps 5 or 6 plunge pushes to clear the clog, instead of the 2 or 3 it should, not a big dea
Now, I agree with others, that it come with one really low quality seat, we did not replace ours though, we lived with it until it broke. My wife and I both push about 300 pounds, so the fact that it survived a year with us, testifies to the fact that it is not as fragile as it appears, but it does exude a low quality. However, we do not feel too bad since the excess rebate money went a long way toward the very nice replacement seat we purchased for it from Home Depot or Lowe's, I do not recall which.
Would I buy another? I bought three more.
We lived in a three-bath house, so we spent a total of $300, got $390 in rebates, bought one seat at $30, so we are $60 in the plus at that point, not counting the money saved on the water bill.
We have since moved to another 3 bathroom house, and our local water company offers a voucher, not a rebate. You fill out the form and they send you a voucher for up to $165 per toilet, limit two per household. If your toilet costs less that $165, you can use the extra money for instalation materials, or for a seat, as long as the total stays under $165. Over $165, you have to pay the difference. Previously here at this house, they offered an $89 rebate, and we but one of these in and took the $89, so the toilet cost $11. Now, we want to replace the other two toilets, but for the voucher program, the dealer needs to participate, and apparently,Sam's Club Does not. So, we will replace the other two with toileds from home depot. They are also dual flush, tall seat, low consumption etc, appear very similar. They are $118 online, but $158 in the store. However, the managers says he will honor the online price. So, we will buy two of those and two seats, and pay nothing. These type of toilets supposedly save about 12,000 gallons per year, so they will pay for themselves quickly, whether or nor there is a voucher or rebate.
The seat is ADA height approved, and while we are not disabled, the extra height is nice, more comfortable and easier to get up and down. The seat height couples with the low water level in the bowl, equals extra room between your bottom and the water, a feature I appreciate.
I also have thought about ordering spare parts, but I have not, and out of the six toilets, none has needed parts so far.
I cannot think of much more to add apart from one last gripe. The first three installed fine. Everything was easy and worked as it should. I never read the instructions, I just installed them as is, and they were plug_and_play. The forth one though, did not have adequate flush volume as it came from the factory. They are very adjustable, but the instructions, though seemingly extensive enough, never the less are not clear to me. It took a bit of head scratching to figure it out, but not too bad. Also, the forth one leaked at first, because the factory had not properly tightened the fill valve. No bggy, but check everything before and during the install.
All and all I doubt I have seen a better toilet at a bargain price, even without the rebates and water savings, I would still buy these just because they cost so little and work so well.
Hope that was helpful and informative, to me, the only real issue, might be the parts issue, I have not had to deal with that yet. If it turns out that they are not available for some reason, I would just consider replacing the toiler with another of the same kind, or, more likely, just buying another and robbing it for parts. That might seem silly and wasteful, but if I have to spend another $100 to keep one of these rolling, I will still be ahead of the game and only our $100 for a great toilet, since they are essentially free, or more accurately, because you have already paid for them with your tax money, the source of cash for the rebates and vouchers.
I should add that the toilet came with all needed hardware, the wax ring, and a braided stainless supply line.
