Whether you’re getting ready in the morning or shutting down for the night, bathroom rituals are vexingly repetitious—so make the most of them with a dash of technological flair. Just like the products featured in our ultimate living room feature, all of this bathroom hardware save the shower cabins were, um, tested "in situ." (Too much information? Just read the darned article!)
Solano supersolano 3700moda Hair Dryer
A gentle giant, Solano’s supersolano 3700moda is pretty much the state of the art when it comes to hair-drying technology. Every next-gen feature available in a hair dryer is standard on the 3700moda, including ceramic coils, tourmaline elements, and the production of far infrared heat (an invisible part of the light spectrum that’s supposed to dry hair from the inside out). Light in weight and shockingly quiet, this 1875-watt powerhouse blows harder than any hair dryer we’ve used before, and we also appreciate the (claimed, anyway) low-EMF emissions rating. The dryer features the usual three heat- and air-speed settings, a cold shot button, a removable filter, and two concentrator attachments. $220, www.solanopower.com
Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer
When you’re running late for work, it’s helpful to see the time—yet so few people have clocks in their bathrooms. Why? And when you’re set on auto-pilot, brushing your teeth or pomading your hair, a time display isn’t the only thing that comes in handy. You’re wasting 20 to 30 minutes every day in the bathroom, so you might as well multitask by adding news, weather, and Twitter to your routine. And thus we have the Sony Dash. This “personal Internet viewer” is completely customizable with hundreds of apps that can display sports scores, horoscopes, job postings, and more. It’s all beamed to the device via Wi-Fi, and streams through the Dash’s 7-inch display like a rotating electronic billboard. $200, www.sonystyle.com
Braun Series 7 Shaver 790cc-4
Braun hasn’t done much mucking around with its winning shaver design, but its Series 7 shaver raises the bar incrementally over prior models. The secret is in the trimmer that lies between the two sides of the foil. This strip rapidly vibrates, lifting up hairs that are stuck flat against your face—hairs that traditional electric shavers have trouble getting at. The result is a shave so close, it’s almost painful. When you’re done, you can clean the unit under running water or drop it in the Clean&Renew system, which automatically cleans, recharges, and lubricates the shaver after every session. Brilliant. $250, www.braun.com
Philips Sonicare FlexCare+ Electric Toothbrush
The Sonicare FlexCare+ model is Philips’ most advanced toothbrush to date. It features five operational modes and a timer that pauses the brush every 30 seconds, encouraging you to move to a different quadrant of your mouth. Coolest of all, the base unit features an ultraviolet light-powered sanitizing system that zaps the brush heads for 10 minutes to kill all the bugs you were trying to scrub out of your mouth in the first place. Also, in case you were wondering, for this product evaluation, we limited field-testing to a single editor. Because, eww, right?
$150, www.sonicare.com
Withings WiFi Scale
Like most modern scales, Withings’ WiFi Scale measures both weight and fat mass, but then the fun really begins. After a one-time setup on your PC, the scale sends your stats via Wi-Fi to Withings’ servers, where your data is stored in a virtual log book. Every weigh-in is recorded, providing a simple view of your weight and fat mass trends over time, via either a web browser or iPhone. If you’re truly brave, you can even share your stats via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS feed. $159, www.withings.com
Brondell Swash 1000 Advanced Bidet Toilet Seat
In the United States alone, we use 34 million rolls of toilet paper every day. A bidet promises to cut toilet paper use by 75 percent, but the average American bathroom isn’t designed to hold one. Enter the Swash, a replacement for your toilet seat that turns any commode into a high-tech bidet. Hook up the Swash to a water inlet via a T-connector, plug into a GFI outlet, and you’re, um, ”good to go.” The remote control will help you define water temperature, pressure, and spray. After you do your business, hit the Dry button and the air-dryer will work on your, er, interface. This model is self-deodorizing and -sterilizing, too. We tested the Swash 1000 in Brondell’s San Francisco office—definitely one of the more unusual “vendor demos” we’ve experienced. $599, www.brondell.com
Q: How can I have a fancy-schmancy, spa-like experience in the privacy of my own home?
If your checkbook is willing, only a lack of physical space and adequate plumbing can keep you from installing a watery fortress of solitude. Variously known as shower cabins, steam showers, or simply high-end “enclosures,” these high-tech shower installations can pummel you with water from every angle, steam open your pores, soothe you with music, and bathe you in lighting of any color you choose.
Adventuring into this arena requires a vast amount of decision-making, and undertaking a high-tech shower upgrade—even with a pre-fab unit—isn’t for the faint of heart. Your first question should concern placement. Can your shower cabin fit in the area currently occupied by your tub, or will you have to consume more square footage in the bathroom, or even colonize part of the room next door?
And how many shower heads will you want? The main goal of a shower cabin is to bathe your entire body from head to toe, no matter which way you’re facing. This can be accomplished with as few as four heads—one above you and three on a side wall at various heights—but more regal units are commonly designed with as many as 16 nozzles for “his and hers” arrangements. You’ll also need to consult a plumber about whether you have enough water bandwidth to service so many nozzles, and if you have enough drain capacity to wash away all the spent water.
Ariel shower cabin or futuristic virtual reality pod? We'd like a ride in either!
They can be daunting engineering challenges, but simply seeing one of the more decadent enclosures should be enough to lower your heart rate and blood pressure. Take the Ariel Steam Shower, pictured above. You get a Jacuzzi tub with four seating positions, a steam generator, what’s billed as “acupuncture body massage sprayers,” a rainfall shower head, a detachable foot message unit, mood lighting, and an AM/FM radio with speakers.
Or, for a more recognizable name in bathroom hardware, look left to see Kohler’s new DTV II shower system. With user-configurable lighting that rotates through a choreographed series of colors, this system evokes a Vegas floor show. And, of course, you can add a waterproof sound system with speakers that blend in seamlessly with your wall tiling.
So what’s the real damage? Well, pricing lies a bit in the world of “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” While corner-sized, single-user, pre-fab steam shower units can run as little as $3,500, you’ll pay as much as $10,000 for a larger, multi-head custom installation.
