This $70 bidet attaches to your toilet - I tried it and was impressed with how well it cleaned

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Superior Bidet

Yutong Yuan/Business Insider

• A high-quality bidet should be easy to install, user-intuitive, and leaves you feeling ultra-clean.
• I like the Superior Bidet Supreme Attachment (currently $69.45 on Houzz) because it produces enough pressure to clean, the water gets plenty hot, and the nozzles are self-cleaning.
• It's an inexpensive model backed by a one-year limited warranty, so this attachment is a great, low-risk way for people to decide if bidet life is right for them.

When I talk to people about bidets (which happens much more often than I'd like to admit), there are generally two reactions. If they've never used one, they're usually apprehensive about the idea of shooting water up there and often give me incredulous looks. If the person does have experience with a bidet, they give me a knowing look and are often as evangelical about this device as I am.

I drag out a common trope to convince the uninitiated that bidet life is the only life. Would you consider yourself clean if you just got into the shower without water and rubbed yourself down with a towel? Of course not. You wash with water; the same applies to your dirtiest areas. Toilet paper isn't enough.

If you're on the fence about bidets, I recommend trying a good beginner attachment like the Superior Bidet Supreme Attachment, which the brand sent me to test. Here's are my experiences with this starter unit.

Design

Superior Bidet offers four styles of bidets. The Base model ($49.99) consists of a single rear nozzle and one knob that you can use to adjust the water pressure and clean the nozzle. The Standard model ($59.95) is ambitiously marketed as "a girl's best friend" because it adds front cleaning as well. The Deluxe ($43.39) is the cheapest model on Amazon right now and only has one rear nozzle, but also has the added benefit of water temperature control so you can get hot water instead of just cold water. Lastly, Superior Bidet's most popular model is the Supreme ($69.45) which has front and rear nozzles, adjustable water temperature, and nozzle cleaning. This is the model I tested.

Read more: The best bidets you can buy

Specs

The Superior Bidet Supreme comes with a one-year limited warranty along with everything you need to install the bidet yourself. This includes a flexible metal cold water hose, T-adapters for the cold and hot water connections, a plastic hot water hose, and optional parts like Teflon tape to prevent leakage and a hot water inlet cap if you only plan on using cold water.

As you sit on the throne, the bidet attachment's controls are on your right. There are three knobs to clean the nozzle, engage and adjust the pressure for the front and rear nozzles, and control water temperature.

Set up process

Amazon

There are three knobs to clean nozzles and adjust positioning.

Installation was fairly simple, but there were a few complications. First, you'd need a wrench, screwdriver, and a rag; I'd also recommend having a little bowl ready to catch the small amounts of water released from the hoses you'd unscrew.

After getting all your tools together, you'll uninstall your existing toilet seat and re-install it with the bidet between the seat and the back of the toilet bowl rim. You may want to add risers (which are not included) to the front of the seat to make it level, though the forward tilt isn't very noticeable. Next, you'll attach the toilet water supply valve, and for hot water, connect the plastic hose to your sink's hot water connection. A T-adapter lets you use your sink's hot water like normal with the bidet installed.

The whole process took me about 45 minutes, though a lot of that time was taken up trying to fit the poorly-threaded T-adapter to the toilet tank. I eventually got it and it doesn't leak, but did take time to figure out. I also spent a little extra time making the hot water hose that runs to the sink look nice and neat in our bathroom.

What makes the bidet stand out

With high-end bidets, you rely on the built-in heating element to produce hot water. In practice, these units don't get incredibly hot (maybe 100 degrees Fahrenheit) so you have to wait for a while to get the temperature up or waste electricity with a heating element that's on 24/7.

Since this one uses hot water from your sink, it's not an issue but that also means it'll determine how hot the bidet water gets. But you do need to be careful that you don't scald yourself; if the water out of your faucet gets uncomfortably hot quickly, the water used in your bidet will do the same.

I like that there is a nozzle-cleaning knob too. Since we're dealing with the toilet, you don't want water to come through a dirty nozzle. Thankfully, this was not a concern with the Superior Bidet Attachment.

Using the bidet is pretty easy, I appreciate that I don't have to provide tutorials to guests who want to use my bathroom. There's a nozzle in the front and one in the back for obvious reasons, both of which remain out of sight until they are engaged for sanitary and aesthetic reasons. To use the bidet, you just turn the nozzle knob toward either the front or rear position. The more you turn the knob, the higher the pressure, and the pressure produced by this bidet is impressive for the price.

Cons to consider

What I liked least about the Superior Bidet Attachment is the hot water hose. It's 10 feet long so it reaches our sink, but it's an eyesore and I couldn't close the cabinet door under the sink with the hose connected. If I was inspired, I could drill a hole to feed the hose through the cabinet but instead, I decided to just remove the hose entirely and live with cold water. But if your sink is right next to the toilet and your faucet connections are exposed, the hose may not be as unsightly in your bathroom as it was in mine.

The bidet also doesn't have high-end features like a heated seat, air drying, remote control, nozzle position adjustments, or protections against water flying out when a toddler starts playing with the knobs. If you wanted a bidet with these features, expect to pay upwards of $600. On the flip side of that though, fancier bidet seats also require electricity, which is less environmentally-friendly and may require an ugly extension cord.

Read more: What it's like to use a $649 bidet toilet seat - it has a heated seat, a built-in blue nightlight, and adjustable water pressure

The bottom line

For the price, the Superior Bidet Supreme Attachment is a good starter bidet. It doesn't compare to the expensive electric alternatives out there but with its pressure and temperature adjustments, hygienic front, rear nozzles, and easy installation, it's a solid choice for beginners. I strongly recommend it to people who want to find out if bidets are right for them before investing in a more expensive one.

Pros: Pressure and temperature controls, a self-cleaning nozzle, inexpensive

Cons: Doesn't have many high-end features, the hot water hose may be an eyesore in your bathroom

Buy the Superior Bidet Supreme Attachment on Houzz for $69.45

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