this was my review on popupportal.com:
I'm heading out for 4 days next week and as a first time cassette toilet owner i wanted to test the unit before getting out there.
I finished testing Camco (41544) Portable Travel Toilet - i think i went Saturday morning to Wednesday morning.
tl;dr: Positive experience! Get one :)
DW would never be ok with me testing in the house, so i hid it in the shower of our downstairs bathroom. Everyone (dw, dd1, dd2) in the house uses the bathroom downstairs, but no one uses the shower, so the curtain stays closed - perfect hiding place and "testing site". I wanted to make sure it worked properly and that i could empty/clean out the cassette without issues. And since my pup isn't that big and i don't have an outside tent for the toilet, it would be in the pup, so I wanted to be sure it didn't smell.
I used the orange TST pods - directions are vague - they say drop pod in and put in enough water to cover the pod. So that's what i did.
I purposely didn't change a single bit of my regular routine - if i had to #1, i #1'ed, and if i had to #2, i #2'ed. I didn't try to conserve water with fewer pumps of the flush or try to use less (or special) toilet paper.
The cassette did great.
Sitting was a bit tight - I'm not tiny (6", 230#) and I'd prefer the seat to be longer/more oval, but it wasn't bad at all. The height is 16 inches off the floor - not regular toilet height but close enough and very comfortable. The overall size is compact - i had plenty of space to do my business in the shower :p
Operating it was a breeze - everything worked exactly as advertised. I recommend laying a little tissue down first to make cleaning up easier. Open the hatch, take care of business, pump flush till it all goes down. if there are remnants you simply wipe with tp or lay the tissue down before. Don't worry about conserving water - flush flush. Shut the hatch, close the seat and seat cover. piece of cake.
I'm a decent size fellow with a good appetite - lets just say I'm an ideal test subject. my cassette has a 5.3 gallon waste tank and i probably filled it half way in 4 days, maybe a little more. Keep in mind i didn't hold back on trips to toilet, TP, or flushing water. with a tank that size i think I'll be emptying it roughly at half full - i think it would get pretty heavy if it was totally full. the weight itself wouldn't bother me carrying it, but it would be awkward to empty at that weight. it's nice to have the extra capacity and that adds to the seat height too.
Odors? none while not in use. no one in my family noticed a smell, even tho the cassette was just on the other side of the shower curtain when they were using the house loo. When i opened the hatch for business there was some ordor, but it was very muted. if someone was overly sensitive i think there are some additional pods you can get that help with scent - but over all i was so pleased at how little it smelled. the hatch works great keeping in smells, and after you flush and then close it, a little residue water pools on the hatch, which i imagine adds to the seal.
Emptying - today i decided to end the test - it matched what i will be doing next week camping. i had watched videos (there are some english ones about boating thetfords that are spot on and very funny :) ) so i was prepared. i had a water container to put fresh water back in the tank to rinse it. overall it was smooth sailing. it smelled some, but again, very muted, not bad at all. having changed diapers for two girls for years i had zero issue with it. The material was also very broken down, hard to spot tissue bits, etc... very liquid. it all flowed out just fine. extend emptying tube, remove cap, flush the toilet, and dump while toilet flushes. the only thing i didn't do perfectly was keeping the tube end down as close to the toilet bowl water as possible and depressing the vent button immediately. there was some splashing (ew) but it was just a few drops and i won't make that mistake again ;-)
Once the first main dump was done, i filled the tank with clean water, replaced the cap, and shook up the tank and re-emptied. i did that about 4 times - till the water ran clear. Wipe everything down with some tissue, and that was it - good to go.
no one likes to deal with this stuff, but having the cassette is awesome. so far my best popup buy.
| Color | White |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 1"D x 1"W x 1"H |
| Material | Resin |
| Brand | Camco |
| Item Weight | 11 Pounds |
| Installation Type | Floor Mounted |
| Shape | Oblong |
| Seat Material Type | Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene |
| Manufacturer | Camco |
| Model | 41545 |
| Item Weight | 11 pounds |
| Item model number | 41545 |
| Manufacturer Part Number | 41545 |
