Review on 🚽 DOMETIC 301097606 Portable Toilet: 5.0 Gallon, Gray - Convenient & Mobile Sanitation Solution by Evan Martinez

Compared to our previous Dometic 960 series toilet, this Dometic 970 series has some advantages and some shortcomings. 960 Series: Dometic 301096606 Portable Toilet On our week long trip to Lake Powell the family loved the pump mechanism that pumps water. The water is released via a button on the front panel. We found that you had to pressurize the tank quite a bit depending on the amount of water in the top unit. The pumping mechanism is louder than the 960 series bellows pump, which is why you hear "uheep, uhhhh, uhhhh" at night, rousing some people in the tents closest to the toilet. ABS feels stronger and is easier to clean than 960 series plastic; however, it also has more scratches. The biggest problem is the diameter and design of the overflow tank. On the 960 Series, the holding tank has a large diameter opening that is easily poured from the rear. It is very easy to drain everything in one gulp and then rinse. On this 970 Series, the holding tank has a significantly smaller diameter opening and a 90 degree swivel elbow. Without going into too much detail, it took six attempts to remove the larger logs from the waste tank because they didn't fit in the tube. The second biggest issue is the design of the waste water tank vent. Dometic really screwed it up. There is an arrow on the wrong side of the vent showing the twisting motion. This makes you think the vent is open when it's actually closed, and vice versa. There is a tiny triangular indicator on the vent that shows opening and closing. If you look at the triangle and not the arrow, then you are doing everything right. In the end we highlighted the triangle with a red marker to make it clearer. The third biggest problem is that the waste level meter is practically useless. Also, there is no gauge to show how much fresh water is in the upper tank. A strong competitor to watch out for is Thetford 550E. Thetford 92360 Porta Potti 550E Curve Portable Toilet We liked the built in toilet roll holder on this unit, but would have preferred it to be a bit more windproof. We could easily see sand and rainwater getting into the toilet paper holder. Additionally, Thetford's water and waste indicators are better than the Dometic 970 series. The reason we dropped Thetford is the battery-powered water pump. We didn't want to be left without a toilet in the camp because of missing batteries or a broken pump. If Thetford had a manual backup pump we would buy it. Also, it is very likely that we will store the device without removing the batteries. One reviewer did this and the batteries leaked and damaged the pump. Apparently, a replacement pump costs almost as much as a new toilet. It just doesn't work for us.