Kohler Dekoda Review

About the Kohler Dekoda

• Size: 8.13 inches H x 3.74 inches W x 3.43 inches D
• Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Fits rim width: 32mm to 58mm

The Kohler Dekoda health tracker clamps onto the side of your toilet and uses spectroscopy sensors, which Kohler describes as a technology based on light waves, to gather information about what's in your toilet. This becomes apparent the first time you start a session, when the device begins flashing a surprisingly bright light in your toilet.

The device works and blends in with almost all white toilets of standard size. (Dark-colored toilets may affect the sensor's ability to gather the required information.) It comes with a remote, a remote holder, a charger, and the device itself. You need to supply the toilet, as well as a smartphone, to install the Kohler Health app, where you can access your data.

How we tested

To put the Dekoda to the test, we installed it on the toilet in the most-used bathroom in the house, the en suite one attached to my bedroom. My husband and I both installed the app on our phones and added our fingerprints to the remote to give us two separate logins. Then, we used the bathroom normally, starting a new session before each use, either on our phones or with the remote.

What we like

It's easy to install and easy to use

Installing the Dekoda couldn't have been easier—it was simple to open and clamp onto the side of the toilet bowl, and it didn't require any tools or special skill to install securely.

In full transparency, our first install of the Dekoda was on the wrong side of the toilet, which resulted in the motion sensor constantly triggering and the battery draining. This is easily fixed by not skipping over the part of the instructions that clearly states the proper orientation for the Dekoda.

Using the Dekoda is a cinch, too. The app is well-designed and easy to use, and results appear within a few minutes. The app collects all your sessions in one place, and it's easy to add tags ("alcohol," "post-workout," "gas," "dairy") to your sessions to help you identify relevant patterns. The fingerprint-activated remote that lets you start and end sessions without your phone is fast and effective, and surprisingly satisfying to touch and use.

Overall, every element of the Dekoda system is a pleasure to use, which smooths the friction inherent in needing to track every bathroom visit.

It's (mostly) accurate and insightful

It's not until you start tracking all your visits to the bathroom that you realize how often you go—we were surprised at how much data each day of use gathered.

Kohler claims that "algorithms trained and validated against scientific measures" analyze the data, including your urine's specific gravity and the Bristol Stool Chart. It would be great if the app reported that actual data. After all, who doesn't want to know which Bristol Stool number their number two is? Alas, they do not. Perhaps for ease of understanding, the data is kept simple and abstracted.

In general, we felt like the Dekoda accurately assessed our hydration: On more than one occasion, seeing the "underhydrated" notification was like a lightbulb going off over my head: "Ohhh, that's why I have a mild headache and dry hands—I should refill my water bottle!" And any tool that reminds me to drink enough water makes a positive difference in my day.

Luckily for our overall health (although less useful for testing purposes), we had no instances of unusually colored stool or stool with an undesirable consistency during the testing period. This left less scope for insights, even though getting a "regular stool, brown, moderate" felt surprisingly gratifying.

Out of dozens of sessions, we only found one instance where the Dekoda didn't accurately report output: In that case, it registered stool with no blood, despite there being blood but no stool. This happened late at night in a dark bathroom, so it's possible the analysis was hampered by the lack of light. We found the other reporting to be largely accurate, both in dark rooms and in bright light.

What we don't like

The information is basic

Dekoda presents information in clear language and easy-to-understand graphics that help you track your output over time. However, at its core, it only tracks five things:

1. Whether you're hydrated or underhydrated
2. The color of your stool (brown, black, green, pale, yellow, or red)
3. The consistency of your stool (regular, hard, and loose)
4. The amount of your stool (minimal, moderate, or substantial)
5. Whether or not blood is present

While this can be useful information and is especially helpful to track over time if you're hoping to see patterns in your output, it's basic information, and some of it (color, consistency, amount) is generally immediately apparent to the eye.

It's expensive

You're paying a premium to use the Dekoda.

The tracker itself is $449, and using it requires a subscription to the Kohler Health app. For a single user, that app is $6.99 a month or $70 annually; for a family subscription, which lets you establish as many as six accounts for users 18 and above, it's $12.99 a month or $130 a year.

The Kohler website notes that certain customers may be able to use FSA or HSA funds to buy the Dekoda device itself directly from the website, which allows users to buy it with pre-tax dollars. (The required Kohler Health membership cannot be paid for with FSA/HSA funds.) But the combination of a relatively high upfront cost and recurring payments makes this a pricey home health purchase.

Warranty

Kohler says you can return an undamaged Dekoda for 30 days after receiving it for any reason; just include all the items received with your purchase. (Shipping and handling will not be refunded.) The company will repair or replace the device while it's covered by the one-year warranty, though it excludes normal wear and tear, loss or theft, and consumable parts like batteries.

Should you buy the Kohler Dekoda?

Maybe, if you're interested in learning more about your health and don't mind the cost

Is the Kohler Dekoda (available at Kohler) worth it? If you're looking for additional insights into your digestion or trying to figure out how different foods, activities, or triggers are affecting your gut health, we think this could be a valuable tool to help gather data and identify trends—especially if you take the majority of your bathroom breaks in the same place.

That being said, I think the insights you get from the Dekoda are still too surface-level to justify the device's price and subscription cost for the average user. It may still be a product with a specific audience, but with its sleek design and easy-to-use interface, we think it will find fans.