Illumibowl is a motion-activated nightlight for your toilet that was featured on Shark Tank. Does it work as advertised? Read my Illumibowl review.
About Illumibowl
Illumibowl is a nightlight which can be installed on your toilet that lets you use the bathroom at night without the need to use bright bathroom lights. The official product website is illumibowl.com, which was registered in September 2014 The screen capture below shows the official website as it appeared at the time of this writing in May 2016.
Claims and Features
- 9 color choices
- Single color or color-cycle
- Fits any toilet
- Motion activated
- Only turns on during the night
- Requires three AAA batteries
Cost
You can find Illumibowl in stores and online for about $13-$20. The latest model is currently available on Amazon for $12.99.
Illumibowl Review
Most people who have considered purchasing Illumibowl became familiar with the product when it was featured on Shark Tank. In the years since, a number of similar products have come along, somewhat blurring the lines between the different versions that can be found online and in stores.
The design is simple: An LED light which attaches to your toilet bowl. It is motion-activated and light-activated, and will turn on when you enter a dark bathroom. There are 8 color settings, so the light can be set to match your decor. The default setting is to rotate among the various colors, but you can press the button on the side of the unit to stop on a specific color. The light itself resides inside the bowl, while the rest of the unit – including the motion detector – resides outside. The button can be pressed and held to dim the brightness of the LED to three settings: high, medium, and low.
Because the majority of the unit is on the outside, only the small light would be subject to any sort of regular cleaning, and this can be achieved by simply wiping it off on occasion.
It is difficult to create a single review which encompasses the wide array of comments by those who have used Illumibowl. You’ll find 5-star reviews by those who have had a trouble-free experience, along with 1-star reviews complaining of durability or design flaws. Keep in mind that reviews span two different versions: the original – that requires suction cups – and the second generation, which doesn’t.
So among these two “camps” of Illumibowl users, you’ll find the positive reviews by those who found it to work as advertised. These pleased customers report that it switches on and off at the appropriate times, and stays attached to the bowl as expected.
Those who have complained about Illumibowl have suggested a few problematic areas. One such problem is that of mounting. Those with highly curved bowls, for example, have said that it tends to slip off and onto the floor. The suction cups in the original version may not be sufficient to hold it in place on some types of bowls, although the arm in the later version gives the user more mounting flexibility. Another reported problem is that the motion sensor sometimes doesn’t turn off, which exhausts the batteries very quickly.
As of this writing, the original Illumibowl sports a somewhat lukewarm user rating of 3.0 stars at Amazon, while the second version has a 3.7 mark. What is the difference between the two? The original used suction cups to stay in place, and sported a short arm. The second generation uses a longer arm without the need for suction cups.
Illumibowl to offers a warm and pleasant glow at with any of the colors selected. The motion sensor allows you to enjoy it without having to turn it on or off. When it works as expected, it’s a great idea.
You may want to pick it up locally so that if it doesn’t work for you, returning it will be less problematic than if you were to purchase it online.
Illumibowl knockoffs have also begun to appear online. You may want to peruse our review of GlowBowl, which looks and performs very similarly to Illumibowl. I have a video forthcoming (that will be embedded here when available) in which I compare Illumibowl with Bowl Light and Bowl Brite.
Television Commercial
Your Illumibowl Reviews
If you’ve used Illumibowl please give us your opinion by leaving a comment below and a star rating above.
Updated May 2017.
I am glad you covered this product. Such a cool little product. I myself wrote a review of Illumibowl at Reddit. Here it is if you wanna check it out –
https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeImprovement/comments/5qotjv/illumibowl_20_review_motion_activated_nightlight/
It doesn’t work it was flashing red when I installed the batteries once it’s in the toilet you must press the button when you walk in the bathroom Its not sensing you walked in as it suppose to via motion. There no manuf. phone number in the box and no invoice was enclosed.
I am unhappy with their delivery system and their customer service! They will not answer emails about my order delay.
When I got my first set of illumibowl (4) they did not last a year. They replaced them with the newer version. I was very impressed. My next set, only two are still working and two quit after one set of batteries. They will not replace them because they are more than 90 days old. I am not happy about the quality and the new ones were not much improved. I love the product when it works!