Home goods giant Kohler just dropped the most unexpected health gadget of the year - a $599 smart camera that mounts to your toilet bowl and photographs your waste to track gut health, hydration, and blood detection. The Dekoda device, available for pre-order with October 21 shipping, represents a bold push into the digital health monitoring space that's catching both consumers and competitors off guard.
The bathroom is becoming the next frontier in health monitoring, and Kohler isn't letting startups have all the fun. The century-old plumbing company unveiled its Dekoda device this week - a sleek camera system that attaches to toilet bowls and uses AI image analysis to decode what your body's telling you through waste.
The timing couldn't be more strategic. Consumer health monitoring exploded during the pandemic, with wearables and home testing kits becoming mainstream. Now Kohler's betting that the most private moments hold the most valuable health data. "Dekoda's sensors see down into your toilet and nowhere else," the company promises, addressing the obvious privacy elephant in the bathroom.
According to CNET's detailed breakdown, the device goes beyond simple image capture. It analyzes color, consistency, and other visual markers to provide insights on gut health and hydration levels. The system can even detect potential blood traces - a capability that could catch early warning signs of serious conditions.
But here's where things get expensive fast. The $599 hardware cost is just the entry fee. Users need to shell out between $70 and $156 monthly for the subscription service that actually processes and interprets the data. That pricing puts Dekoda in premium health monitoring territory, competing more with comprehensive wellness platforms than simple gadgets.
Kohler's entry validates what startup Throne has been preaching for months - that toilet-based health monitoring represents a massive untapped market. Throne's similar device launched earlier this year to significant buzz, proving there's genuine consumer interest in bathroom-based biomarkers. Now with Kohler's manufacturing scale and retail distribution network, the concept could go mainstream.
The technical execution shows Kohler's serious about this pivot. The device includes a rechargeable battery for cord-free operation, USB connectivity for updates, and a fingerprint sensor for user identification in multi-person households. End-to-end encryption secures the data, though storing intimate health information in the cloud will likely remain a sticking point for privacy-conscious consumers.