Bristan VAL 1/2 C CD Lever Basin Taps with Ceramic Disc Valves - Chrome Plated

Obviously I cannot say how long these will last but I have just fitted these to our basin (Still have the bath to do as they were delivered separately?) but I have to say that they feel like quality. I have a 3 and a 4 year old and they have had a little play with them, with the use of a step they can learn to wash their hands by themselves quite easily now. Turn them on and there is a lot of control over a short turn, they shoot water out in a powerful but controlled stream when half open and at max they are very powerful compared to the old taps. They just feel like the valves are solid, no chance of any drips for a long while. Fitting to the basin was a pain but as taps are made to a standard this would go for any basin tap as quite simply even with the standard double ended basin/bath tap spanner the basin just gets in the way, the rubber seal slipped through the hole a couple of times and it was tough to engage the tap spanner with the nut underneath to tighten the taps but once I'd done the first the second was much easier. All in all they really do seem good quality at a very decent price!

A beautiful set of Bristan taps - so nice looking that when I received them, I had to re-check the price because I couldn't quite believe that such quality is possible at such a price. The chrome is very nicely plated and astonishingly well polished and these taps really do, without any exaggeration, have a premium appearance. The premium quality goes further to include a thick brass locking nut - not a cheap plastic nut. It's top notch Bristan quality without a top of the range price. It took me a few minutes to fit the first one and a few hours to fit the second one (a broken thread on the awful old tap that has been in place probably for decades). Having seen how nice the first one looked, locked in place, I was motivated to persevere with the second one rather than giving up and calling a plumber and I eventually got there! The opening and closing action is really smooth - just enough resistance to speak of a quality mechanism under the hood. Although the tap only opens, say, 60 degrees or so in each direction, it is possible to accurately control the water flow in a graded and gradual way. This I suppose is the ceramic disc valve mechanism. I would strongly recommend these taps and I'm really glad that I didn't pass up this bargain and waste money on a more expensive set of taps elsewhere.

These taps look great, much better than their price tag of £17 suggests. They were also pretty easy to install, but one thing to be aware of is that they don't come with the pipes to connect the taps to the water pipes, which I didn't realise. However, I just used the old ones, which worked fine. My old taps wouldn't turn on until you'd turned them almost half way, then they would gush out water, or they would cause the pipes to make this thudding noise, which didn't sound very good! However, these taps are as smooth as James Bond, silent and efficient.

Originally was looking to source a replacement cartridge for one of our leaky taps. Found these which were exact (actually better) replacements of the taps we already have. They were reasonably easy to put in ... working under sinks is always awkward. They come with a rubber washer which is supposed to go between tap and sink but (probably due to the shape of our sink) these didn't really work so we used them underneath the sink instead and that seems to be fine. They are very easy to turn and only turn about a quarter rotation from off to full so it might take a bit of getting used to. They are well made, look great and I think they'll last a very long time.

Sorry to be unoriginal and repetitive but just like loads of previous reviewers these taps are at least half the price of many other brands and are of extremely good quality. Also as already stated by many others they come with quality brass securing nuts not c..p plastic ones. I am an average d.i.yer and purchased an Armeg Jaw Dropper set a couple of years ago and although a bit more pricey than some plumbing tools on the market it is worth its weight in gold for this job. Plummers charge at least the price of these to fit taps and it is only a simple job even if a little awkward. Mine has now paid for itself. If you need taps buy Bristan, they are really quality.

The taps themselves are absolutely flawless, they have a beautiful finish, real smooth quality opening and closing feel and without a single drop of leakage! Fitment was again very simple all be it the usual challenges that come with attempting to dismantle someone else's bodge jobs! The taps are standard fittings and no obscure sizes to deal with. Threads are nice and chunky and not easily shredded when trying the get anything larger than a child's hand behind a basin. Only thing that lets them down is the lack of an additional rubber washer to go on top of the brass fitting nut (yes no plastic here!). Otherwise they fit perfectly but with the above additional washer would be an all round perfect buy. Great taps, great price and quality brand!

Very easy to install, I unscrewed my old, leaking hot tap, and replaced it with this new one. Still have a new cold tap spare for the future. The taps themselves are solid and fairly heavy; you only have to twist the tap between a quarter and half way to reach full blast. The tap on the left of the picture is the newly installed hot tap and on the right is my approx 3-4 year old cold tap. You can see it has a fair amount of wear at the end of it.