7-8 Inch Bathtub Spout with Diverter

I want to get a nice solid bathtub diverter spout, but unfortunately it's usually pretty hard to tell from online information.  Sometimes the weight is given, I've seen ordinary looking spouts weigh as much as 2 1/2 pounds and as little as 7 ounces.  Even if one can find the weight (which isn't often given) that doesn't really tell you how well the diverter valve works and whether it will stand up over time.

I need a 7 or 8 inch spout because of the front incline of the Bellwether tub.  If the spout isn't that long, it will direct water right into the overflow drain.  I ran the numbers in my head (drain center is 6 1/4 inches from edge of tub, tile with setting is about 3/8 inch thick, but the water stream has about 1" diameter and the diameter of the overflow drain is about 2 inches, but mostly vertical) and decided that indeed the water just barely clears with a 7 inch spout and 8 inches falls nicely in between overflow and bottom drain, a nice place for the water to land where it can help heat up the tub metal.  I think now that 8 inches would be my preference, but 7 inch might provide the best option.  8 inch diverter spouts are not very common.  Most diverter spouts are just over 5 inches.

I think now that one of the top brands for things like this (faucets, drains, valves) is Hansgrohe.  They don't seem to make anything that looks like plastic junk.  Unfortunately, no other brand is so consistent at making only the good stuff.  With Kohler, you don't know, some might be great, others junk, and you can't tell anything from their always astronomical list prices.  I feel safer with Moen or Delta even though they are slightly less premium than Kohler, it seems those companies consistently make good valves--which they are both famous for--even in their cheap stuff.  Grohe is about at the same level  as Moen and Delta though pretends to be the same level as Hansgrohe.  American Standard makes the value priced lower end products.

Hansgrohe makes a very nice looking bathtub diverter spout in Brushed Nickel around $230.  Unfortunately, at 6 1/2 inches, it just won't do, and that appears to be the longest one from Hansgrohe.  However it was looking at it which started me down the path to choosing Brushed Nickel as the standard metal finish for the King's Bath.

Moen makes the nice looking Waterhill diverter spound in Brushed Nickel, 7 inches long.

Here's another 7 inch Moen, slightly less expensive.

Here's a very nice looking diverter spout from Kohler. The high price ($217) even at home depot suggests this really is the good stuff. But who knows. I like the way the diverter lever is toward the back of the spout. I really think that is better as it puts less leverage on the support pipes when you control the diverter.  I don't like the polygon shape on the diverter lever though, that could hurt fingers.  And I can't use this model anyway as it's only 4.6 inches.  After seeing this I tried to find something similar made by Kohler but in a longer length.  I couldn't figure out how to efficiently do a search like this, but scanning through a lot of pages I haven't seen anything like this in a longer length.

I checked my old diverter spouts, and they have a round (cylinder slice) handled diverter toward the from of the spout.  A handle in the back of the spout would require that you put your hand beneath faucet control valve.  There's a lot of room, actually, but you almost certainly have to look.  It might be a little more convenient to have the handle toward the front, as most diverter spouts do.  On an 8 inch spout, however, it would be great to have the diverter handle in the middle.  I haven't seen any like that.  They all still have the handle near the front.

Here's a standard Kohler diverter spout. It looks like the ones I already have, but is it just as heavy? One orders how it can be really solid for only $23 in Chrome ($36 in Brushed Nickel), though that is more expensive than the generic plasticky ones.  I believe the list price is over $210, so looking at the Kohler website, how can you tell if it isn't in the same class as the previous Kohler I linked above, sold by the same store for $217?  Anyway, I can't use it because I need something longer.

Here's a nice looking Delta with 7.5 inch reach for $37, but material is plastic.  One suspects plastic will be the material of most spouts less than $37 too.  I want brass.

Take another look at the low priced normal length Coralais from Kohler, now listed at Amazon for $23.
I was wrong, the factory suggested price is only $39.  Weight is shown as 10.8 ounces, material is "metal."  (I want "brass" not "metal".  "Metal" without further qualification often means pot metal, the left over scrap from making the high quality stuff.)

Now look at the 8 inch Coralais from Kohler, sold by Amazon for $175.  If the pictures are to be believed, this is a far smoother looking spout--and higher quality looking.  Sure enough, the material is listed as brass and the weight as 3 pounds.  This is like a fundamentally different spout than the previous one, and I'm putting it on my short list if I can find it in Brushed Nickel.

Except the 8 inch Coralais from Kohler isn't available in brushed nickel, strangely, and for that reason and similar elsewhere, it looks like I may have to give up my dream of brushed nickel because it isn't compatible with finding the extra long tub spout I need.  Here is an extra heavy duty 8.5 inch solid brass diverter spout only available in Chrome, but seller isn't saying where or who it's made by.

Moen makes a bunch of diverter spouts at 7 inches, but I don't think that 7 inches is really long enough, and there are reviews that say the delta diverter valve is made of plastic and feels cheap.  The Moen Rothbury at 7.5 inches looks impressive (though it's not my favorite style) but it might have the same cheap plastic diverter valve.  It is available in brushed nickel, and appears to be my best brushed nickel option.  But it looks to me like the Kohler Coralais is better…I like the style better and it weighs about twice as much.  It's been surprisingly difficult to find anything better in a long tub diverter spout.

I just came across this 8 1/2 Toto.  It looks designed for strength in every way.  As I suggested, the diverter handle (a very stout maximally grippable design) it in the middle, actually the back middle here.   That means pushing and pulling puts the least relative torque on the NPT connection.  It's solid brass, 3 pounds.  The back has enlarged bottom and shrunken middle.  That means if you were to push down on it, it applies that torque to the maximum wall area.  It looks like a jewel, and also aims the water 10 degrees out.  BUT, water that lands on top is directed back toward the wall.  Some may remain on the top.  The 10 degree tilt may mean that water is directed straight into the bottom drain, which is undesirable.  I don't care much for the styling and it looks like it would hurt if you bumped it from either side (perhaps another defensive feature).  It's available in brushed nickel.  Sadly I dislike the misfeatures more than I need the added strength or brushed nickel.  Toto may make others like this…but too much like it still having the 10 degree backward tilt on top.  The top of a bath/shower spout should tilt down, so water that lands on top (and there will be plenty) is directed away from the wall.