Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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201 of 202 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
NO REGRETS!!, January 21, 2007
After going through 4 of the rake-type automatic litter boxes (DON'T EVER BUY ONE) in less than two years, I decided to try the Litter Robot. I should have done it two years ago and saved myself a lot of money and frustration!
To give you some specifics, we are a 5 cat (adults) household, males & females (all neutered), ranging from 6 to 15 pounds. They all took to it with very little or no trouble at all.
This is a GREAT product! It requires hardly any attention, uses clumping type litter and can be left On or Off. In the On setting, it cycles approximately 7-10 minutes after the cat leaves it. If you wish to keep it in the Off setting, you can switch it On for immediate cycling or "Flushing". The cycling noise is fairly minimal, kind of a loud hum, but if you are a light sleeper, you can switch it off at night and then turn it on first thing in the morning for immediate "flushing".
Although the manufacturer recommends using plastic wastebasket bags, it isn't necessary. I use the plastic bags from the grocery store, WalMart, etc., and just cut them a bit at the seams.
The only complaint I have about the unit is my own fault! Since the thing works so well and any smell is pretty much undetectable, I have, on more than one occasion, forgotten to empty the collection drawer in a timely manner... Yikes!
My only suggestion to improve the product would be to add another rubber grommet to secure the bag at the front of the drawer, but even without one, I am still ordering a second unit for the house.
Lastly, the customer service people at Litter Robot are amazing! They immediately respond to inquiries and sincerely care about their customers.
Cat Lovers!! Step away from your hand-scoop or rake type litter boxes and order a Litter Robot immediately! Once you see it in action, you'll slap yourself for not doing it sooner!
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108 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Would purchase again, wonderful machine!, April 30, 2007
I've had our Litter Robot for a little over a year, it's running just fine and haven't had any problems at all. The piece is a little on the loud side and woke me up the first couple of weeks but given it's size and that it sits in the room next to my bedroom, it's completely understandable. It's like a loud hair dryer going off. You can also just turn it off at night and do a manual cycle in the morning. If I'm at the other end of the apartment, I can barely hear it at all.
I have two cats, aged 3 (7 lbs, very adventerous, playful, ..nosey) and 5 (11 lbs, was feral for most of his life, skittish but very sweet and cuddly once he's comfortable).Both were adopted when they were about 4 years old from the local SPCA. They were comfortable with an open litter pan while at the pound and/or previous homes and I switched to a covered one for about 8 months before the Litter Robot. They took to the Litter Robot quite well, both explored and used it within half a day and the little one still likes to watch it go around or when I clean it. Both cats, however, seem to pefer the pan style and will use that if it's around instead of the litter robot. However, they absolutely have no problems and easily hop into the litter robot when that's the only choice and they both have room in there to turn around in there.
The piece is very sturdy and simple, I slide the pan out and empty about once a week. It's very simple to clean without a liner (IMO) because the litter doesn't always fall directly into the bag, especially at the front end, and I end up haveing to jiggle things around so there's a clean areas to unfasten the liner. It's not much of a problem for me, I just take the whole pan and dump it into a garbage bag and still don't have to touch anything. The pan goes for a quick rinse and soak in some warm soapy water while I clean the outside and stand with a disposible wipe. Once everything is dried, the pan slides back inside with a sprinkle of baking soda on the bottom and it's good until the next garbage day. The unit does get stinky but the smells don't "stick". Once you soak the disposal pan in warm/soapy water and wipe down the exterior, the smells are gone.
When it gets a little smelly, about once every couple of months, and I dump out all the litter. There is a button just for that specific purpose, so you just let the machine do all the work. I spray down and soak the inside with a mild "all surface" spray and let it sit a few minutes before wipeing to dry it back out. I am also buying less litter, I used to have to dump out the whole pan once every one or two weeks. The Litter Robot also uses about a half to two thirds less than what I was using in the previous litter boxes because it's round so the litter pools into the middle and has less "surface area" to spread out and waste.
About twice a year, I take the whole ball and dunk it in the bathtub for a good rinse. That tends to be a bit bulky to clean and takes a while to fill but it's very a basic soak (mostly to clean the screen), rinse and dry.
Two of the problems I *DO* have with this unit are no fault of the company's :
1) During one of my trips out of time, the kitty sitter/friend didn't toss in enough extra litter over the week so the urine pooled at the bottom of the unit. The litter absorbed all/most of it so it was a solid mass but it also stuck to the lineing of the machine and didn't fall down when the machine rotated. Eventually, it'll dry out and fall back down, of course, and it scrapes off easy enough but it's rather *ick* when you think about it.
2) One of the cats is rather energetic when he covers his waste so there is quite a bit of litter scatter sometimes. I can't take off stars and complain about the company/unit because when I brought it, I could see there wasn't a door cover to prevent this sort of thing and I'd rather not have the machine any bigger than it is already! I had to sweep with their previous pan litter boxes too, so it's not really an extra chore or anything.
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189 of 198 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
2 simple design flaws keep it from greatness, August 17, 2007
I've had the Litter Robot LRII for about 2 weeks now and while I am happy enough with my purchase that I will not take advantage of the generous return policy, I do feel that there are some elements of its design that need to be greatly improved upon when they eventually release an LRIII.
First, as many others have mentioned, the grate system of the step that is designed to allow litter to fall into the waste area really defeats much of the purpose of having a hidden waste area. The same openings that do allow some litter to fall into the waste chamber as opposed to covering your floor allow more odor to escape than I would like. This is rather easily fixable, but when you're paying $300 for a litter box you shouldn't have to DIY something this basic.
Second, while the LRII is very good about pausing its cycle when a cat steps up onto it, something to prevent cats from being to enter it at all while cycling would be sorely appreciated. And this, unfortunately, cannot be fixed by the home user. I'd noticed that over the past few days the odor from the LRII was a bit stronger than it had been, despite having recently put in a new scented trash bag and a liberal dosage of litter deodorizer. Last night I came across one of my (2) cats exiting the LRII while the main chamber was upside down, not quite halfway through the cycle. He knew that was where he was supposed to go, appeared rather frustrated that there was no litter in there with which to bury his waste, but went ahead and relieved himself on the bare plastic. It took 2 manual cycles to get his waste off the side of the chamber and into the waste area below, and the smell since then has been rather powerful. So tonight I'll be washing it out after 2 weeks of ownership, even though washng is supposed to be necessary on more of a monthly basis.
I realize that having some sort of a sliding panel that closes the main chamber off when cycling allows for the possibility of trapping a cat inside during the cycle, but there must be some way to include a sensor within the chamber itself to avoid this - as opposed to simply relying on the sensor in the step mechanism.
As it stands, I do recommend the LRII to anyone who wants to reduce the typical litter box odor in their home and wants to escape cleaning the litter box 1-2x a day in favor of simply swapping out a trash bag 1-2x a week. I would recommend it without reservation though if they were to address my 2 main issues in the next iteration. The LRII is close to being exactly what I wanted when I ordered it, and with a little work it definitely could be.
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