Customer Reviews

LitterMaid LM 600 Self-Cleaning Litterbox

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The product was good when it first came on the market but recent versions of it are AWFUL AND CHEAPLY MADE!
My first littermaid that I purchased nearly four years ago broke and had to be replaced by the manufacturer. The replacement lasted for 3 years and then broke. I bought another one and after only one month that broke. They replaced it again and after only 3 days IT BROKE. By broke I mean the rake comes off the track when it tries to pick up a clump and the wheels keep running but the rake doesn't move and you have to force it back on the track just for it to come off again.

Even when this item worked, it was only slightly better then a regular box because the rake always got jammed up and gross! Please do not throw away your hard earned money on this product. I beg of you...

when i got it i loved it for about 3 days. then it began clogging up and getting disgustingly dirty. NO ONE i've ever met, and i do animal rescue work, has ever kept this and used it. want to get one that really works? go to http://litter-robot.com/ and check out the message board at http://www.litterbox-central.com this was a great resource for me. i was obsessed with fining a solution to the litterbox oder and time it took. litter robot has been a great product for me...for now nearly a year and on the litterbox central forum you can see testimonials from other users who are happy for longer. 3 weeks for this crummy littermaid or a 18mth warrenty and many happy users with the LITTER-ROBOT

I don't know what is yet, but I hope to find it myself too. We purchased this litterbox 18 months ago. We have two cats in the house. I spend almost as much time cleaning this device as i would manually sifting litter. The flimsy plastic rake often pushes litter (and worse) into little crevices within the device's drive rails. The recepticles are expensive and, if used correctly, throw litter directly at you when you attempt to remove them from their snap-locks. Often times, we will have to shut the machine off and move the litter into a "friendlier" place for the rake to catch it. Otherwise, the rake will run (loudly) until it can no longer move, then return to its start point (loudly) and begin again (loudly).

I have had the littermaid litterbox for nearly 6 months now and I absolutely love it! It's so much better than a standard litter box. I had to work out some problems with it at first, I was using a cheaper scoopable litter and it wasn't clumping right in the litterbox. Once I switched litter, that problem was resolved. At one point I was afraid I'd have to replace it, because it stopped running... the light was on, but it wasn't raking the litter... turns out, the "eye" was dirty and simply needed to be wiped off. As soon as I cleaned it, the rake started working. And if you don't use too much litter in the box, it's got a "fill line" then you don't have a problem with the rake running constantly...

I have found that if I use standard plastic grocery bags (over one of the plastic bins, tucked in nicely) in it, it's SUPER easy to clean out the litter. I don't have a problem with litter flying in my face. And the litter box comes with a little brush to clean off the litter that accumulates in the track... very easy to take care of.

this was a great investment, and I've met several others who feel the same way.

It is very messy and is not useable without the purchase of a tent. With the tent, the thing is HUGE. The mechanism wont work if you go above the fill line with litter. With the tent you cannot see the fill line. The raking creates lots of spills within the tent and it is used litter that gets spilled into places you can't see or reach easily. It is very loud and we have to turn it off at night. The litter and receptacles are very costly to replace. You can't use standard litter. And if your cats have long hair the clumping litter sticks to them. The rake gets clogged easily. Removing the waste is not simple. The receptacle is difficult to lift out and is very flimsy and rips. Got cats? Get a litter box and old fashioned litter and a scoop!

I have owned 2 littermaids. The second bigger unit, being the noisiest. Littermaid was ahead of its time when it 1st came out, but they have done nothing to improve upon it. I have 1 bengal cat, and would have to empty the container at least every 3 days. The lids never fit tight, and they way the lid attaches, the cat would step on it and cause lid to become unattached. The megamaid was better in that the cat was more comfortable, not being confined to a short container. The main problem, is, that the litter gets in the gear tracks so easily. I was having to clean out the drive tracks everyday. Hey the idea of an automated litter box, is, so you don't have to clean it so often, but the upkeep to keep it operating properly is more than daily scooping. My cat lives in my bedroom with me, and the unit is soo noisey that when it starts it wakes me up at night. The cover is a joke, so much litter gets in it that you are continually having to pull the litter maid out to clean the cover, and the cat loves to get on top of it, which breaks the cheap plastic frame..When it first came out, it was more of a novelty item, I like gadgets. My cat likes gadgets too, and he gets in it, I believe, just to activate it and watch the rake go thru the litter. The unit start about 10 minutes after Gizmo, gets out of it, which is not really enough time for the poop or pee to solidify, thus it gets stuck in the rake. The containers that hold the poop, don't fit together well, and if I didn't have an ionizer in the room, I would have gotten rid of the littermaid alot sooner. I threw the unit in trash today and have gone back to a regular tray. Gizmo was watching me the whole time and when, I filled it with litter and put cover on it, he was waiting, impatiently for me to finish, and went right in, and did his business. He will stay in box for 10 minutes after, scratching the sides, covering up, over and over his poop.. In the littermaid, this meant that alot of it ended up outside the box, and in the tracks that the rake have to travel in, gumming up the unit.. The littermaid is a good unit if you keep up with it daily, but, Hey, who am I, I thought the idea was not have to do daily cleanings. I can't imagine if I had more then 1 cat.

I bought the basic version over 4 years ago. The only problem I have had is that after 4 years it finally died on me. I feel I got my moneys worth because I have multiple cats. Now I am going to be purchasing a new one. I never had any problems with my littermaid before this and found it worked just fine for me. If you hate to scoop litter every day like me, this was just the thing. I have to empty the receptacle twice a week but compared to every day with a regular litter box, It was worth it.I notice the littermaid helps reduce the smell too Plus I can go away for a weekend and KNOW that my cats litter is taken care of.

I love my Littermaid Litterbox! On the whole, it makes my life a lot easier. Not only am I married with a three year old, but I have two cats, and trying to keep up with a regular cat box was not exactly easy. Now, with the Littermaid, I only have to think about the cat box once a week! Yes, the receptacles are expensive, but it is easy to re-use the ones that I have. The tent is not necessary to use the box. I now have the tent because it does make the box less obvious, but I did not have it when I first bought the Littermaid, and I never had any problems. As for the "Fill Line", it is in bold black print, and very easy to see. I have gone over the limit before, and the Littermaid has still always worked just fine. The box is pretty loud, but the noise only lasts for a few seconds and it helps if you can put it somewhere out of the way. I live in a small 2 bedroom apartment, and it doesn't bother us at all. The pros out-weigh the cons by far on this item. Definitely a time saver for cat owners!

My litter box worked properly... maybe twice.

After that, the litter box runs continuously. When it does run, it does a terrible job of cleaning. No matter what kind of litter I use, the clumps get stuck in the rakes, and the unit doesn't have enough HP to push the litter forward.

The unit will run forever, even with no litter in it. I'll be purchasing another automatic litter box for when I go out of town, but it won't be a LitterMaid product. This product is garbage. Do not buy one.

We have two cats that are somewhat petite. Their waste looks pretty normal, but somehow much of it just finds its way through the tines of the rake and remains behind in the box and gets dragged around. I've read that this product doesn't work for cats that don't burry their poo. I have to agree and would be surprised if it worked even if they did burry them.

To watch this unit slide the solid waste all the way to the end and then watch the waste slip down back into box rather than get flipped into the bin was frustrating. Watching the waste that slipped though the gap get raked backwards all the way the start and seeing it pinned against the wall was just plain grose! And we turned the unit on manually a good hour after they did their business. There was no reason for it not work. I even ran it three times in a row and it just could pick them all up and actually made matters a little worse each time, ending with the stuff pinned all the way back behind the rakes up against the wall.

The tines of the rake are just too short and too flimsy. Why else would solid waste nearly make it up into the bin and drop back down into the litter? After all the years this product has been in existence I'm shocked to see it perform as it does. This unit was returned.

I said at first that I was done with this brand, but I have to now retract that statment! I took a chance on the more expensive LitterMaid ELITE Mega LitterMaid Elite LME9000 Mega Advanced Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Box because I wasn't interested in buying the $20 crystal trays that went with an alternate brand Scoop Free LB1 Self-Cleaning Litter Box and I could tell by looking that it was much better made. I'll probably post a separate review but I can tell you that the ELITE Mega has a superior design and so far nothing has slipped past the rake or even gotten stuck.

I maintain that the LM 600 is not even worth trying unless perhaps your cat has enormous sized droppings. I personally wouldn't consider any of them that had a flimsy plastic rake, especially now that I've seen the metal rake actually work as one would expect.