Customer Reviews

LitterMaid LME9000 Elite Mega Advanced Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Box

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(35)
1 star:		(297)

 

 

I bought this item after having two previous littermaids that lasted me three years and three months respectfully. Unfortunately, this machine is the best of a bad lot, and the "new" elite IS made a lot flimsier than the prior ones, at least insofar as the top and bottom shell are concerned.

BUT, I was having the same problems as some of the other reviewers, and really disgusted with the elite when I reread the little manual that comes with it again. I noted that the manual said to fill the pan to the fill line of the hand scooper provided. When I looked at the hand scooper, I saw that the line on it was higher than I thought. I filled the pan to the line - a good 1-2 inches, and it has worked fine ever since.

The secret that they don't tell you is that, unlike the prior machine where you always had to worry about overfilling the pan, with the elite you have to not underfill it. I realized that the long thin tines of the automatic scooper are made to go throught a thick layer of litter. If you don't fill it to the fill line indicated on the hand scooper, the rake will glide over the solid waste and not deposit it in the pan. Try it. It worked for me, at least up till this point.

UPDATE: Well that point didn't last long. I spend as much time scooping as when I didn't have an "automatic" litter box. What a piece of #@&^%. I have now ordered one of the older models from Amazon. They were bad, but not as bad as this. A good auto litter box is an invention that needs an inventor. In the meantime, stay away from this one.

Further update: The older LM900 model is still a far better machine to the point where I bought another from Amazon for $69 to keep in reserve in case I can't find them in the future.
PS. I threw the "new advanced" hunk of junk out in the trash.

This automated monstrosity is just about as valuable as the stuff it's supposed to scoop away. After a severe back problem flared up I purchased one to avoid potential injury from more years of bending and scooping.

In short order I found myself bending and scooping. This LitterMaid advertises itself as effective for multi-cat households, but after using it for several months I've decided that that claim is true only if the other cats are constipated or suffering UTIs.

The LitterMaid is a great concept but has several problems:

(1) It works when it wants to work: Although the supposedly clever sensor system is supposed to activate the mechanism ten minutes after your cat has departed, it often doesn't. Sometimes it works spontaneously, whether the cat's stopped by or not. Cleaning the electric eye makes no appreciable difference to whether it works. Ditto the ionizer, which should be called an "ironyizer". The irony is that it seems to have no effect at all on the surrounding miasma of eau de chat.

(2) It sounds like an earth-moving machine: Which is, I suppose, what it is, but given the fact that it moves clumps of litter and stuff a grand distance of about twenty inches, it shouldn't have to sound like a backhoe busting up concrete. Which leads us to

(3) The motor isn't strong enough: The instructions say to use "premium clumping litter" but the rake, with its long, thin tines, frequently has trouble pushing the often mudlike clumped litter toward the receptacle. There's a very slight upgrade that needs to be climbed as the rake reaches the receptacle. The motor is frequently not up to it. If the thing has to sound like a bulldozer, it should work like one, too.

(4) The "Reset" feature frequently doesn't (Part One): The instructions say that if the scooper can't push it's rakings along, it will stop, return to point A, and retry the task five times before shutting off to spare the motor excess strain. Unfortunately, the scooper often gets stuck mid-scoop and grinds away fruitlessly trying to push the stuff along. It's a sign of mechanical dedication for sure, but it reduces the motor's lifespan by large fractions each time. If it does by chance reset, there's an even chance it will retry the task ten or fifteen times. The only solution at that point is to turn it off before the motor shorts out, potentially cooking your cat and burning your house down in the process.

(5) The "Reset" feature frequently doesn't (Part Two): Woe betide the machine when there's anything---a clump, a bump, or an overly large air molecule---trapped behind the scooper as it goes to its home base. If it can't get all the way back to Point A, the thing sets up a rapid, loud, clack-clack-clack-ing that sounds like a Lewis Submachine Gun and makes it necessary for the cat owner to run to his own litterbox as a result of a fright-flight reaction to the noise. Especially at three AM.

(6) It hates litter: Use too little, the LitterMaid goes on strike. Use too much, the LitterMaid goes on strike. Use just enough, and the LitterMaid might work properly half the time. The LitterMaid seems to work best when the pan has no litter in it, which pretty much defeats the purpose it was designed for. Now if the LitterMaid only came with her own mop . . .

(7) The litter receptacles are expensive: The gifts the cat leaves are supposed to be pushed into a bin at the back of the machine. The bins are made of thin, bendable plastic. A carton of six bins will have you saying farewell to your friend Andy. Fortunately, they can be reused several times (as long as your cat doesn't have a tummyache). Unfortunately, the bins and the machine don't always make a snug fit, so particles of dirty litter can drop between the two not-quite adjoining edges, leaving you to clean up the mess under the machine.

(8) It makes YOU the biggest LitterMaid of all: Cleaning the thing is a pain in the arse. Between the unplugging, the litter dumping, the disassembly, the cleaning, the reassembly, and the litter filling, you'll spend more time with the LitterMaid than your cat will.

Like I said at the outset, the mechanical litterbox is a great concept, and it should/would work if the design team at LitterMaid spent more time raking in the poolah, and less time raking in the moolah. Nobody should have to babysit a litterbox, especially one designed to be left alone, and especially at this price. A plain old plastic litter pan, kept clean, is still your best bet.

I would've rated this at zero stars if I could. After having it for about one month, I have come to the conclusion that this is one of the WORST products I have ever purchased.

Prior to purchasing the Elite Mega, I owned an LM500 Basic model. While it didn't work as well as I liked, it was 100% better than the Elite Mega.

The Elite Mega is poorly and cheaply constructed. The rake doesn't lift the lid of the receptacle high enough for the waste to go in. The rake doesn't go all the way back and lift out of the litter allowing the cat to urinate into the litter behind the rake which keeps the waste from being raked out. The attachment points for the receptacles are extremely hard to work, don't fit well and are often knocked loose by the rake.

For $150, I expect a lot more from this product. The LitterMaid Elite is not nearly as good as the old model.

I purchased this with alot of apprehension after reading all the negative reviews, but I just couldn't help myself. I really hate cleaning the litter box THAT much. I followed the instructions carefully, using only a little bit of litter, which is where I assume most of the bad reviewers went wrong. I have two very large cats, that really...take care of business in the litter box, so my Littermaid has really been put thru the ultimate test over the last few months of having it. Occasionally, if one of the cats goes directly on the rake, it clumps onto it, but it comes with a tool that easily dislodges it. I empty the recepticle about once a week, reusing the same tray a few times to save money on refills. So all-in-all this was a great purchase, I dont mind occasionally tending to the litterbox when there are clogs, its well worth the exchange of not having to scoop litter every day. Also the ionic filter works wonders, there is almost zero odor!

I dont know what the other reviewers were doing wrong or perhaps they just has insanely high expectations..come on people, this is a litterbox.

I have had this Littermaid (LME9000) for just under 60 days (Purchase date was 8-22-2006). It was a replacement for an older Littermaid that I had for 4 years (give or take about a month).

Here are the problems I have:
The flimsy molding causes the cover for the receptacle to never close. It catches on the sides, so its always cracked open. So the ionic filter may sound nice, it can't battle that much smell.

Also, since the rake doesn't have a fixed guide, it catches a lot even when its only raking through litter with no waste to plow through.

The rake guide wheels are not so great either. If the rake gets caught on something, the motor is actually strong enough to break the wheels off the rake, resulting in a completely useless littermaid.

I would not reccomend this model/style to anyone. You are much better off with the LM500 since its the older design and should be far more reliable.

I WOULD GIVE THIS ZERO STARS IF I COULD!!

We had the LM500 for 3 years and it worked great. My fiancee and I purchased this as a replacement as it was the only one offered at our local "megastore". We are SO disappointed.

This model is highly inferior to the LM500. It does not snap together well so makes a lot of noise when the cat goes in and out of it. Very
"rickety". Our older cat was fine with that but the younger one got spooked by it. She started urinating NEXT to the box, refusing to go in it. So, now we have a second box to clean next to the Littermaid for her. It also doesn't always rake the poop all the way to the receptacle.

Terrible, terrible, inferior product. Get a different Littermaid model!

I called the company as I am so unhappy with the new model asking them to replace it with the LM500. They refused to replace it with the older model as they say their warranty does not cover in the event you don't like it -- it has to not work. Well, if my cat won't use it, then it doesn't work... does it?! Be warned. Do not buy this model!

I had the original base model for a few years and then it finally died. It wasn't great and each week I would have to resolve at least one problem it couldn't deal with, but on the whole it was fine. So stepping up to the top model I thought was a smart idea, it'll be much better than the base model... yeah right!

This thing barely touches the bottom of the tray so it will 'never' get everything out. It's design makes it 'impossible' for it to get 'anything' at the very back of the tray. The forward portion of the scoop cycle has a half inch to inch gap between the tray and metal prongs (yes, it's put together properly so the 'you should be able to read this text' text is under the tray). The plastic boxes don't fit in the area given easily so you have to lock them into place... this and the motor seems weaker than the base model...

A total useless waste of money, resolving it getting stuck is now a daily operation.

Basically, I am happy with this new model, but the primary thing I don't like is that for some reason, the cats toss the litter out of the box so with this model, I find more litter on the floor than with the older model. I do like the fact that you can take out the rake and clean it where that was difficult on the older model. Noise is about the same. All in all, if I didn't already own this one, I would go back to the older model.

This is the new Littermaid litterbox. Most big stores like Petco and Target will only carry this new line. I bought it due to my old littermaid dying after 7 years with 2 cats! I loved that thing due to my travel schedule, convenience etc. If they only made it quieter!

At first I loved the new version. It is bigger, there is a sleep timer for no cleaning at night and the rake is removable. It worked ok for a few weeks and then found daily I was having to remove waste. I used to use Pet Gold litter and played around will the fill level. I was about to return it when I started reading reviews of all Littermaids. So I sprayed the bottom of the pan with cooking spray and changed to Worlds Best litter with an accurate fill level. No problems since. I even line the litter recepticle with a plastic grocery bag and it does the trick! The litter is more expensive and it smells like corn. Cats played around in it a bit at first although I find them sneezing less due to less dust from the old litter. Oh, and there is also an air cleaner on the unit.

So, working through the kinks has helped and I like it again..

I agreed with most of the previous "horrible" reviews on my new elite mega... then I tried something.

Here's the trick: if you use it as it comes out of the box, without treating, it will be a piece
of junk and clog on every use by even a small cat. You will be angry, and rightfully so.

HOWEVER, do this and it will go for weeks without a single clog:

1) CLEAN the pan. REALLY CLEAN. If you have a pressure washer, use it. You must get it down to the
base plastic.

2) DRY thouroughly. Two days of air drying will do it. Toweling won't. You must remove all
moisture from the surface of the bottom pan.

3) Then spray the pan with a heavy-duty silicone spray. I used CRC Heavy Duty Silicone Spray (which
Amazon doesn't stock but most auto parts stores will). It's a high-viscosity silicone spray. Spray
it on liberally- you want to fully wet the entire inside of the pan and the comb with the silicone.
Any surface that isn't _wet_ with silicone isn't sprayed enough. Yes, it will appear slimy even when
dry. That's OK- cat litter does not "absorb" silicone spray.

4) Use a gel lubricant on the sliding rails (where the comb slides up and down), as well as a little
on the gears and rollers. I used Synco Super Lube (which Amazon _does_ sell)- five bucks will get you
a good supply. Apply liberally; the gel is what keeps the grit out of the slides.


I did this and as I said, I can now go for a week plus without any manual cleaning and without any
clogging whatsoever. Thus, a rating of 5/5. (Yes, I had a previous version of the littermaid
Mega, and silicone spray helps that one, too.)