Customer Reviews

PetSafe Simply Clean Continuous-Clean Litter Box

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(57)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(39)
1 star:		(70)

 

 

I have had the Petsafe Simply Clean litter box for over a year. I purchased this product from the vendor vice Amazon.

How this is a game changer:
-Bottom line up front - I can't see myself with any other litter box. This is a great addition to our household. It does the job, and does it great!

-I use plastic grocery bags when I go grocery shopping, and save them for the container that deposits are dropped into. This is cheaper and easier than purchasing proprietary bags or containers sold by many other manufactures of automatic litter boxes.

-Because cleaning takes place on a regular basis (four times a day, for one hour - according to my timer presets), the litter contamination by deposits over a period of a month is significantly less than regular litter boxes. I find myself doing complete change-outs of the litter on a 45-60 day basis. I replenish on a weekly basis with just a little bit of litter and some Arm and Hammer Cat Litter Deodorizer with Baking Soda (available in your pet isle). This saves me money and time and makes the cats happy.

-I have gone on a 7 day cruise with my wife - which actually involved myself and my wife being away for nearly 10 days if you take into consideration transit time and hotel stays. I had a friend visit once to make sure cat food and water were well stocked for the cats. She didn't once need to check on the litter box - because it did it's job. Upon our return, the bag was full, but still had room for a day or two more. This box gives me the confidence to leave my cats alone for long periods of time with little supervision, cleanup, or maintenance of the litter box.

Maintenance, Nuances, and Customizations:
-The unit runs continuously. Fix: Purchase an electronic timer that you can purchase from your local Wal-Mart or Lowes. Make sure it's a sturdy unit so that the heave AC power adapter does not stress the timer and render it useless. This happened to me - so I bought a higher quality timer that is doing the job quite well.

-The unit operates based on three conditions: There is power, the conveyor cover is on, and the collection tub is in place. On occasion, I noticed that the lid would become dislodged and the unit would not operate. This would aggravate both my cats and I. Fix: I took the tip of a regular Bic pen and removed the thin sliver that is supposed to hang onto your clothes. I then placed said pen cap into the hole that has the switch that is normally pressed down by the conveyor cover. I trimmed it such that it was flush with the surface of the unit, and gorilla glued that bad boy right on in there. Finally, I trimmed the part of the conveyor cover that normally pressed in the switch. Now, the unit operates with the lid on, loose, or completely off.

-The unit will sometimes begin to squeak. Fix: I broke down the unit, carefully noting the location of gears, components, and enclosures and applied graphite lubricant liberally to the moving components (be careful this stuff is messy and hard to get off of carpets). The last time I did this was a year ago. The unit continues to run squeak free.

-As the unit rotates, and the cats bury their deposits, loose litter falls under the rotating unit. Fix: When I completely clean the litter out on a 45-60 day basis (as said above), I place a garbage bag on the ground, and tilt the unit such that the deposits fall into the bag.

-On two occasions, an extremely hard and dry clump of fecal matter got stuck between the conveyor unit and the conveyor frame as the unit was brushing the clump into the collection tub. This resulted in very loud clicks caused by the motor being unable to move conveyor unit. Fix: I unplugged the unit, and forced the clump out.

-The box is not deep enough to keep my cats from kicking litter out. Fix: I purchased a few rubber collection pads from Wal-Mart to have to keep from vacuuming often. Alternatively, you may extend the vertical reach of the "shield" that is affixed to the rotating tub with any material such as flexible plastic or a portion of a thick folder (as I did - and it worked).

-While large clumps of urine and fecal matter are collected with ease, there will be those smaller chunks that simply pass through the conveyor and go back "into rotation" with the rest of the clean litter. Fix: I clean the small chunks out with the "pooper scooper" when I replace the bag and add litter.

-The unit can and will get litter dust and, on a bad day, fecal matter on it. Fix: Clean it.

Conclusion:
All things taking into consideration, this is a fantastic unit that like all things mechanical and electronic in nature, require maintenance and modifications as you see fit. The customer service is fantastic. I had to have a replacement unit sent because the unit in the original failed. They did this without any questions after I described the symptoms. If you're tired of cleaning your litter box and you set aside a few hours to perform my suggestions and fixes above, I am confident that you won't regret this purchase.

We have had this box for a week now and even though I normally have 5 cat boxes for our 4 indoor cats I decided to just use this one to see how it would hold up with 4 cats using it. It is pretty darn good! Our cats range in weight from 22lbs down to 12 lbs and though it says for cats to 12lbs our 22 lb cat has had no problem using it at all! I was kind of worried about buying this because of the weight limit thing and also because I have read some reviews of people saying it was loud and litter gets all over...I do not know what they are talking about because YOU CANNOT EVEN HEAR THIS THING RUN unless you put your head right down next to it about 3 inches away! I don't know about you but I generally do not do that with a cat box! Yuck! Also we do not have any problems with litter getting all over either. I went ahead and used some cheap scooping litter (on purpose- mind you) and with using this cheap litter it keeps it pretty clean- there are no big chunks left behind, nothing stuck or gummed up on anything- it does however leave little tiny chunks behind in the litter though- See customer pictures to see what I mean...The cats don't seem to mind though. I am not sure if that is from the litter itself or from the conveyor having slots that are too far apart which is why I gave it 4 stars for now. I will update later when I change to premium litter. Best of all it is not smelly at all! The waste container holds a pretty good amount of waste and keeps it sealed well enough so you don't smell it! Anyway, I would recommend this box- I have owned them all from the littermaid, litterfree, litter robot, catgenie, stylette, purrforma, and so on and this seems to be the best on for the money...I think most consumers will be very satisfied with it.

At first, my two cats didn't want to have anything to do with this litterbox. I eventually had to remove their other box so they would use this one. While it was plugged in, the cats would only walk up and watch it. It was also noisier than expected. To get them to use it, I had to unplug it and only run it for about 20 min when I noticed it was dirty. I decided to go and get a timer for it ($5 at Wal-Mart). I plugged it in and have it set to clean for one hour every 8 hours, and it seems to be working. I would like to see the company offer a version with a timer built in. It would also be nice if it came with a lid. My regular sized adult cat throws litter out everytime he uses it. I had to get a mat to place under it. Other than that, it does work. It has yet to get clogged up. I owned a LitterMaid a few years ago, and it was such a huge hassle, I gave up and went back to a regular box. I also like that you don't have to buy special expensive containers for the waste. You really can just use a grocery bag. In all, I'm happy with my purchase and would recommend this product, and a timer, to anyone.

Update

It's now September and I am actually buying another one for my cousin. This is by far the best litter box I have ever used. I found that the premium litter works way better than trying to get away with the cheap stuff. The cheap stuff tends to break apart and will get stuck at the bottom and stop the machine. I don't know why, but about the time I switched to the premium litter, the litter box quit making the loud cranking noise, which allowed me to get rid of the timer. I usually have to check it to make sure it is still working because it is so quiet. I would still recommend this product to anyone.

I just got one of these this week, and I have to say, the design is simply brilliant. Rather than a loud cleaning cycle that freaks cats out and stresses the equipment, the Simply Clean has a nearly silent continuous rotary action that just makes a few litter-shifting sounds from time to time and occasionally a solid "thunk" when a clump falls off the conveyor into the receptacle. Some assembly is required, but it was so easy I didn't even need to read the instructions, and no tools are needed. It made a bit of motor noise when I first plugged it in, but that abated quickly. I have it in the same room as my computer and you absolutely cannot hear the motor over the computer's fan.

My cat took to it right away. I left her existing litterbox (a busted LitterMaid, as it happens) in the same room for a while in case she didn't like the new one, but she started using the Simply Clean when the LitterMaid started getting too gross for her fastidious nature. Best of all, this thing doesn't require special supplies -- so once you've bought it, that's it, you're done giving money to the manufacturer. And it's not much more expensive than the LitterMaid either (actually, I got mine on sale for just about exactly the cost of a LitterMaid). Assuming it holds up, which is really the only thing that concerns me after being burned three times by LitterMaids, it'll be one of the best investments I've ever made.

The idea and concept of this litter box is great, however the execution is terrible. Feces and clumps get stuck at the bottom of the ramp and under the sifter. I used the vegetable spray trick to avoid sticking to the base... to no avail! Pieces unless pretty sizable, do not make it the entire way up the ramp, and circle in the box for eternity. I use fresh step litter, and have not found any difference in the box's effectiveness based on the litter brand. I end up cleaning the unit almost as much as a plain old litter box. The side walls are very low and if your cat digs with any effort at all, feces and litter will be mounded outside the box daily. I need to keep a shop vac next to the box at all times. The plastic is flimsy and the lid warps after several months. Clumps will lift the lid off the base and stop operation. Buyer beware!

Length:: 2:03 Mins

After reading all the reviews on this site and seeing some of the poor reviews that this product got I had to do this wonderful product some justice. So, without further ad due here is my video!

We've had our PetSafe litter box for approximately two weeks - it's working beautifully but I admit I read other reviews on Amazon and after receiving the box, I could see where problems might develop and took the recommended precautions. Here's what I learned to save you from digging through all the reviews I read. 1) Buy good quality clumping litter. If the clumps aren't firm, I could see how they might not make it up the conveyor. 2) Cut a three inch circle out of the heavy duty plastic the unit is shipped in, punch a hole in the center and place it over the center spindle when you assemble the unit. The complaints in reviews about this unit making noise (it is absolutely silent in my home) seem to stem from gravel getting under the gravel basin. The basin rotates using little gear teeth - I could see how gravel in there might clog up the works and get noisy. In fact, when I filled our unit for the first time, it was a good thing I'd put that little circle of plastic over the center spindle because I promptly managed to lose control of the mondo bucket of gravel I bought and poured it over the spindle. No gravel down below thanks to the plastic - kudos to whomever came up with that fix. 3) If your kitty is prone to digging, and one of mine is, then gravel that is thrown out of the box may also end up underneath the gravel basin. The solution I found posted by another clever reviewer recommended affixing a little skirt to the bottom of the clip on rim so that it hangs just below where the basin and the base intersect and blocks any gravel from being kicked in. I used a scrap of washable gray sueded polyester fabric, velcro'd it onto the snap on skirt and voila, no gravel going into the base. 4) Finally, another poster warned that using a grocery bag to line the waste catch bin, as recommended by the manufacturer could go horribly wrong if the bag becomes trapped in the conveyor gears that are moving right next to the bin. To address this potential problem, I made sure to tie the bag handles in front of the bin so that the bag was smooth and closely fitted to the bin.
With two cats, both well over the 12 pound limit, I've emptied the bin twice and added a wee bit of gravel once and it's working perfectly. Now I'm just waiting for the price to drop again and I'll buy a second one for my cat at the office.

I've had this litter box for almost half a year now. Overall it works great, and I can "forget" about it for days at a time. I have had to deal with all of the various problems mentioned in these posts though: little getting scattered everywhere, litter getting jammed into the gears, funny sounds...and have figured out various ways to deal with them.

For both the litter getting everything and the litter getting into gears problem I bought a Petmate Dome Cover that just happens to fit perfectly over this box. The lid keeps litter (mostly) and out of the gears. For the occasional weird sound coming form the gears I've resorted to WD40 to lubricate things.

The thing to remember though is that no box is totally maintenance free. This box requires being taken apart and the litter dumped out on at least a monthly basis, just to make sure gears are not getting clogged with litter dust, and that the box doesn't start to smell because of the little bits and pieces of things that don't make it onto the conveyor belt.

We have used his litter box for about 3 weeks. The first two weeks we used a cheaper litter; we had lots of little clumps going round and round. I was considering taking it back until we tried different litter, "Arm & Hammer" and it works very well. All the litter, wet and solid, goes up the chute to the hopper. We have 3 cats, no odor, we empty the hopper 3 times a week. We purchesed ours at a different location for under $25.00

I have had two LitterMaid's previously both of which eventually broke. I liked that this system was quieter and allowed the user to use money saving plastic shopping bags rahter than buying crates. However, the rotation of this system caused the clumps to break up into little bits that could only be scooped out by hand. I tried several different types of litter and was unable to solve this problem. Furthermore, eventually dust collected in the rotating wheel causing it to stop working. After several cleanings it only worked temporarily. I only had this litter box for six months and found it to be not much less work than a regular box and ultimately after malfunctioning a waste of money.