1) The Litter Robot is truly automatic and largely does achieves the manufacturer’ s claims.

2) If you can overcome the minor limitations, this litter box will provide fresh litter for your cats on every poop/urine drop.

3) Overall the Litter Robot is durable especially the rotary mechanism, like I said even after 3 years of use it has not failed us yet.

4) After you make your own modifications (so described by one reviewer as MacGyvering) to fit your needs, you will only have to empty the collector been once every 5-7 days depending on a number of cats who use it and their individual excretory habits. But it will greatly reduce the number of times you have to empty the kitty litter box.

5) Keeps the odor of cats out of your living space.

Now on to the negatives/limitations…

1) The cost is somewhat prohibitive and seems to be inflated for what you get

2) The sensor at the bottom of the entrance step is not very good and will most likely require MacGyvering. (The sensor is supposed to detect any added weight to the entrance step which serves a couple of functions 1) initiates the rotary mechanism after your cat has finished “its business” 2) it acts as a safety device in that if the rotary mechanism is already initiated and the cat decides to step on it, it will stop rotating.

3) The collection bin is not very big so even though I only have two cats I have to empty the collection bin more than once a week. If I forget to or if I neglect to empty the bin, the spring hinge door through which the clumps fall into the collection bin gets jammed in the open position (since the collection bin is full, but clumps have nowhere to dispense so it gets jammed into the space between the latch door and the orbital housing structure) and when the robot rotates back to its original position clumps can fall out onto your floor which creates a huge mess.

4) Several reviewers have already mentioned this problem, but kitty litter can and will get kicked out of the Litter Robot through the front door and out into the surrounding space so it is highly advisable for you to have a central vacuum or other means of cleaning up the kitty litter on the floor around the Litter Robot.

5) Luckily our cats did not have too much difficulty adjusting to the kitty litter box, but I can see how some cats might have some difficulties adjusting to it as its design is not like the standard, old kitty litter box designs.

6) It would truly be magnificent if someone were to incorporate the design of this contraption and add in another feature so that we wouldn’t have to ever touch dirty clumps of cat feces/urine, something along the lines of what the cat genie claims to do, but perhaps really do it to perfection.

7) It is fairly noisy (not as loud as an air compressor, but about as loud or a bit louder than hair dryer) and you can hear the litter robot in the next room.

Overall this machine definitely decreases the number of times you have to clean the litter box, but it doesn’t allow you to forget about it. You are still obligated to 1) monitor this thing on a daily basis to make sure that the sensor is working 2) now after about 3 years of use, we have to manually push the rotation button almost on a daily basis to keep the clumps from building up 3) empty the collection bin every 5-7 days depending on your cats needs 4) routinely sweep around the litter robot to make sure that there are no runaway clumps or excess litter being kicked around and about. I must admit that the mechanical problems we are facing might be attributable to the fact that we have never, in the 3 years that we have owned the litter robot, washed out the litter box. I was contemplating purchasing a cat genie but after reading the reviews and the numerous problems that various people were having with this product, I no longer wish to try out a new system. I think I will try to make the best of what we have and continue to MacGyver this gizmo until it works for us. Unlike many of the reviewers for cat genie, I would recommend this product to lovers don’t want to touch the kitty litter as often but I would be sure to let them know at least the major limitations (as I mentioned above) of this product.

I have a cat that urinates large amounts at one time and would continuously clog up the Litter maid I used to have, but the Litter Robot is designed with a liner that functions in such a way that large clumps can’t stick to the bottom of the litter area.

The drawer is roomy, and with two adult cats I only have to empty it once every 7-10 days.

I’ve only had two minor issues with the box, which were not caused by the box itself.

1) My laundry room floor is not exactly level, so I had to play with the location for the machine a little before I found a place and sensor setting that worked without problems. It isn’t a big issue if you know that’s what it is.

The only times I’ve ever had the Litter Robot not cycle as it should were either before I found the level spot on the floor, I’d let it go too long without cleaning and the heavy drawer set off the sensor underneath it continuously, or the one time I had a power outage in mid cycle which seemed to confuse it a little. Otherwise, it’s worked flawlessly.

2) I had a cat that didn’t turn around and who would urinate down the front of the Litter Robot. The urine collected in the drawer (because of the handy litter catching holes on the step), which was a bit messy, but still better than having urine on the floor or somewhere else. Litter Robot has since come out with an extended lip (very inexpensive) that you can add to the opening. Since I’ve added that, I’ve not had any problem with my backwards cat. (They also have globes now with a sort of bay window in the back to give more room and to be more comfortable for claustrophobic cats.)

A note to those who have a cat that doesn’t turn around resulting in urine down the front: Once I knew this was going to be an issue because my cat didn’t turn around, I covered the control area of my Litter Robot with clear Contact paper (clear plastic self stick stuff) so that I didn’t risk getting the controls wet. I’ve since taken it off, but it did the trick until I ordered the lip extension.

I’ve never had to call customer service, but just the fact that Litter Robot comes out with solutions and improvements, and lets you buy them a la cart, makes me very happy with the purchase, despite that fact I spent $300 on something for my cat to poop in.