Litter-Robot 3 Connect by Whisker, Grey

See below for my original 1 star review. I'm giving it 5 stars now, but hoping that my 5 star review is not premature. The first one that I got was faulty. The bonnet would not complete the circuit, to let the robot know that the bonnet was secured--also, since it wouldn't complete the circuit, the night-light didn't work...but that's the least of my concerns. I finally opened a support ticket at [email protected], did a bunch of troubleshooting, sent pictures etc. and I just got a replacement; cleaned the faulty one to ship back to them, on their dime. If the new one generally works, then I'll give it 5 stars just because it gives my cats a constantly clean place to do their business. I still have litter boxes (multiple cats) because I haven't forced them to use the bot...but I think I'll start taking away the other boxes & see if I can force them to the bot. The original/faulty one worked to a minimum degree, after I taped a penny across the contacts, to fool the unit into thinking that the bonnet was in place. But the original unit would also throw a bunch of errors in the app, and I'd either have to remotely run a cycle, or remotely reboot it from the app to reset the unit. So, it's cool that the machine lets you know its status in the app, and I could keep it limping along remotely--I once ran a cycle from the ski area parking lot, then it worked and cleared the error & showed "Ready". The replacement worked right out of the gate. The bonnet works, completes the circuit, and the night-light works too. Now I just have to see if it will consistently function, without errors. Note: I watched other youtube videos before purchasing--don't over fill with litter, theres a molded line that you should not fill past. The thing is definitely expensive, but again, if it gives my little loves a clean toittey all the time, then it's worth it to me. I read an online review where they said something like "It's the best automatic litter box, but we still don't recommend it..." I think just because of the price. But think of how much coin you blow on other stuff...thousands a year on unnecessary things perhaps? I love my cats, and I hate cleaning boxes...so it's worth it to me. But if the replacement starts throwing errors, I'll be back to change my review... Original 1 star review below: Headline: Junk! Worked once, now "Bonnet is removed" Got it out of the box on day one, I was excited when one of my cats used it for the first time and it worked well. However that was it. Now it just blinks and sends an error that the bonnet is removed. The bonnet is not removed. The bonnet is securely fastened. To troubleshoot, I have removed the bonnet several times and checked the connections. For the price of this device it should not be this flakey and error on day one. I cannot get it past the error. I've powered it on and off, checked everything I can. ADDENDUM: I ended up taping a penny across the contacts of the base to get past the "bonnet is removed" error--and in doing so, it defeats the night light. It's functioning now, but I'm going to leave the one star review to see if I get the attention of the manufacturer, because hacking together an expensive piece of gear is lame.

I was worried about buying this due to the cost, but I’m so happy that we went ahead and bought it. We have four cats and it works wonderfully for multiple cats. Two are pretty chunky and they fit just fine. It has cut down tremendously on the cost of litter as well. One of our cats absolutely refused to poop in the litter box if there was poop in any of the litter boxes around the house so regardless of how many times a day I scooped the traditional litter boxes he would constantly poop in the floor next to them. We haven’t had that issue since purchasing this one. We’ve had it for about a month now and the cats took right to it with no issues. There are many helpful tips and tricks on the Internet if you’re struggling to get your cats to use it initially. We planned to buy litter box attractant just in case they were hesitant to use it, but thankfully, we didn’t need it. We did switch to a low dust litter per the recommendations of some litter robot owners I found on Reddit due to the possibility it can mess with the sensors. We use tidy cats, free and clear (not the lightweight version that’s very important to keep in mind). I didn’t see the need to switch to the more expensive versions of the low dust. Litters people were recommending because my cats have always done well using other versions of tidy cats. I also don’t buy the litter robot liners they sell. I just buy the white kitchen trash bags in bulk and those fit perfectly and are much cheaper. I haven’t had to contact customer support at all. The only issue I had was connecting it to Wi-Fi, but that’s because their directions aren’t clear with how to do it but once I googled it, I found out you have to hold down the empty and cycle button at the same time to get it to connect. The Whisker app is very helpful in letting you know when the waist drawer is full and also letting you know initially and how often your cats are using it. We were able to track that our cats were actually using it the first few days we had it that our cats were actually using it. Also, if you have cats that like to kick litter outside of their traditional boxes, this is definitely a game changer because I’m not having to sweep multiple times a day. They barely track anything outside of the box now. I definitely recommend it. Having four cats I do have to change the liner in the waist tray every three days but that’s really not a big deal because the trash bags I buy for the waist tray are really inexpensive. I’m definitely happy I decided to go ahead and buy this. I absolutely love it and I’m planning on purchasing another one to replace the other traditional litter boxes we still have around the house. Also, you can’t beat the optional extended warranty they offer for a low price. I was considering other cheaper brands before I purchased this one and I’m glad I went ahead and spent the extra money on this because you really can’t beat the quality of this one.

I've read other reviews trashing this, and I believe it's because they didn't know how to use it, or didn't have the patience to work with it. I have to admit, it took a bit to work as it's not as simple as just setting it up and plugging it in. It has some quirks, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy to operate and now I barely touch it unless I need to empty out the pan, or the occasional restart because the WiFi for the box crashes. Quirks: 1) If you put too much litter, it will think another cat entered the box as it's cleaning (detecting weight). It's best to keep it a bit below the line rather exactly at the line, because clumps will add more weight to it and could stop the cycle. You can also manually cycle it if gets stuck, from the box or the app. 2) The cycle will stop when another cat uses it before the cycle starts, or even during. Just let it do its thing after awhile and it will clean itself. 3) The box will not continue if the pan is full, and the blinking blue light means to empty it out. If you get this box, you should install and use the app. You can turn off the light on the inside, change the cycle timings and more. I believe my cats were initially afraid of the light inside, as they usually have a box in the dark. To get all 3 of my cats to actually use this this took some real patience: The 1st day none of them use it, they just peeked at it and walked away. The 2nd day a cat used it, but when the machine cycled, all of them freaked out and none of them used it the rest of that day. Instead one of the cats left a #2 surprise next to the box. The 3rd day another cat or two used it, but overall they only used it once a day. The third cat started peeing everywhere in the house, and I had to clean it up. The 4th day cats are using the box more except one which keeps peeing and pooping outside the box. I had to do more clean up, but the other cats seemed to have made peace with the box. By the 5th day and ever since, all cats now use the box regularly and not one of them peed or pooped outside the box which is a good thing. A week later they've started using it multiple times a day and now they don't freak out when they hear it cycling. They'll take a peek, but otherwise will ignore it. After the break-in period, the box has become totally worth it. I also want to add that so far I saved $100 in cat litter for three cats since dumping it all out was the easiest method of cleaning their old box. In fact it took 4 weeks just for the littler to run low enough for me to have to buy more, and that was with an open box of litter that wasn't even full. What makes it worth it all is that the tray easily comes out, just pull the liner out (if you're using any) and throw it away. To me this was totally worth the cost and I would definitely recommend and would even buy another whenever it comes time. And the app is good too.

Beware that once you purchase this EXTREMELY expensive litter box you have to pay a shocking $60 to return it if your cats won't use it. This was not made obvious anywhere I saw when purchasing on Amazon. I feel like there should be a large disclaimer honestly. $60?! Unbelievable. And as for the product... it is a nice idea. I'd love to not have to think of cleaning the box daily. I'm a veterinarian and know how important it is for the kitties to have a clean box. I preach this to my clients daily. So, after pondering the huge price tag for a year or so I took the plunge. I followed all the directions on how to convince the cats to use the device and even purchased the cat attract litter. My cats aren't the picky types either. They go camping with us and will use a small box in the back of our car. They will also use boxes with lids or without and aren't timid or picky about the type of litter. So I was bummed when despite all efforts they both rejected this box. I even attempted to remove all other boxes for a few hours while watching closely to see if they'd use it. Nope. They looked so distraught and I was worried they'd pee outside the box, which they've never done, so I gave in and put their regular boxes back out. Not torturing the kitties for this. Anyway, I was bummed it didn't work but when I found out the conpany has to approve a return AND charges $60 return free I decided I had to write this and warn others. I used to mention this product to clients but no more. I feel deceived and I can't in good conscious recommend an expensive product with no guarantee your cat will use it and an outrageous return fee. Just save your money and clean your box daily by hand.

Hands down the easiest setup for a device of this complexity. Comes 98% assembled, all that’s needed is the liner installed with litter, and the electrical cord plugged in. -Then My last one was disassembled by a family member and it wasn’t reassembled correctly. YouTube videos used indicated magnet pole position alignment. Did that, but the liner was never right after that. The flap that attaches to the opening constantly came loose and just flapped around during operation. The gear cogs that rotate the cabin were misaligned after the ‘repair’ causing the unit to strain against turning leading to very loud popping at times operation. Now - New unit arrived as stated above. Simple setup and prep for use was a breeze. After the state of the previous unit at replacement, and the noise, this unit shocked me by how quietly it operated. The last unit would wobble up and down during rotation. The new unit does have some wobble to the movement, but this is due to displacement of the heavy amount of litter and waste clumps during rotation. I’ve had it a week already and it works so well I actually forgot it was there and had to go check if it had came unplugged, but when close, the inner blue LED light illuminated and the operation indicator lights had a blue flashing indication, that it needed a litter change. I HIGHLY suggest purchasing some Hefty 13gl. Trash bags and practice installing them, as they are nearly a perfect fit. I discovered this as a fluke when disposing of the liner that came with my original. The company should work out something with Glad Inc. Maybe a coupon for these bags. They even have scented ones that quieten down the smell a bit after tying off the bag once removed. I highly recommend not going the chincey route and splurging for this model. They make newer designs, but I haven’t any experience with them. The last one did the trick, even with its shoddy reassembly, lasting over a year and a half past the disassembly, and it had operated flawlessly for over three years. Rush right out!

This is my 6th attempt at an automated litterbox. I've had multiple versions and they have all been mediocre at best. The flat style w/the rakes end up clogged and I constantly had to scoop stuff it missed. There was one you hooked to water w/a dryer that made the whole house smell like baked cat poop. And cleaning them all was terrible because it was so much work to empty the used litter. This one though...this one works! The cat uses it, about 10 minutes later it cycles the waste into a drawer. Once a week (it could go 2 but I just do it every trash day) I hit an empty button that dumps all the used litter into the waste drawer w/the clumps. Close the drawstring on the bag and reset/add clean litter. No scooping, no struggling w/emptying litter, no stink, no hassle. And the cat is happy because her box is always clean. It's spendy but to me worth it because it works and saves me an hour and a half a week doing a task I loathe!

Worked great for a while. It stopped working. I cleaned it and did everything customer service told me to do. It still stalls out and I have to turn it off, unplug it then plug it back up. It will finish the cycle and I have to do the process over again. Can anyone help me with the problem.

If you e read the reviews you know they break down into 3 categories. 1) it changed my life, 2) my cats are scared and this can’t be fixed, 3) the litter not has problems. You probably know your own cat, bug it seems like 2 & 3 occur with a roll of the die, and then return shipping is extortionate. I bought it on Amazon, with Amazon Prime Visa in hopes that purchase protection would protect me against shipping charges if #3 happened. So far, everything works great. Moreover, I have kittens and older cats. I’m not sure I can investigate issue #2 with the older cats because the kittens are currently dominating it. There seems to be a pooping contest going on. They half filled the waste bin in a single night, and it appears to have run about every 20 to 30 minutes. Moreover, it hasn’t yet run a single cycle without a kitten interrupting it, which gets detected even though one is only 3.5 lbs. clearly, no adult cat will have an opportunity to use it any time soon. This is first day. So I’ll update with app details and reason for 4 stars soon. Day 4: I'll eventually integrate some of this feedback. But first, by day 4, one of my biggest observations is that there's a pretty fair smell emanating from the Litter Robot. This isn't from aging material, as I have 3 kittens and their Mom who are our sole Litter Box users (foster cats, eventually up for adoption). So we are changing the Litter Box every 2 days. I have inserted a 15 oz canister of FullWave odor absorbing gel into the waste drawer from a suggestion on YouTube, and this has helped some, but still is too much odor for a common space. I will note there are a couple of reasons we probably observe even more odor. I believe the young male kitten has smelly urine output. Moreover, they all consider the Litter Robot excellent entertainment, especially since the rubberized inside has a trampoline like effect, and consequently they may be having a kitten contest to see whether they can keep it sufficiently "peed" in. Furthermore, they also are fixated on entering the Litter Robot during its cleaning cycles. On the last element, this means they are entering while the globe is not in position, so it is quite possible the waste container is not well sealed when it is partially rotated, and it may release a wave of waste odor during this time. But, even when it is sitting static and not being used, it can still be smelled from 5 feet away, and I am pretty insensitive to odors. For households with fewer, less smelly, and more mature cats, the odor solving strategy with fresh wave may have more mileage. But I am disappointed by the odor containment, and going down to 3 stars today. I also mentioned I would discuss the app. I am using the iOS version, and its setup underpinnings are pretty mediocre, and there are very poor instructions for connecting to the Litter Robot. I am a tech guy, so I figured it would just all work out one way or another, but the information is really missing on how to put the Litter Robot into wifi setup mode and this compounds challenges. Moreover, if you're struggling with wifi connectivity issues wherever you've placed it, it appears that there's likely a total shortcoming of information. I went through a bit of time trying to figure out how to get it into setup mode, played around with wifi based setup and never had success, and then bluetooth worked pretty well finally, and I haven't had any issues lately. But the app is pretty basic on the setup side, and I could see how you might get in a situation where it would never work. Litter Robot probably needs to invest $5,000 to $10,000 in the app and revisiting usability. Once setup, it has some basic functions in it, and it's most useful element is to notifiy you of litterbox events, and let you check waste level so you know when to clean if you're not looking at the litter robot. If you're like my household, then this lets you see the huge list of kitten induced cleanings and interruptions, and shake your head. I hope the litter box has a high duty cycle. But the app is really just a "nice to have" without much hard value. It should be more robustly invested in, and then it wouldn't detract from user experience and consequently ratings. I'll also observe that even for my 3.5lb and 4.1lb kittens, it is working fine. The sensor seems to stop rotation consistently when they enter. And the sensor seems to run cleaning consistently after they've used it. That could be because 5.2lb brother is often hot on their heels or jumping in for play time, but I don't think that's the case, I think it is detecting pretty well. BTW, we're currently using Arm & Hammer multi-cat, but soon to change to Dr. Elsey's. NetNet, I like it, quite a lot actually. I'd never be able to justify the value given cost. It is huge, and I'd have trouble ever justifying it for a friend, because it is huge. It is not addressing smell as well as hoped. It does automate scooping very well. It still requires every two day emptying, but the emptying is pretty straightforward. To have paid $500 for it, I have to believe there may be something wrong with my value system, and I doubt my parents would have justified this. But it is certainly working well, and I have no complaints about mechanical function. There are many, many things I would spend $500 on before this though. That's a pretty steep ask for a litter scooping device.

Our cats were quick to take to it! I would definately buy again. Seems pricey but worth every penney

So easy. Our cats were quick to take to it! I would definately buy again. Seems pricey but worth every penney

Étant une personne handi, cette litière m'a changer la vie! Mon chat a constamment une litière propre, la jauge de l'appli me permet de vérifier si je dois vider le bac. Donc gain de temps, d'énergie, et d'argent sur l'achat de litière vu que la litière utiliser uniquement part. Vraiment, malgré le prix je ne regrette pas mon achat.

The machine itself works fine, but the app is horrendous, I can’t add a pet profile and the thing itself, the robot, does not show up on the app even after successfully adding it. You can also forget about support helping you out, they just give you the run around and give basic responses like “have you tried turning it on and off again” “have you tried deleting the app” for the price point it’s at, it’s not worth it, go get a cheaper one, it’ll come with a better app and possibly the same level of functionality. AVOID!

Je vais essayer de faire un commentaire détaillé pour un produit extrêmement onéreux Ayant 4 chats à la maison, j'avais 4 litières "normales", que je nettoyait chacune deux fois par jour. 8 nettoyages manuels quotidiens, et ce, du 1 Er janvier au 31 décembre, dimanches et jours fériés inclus, idem pour les lendemains de soirée... Bref, autant dire qu'à la maison, j'ai un sacré mouvement de poignet maintenant. Cela faisait quelques années que je rêvais d'une merveilleuse litière automatique qui m'aiderait dans cette horrible tâche quotidienne. Les modèles proposés ne me plaisaient aucunement, j'ai continué à jouer de la pelle. Et un jour de juin, je suis tombée sur LE modèle. J'ai attendu 15 jours pour me décider, 576e à sortir, c'est pas anodin. Le payement en 4 fois a eu raison de ma CB, et ni une ni deux, la litière est à la maison. Le carton est énorme, la litière est énorme, mais au moins, j'ai pu construire un château fort pour mes intrépides greffiers. L'utilisation en soit est on ne peut plus simple. Vous sacrifiez une pièce de votre maison, vous mettez la litière (agglomérante, petit grains, sinon ça marche pas !) et vous branchez. Voilà, il n'y a plus qu'à attraper votre minet et lui apprendre à ne plus uriner à l'emplacement de son ex boîte à caca. Sur quatre chats, je n'ai qu'un irréductible qui s'y refuse, mais en même temps, il a peur de son ombre, alors comprenez qu'un ovni qui bouge tout seul... Parce que oui, miracle, ça bouge tout seul. Le fonctionnement est parfait, la litière tourne sur elle même, un tamis tri les agglomérats et ceux ci tombent dans une trappe réservée à cet effet. Elle revient plus loin que sa position initiale afin d aplanir la litière restante pour offrir à ces douces pattes fragiles un confort optimal en temps de crise. Vous n'avez plus qu'à tirer le tiroir, enlever le sac/réceptacle plein et mettre le tout à la poubelle. Je vous assure que je gagne énormément de temps (sur le long terme ça représente quand même quelques minutes par jour) Je ne souffre plus du dos à porter des sacs poubelles pleins, mes sinus sont immunisés de toute odeur flottante dans la maison. Bref, tout ceci pour dire que c'est un investissement indispensable si vous avez plus de trois chats. Si vous n'en avez qu'un, je vous avoue que ça ne vous sera absolument pas utile d'investir autant ! Je recommande avec ceci de n'utiliser vraiment QUE de la litière agglomérante, car sinon le tamis ne fait pas bien le tri. J'espère que cela vous a un peu aiguillé ! Édit du 31 décembre 2022 Apres un an et demi d utilisation, la litière tombe en panne. Le SAV, très réactif, a envoyé un faisceau électrique, les cartes mères, les broches de contact pour le poids, bref, tout ce qui concerne la logistique de la litière. Après un changement TRÈS minutieux de toutes les pièces concernées avec les explications fournies par le SAV, cela ne fonctionne toujours pas. Ça va faire 3 semaines que c'est comme ça. J'attends la réponse des personnes qui me suivent pour ce problème, avant de mettre la note finale ici. Édit 21 janvier 2023 Après plus d'un mois sans fonctionner correctement malgré l'envoi de pièces neuves de la part du SAV, j'ai spécifié clairement vouloir un renvoi et un remboursement complet de la litière. Ceux ci me proposant une réparation, malgré toutes celles déjà effectuées par mes soins minutieux d'après leurs notices, je ne peux accepter pour la simple et bonne raison qu'elle retombe en panne à tout moment. Qui a les moyens de payer carte mère et faisceau électrique hors garanti à plus de 100 euros pièce pour une litière qui en a déjà coûté 600 ? Certainement pas moi.. Je suis désolée d en arriver à un commentaire négatif mais malheureusement, le produit est trop fragile pour une utilisation sur le long terme. Je passe de 5 étoiles sur 5, à Une seule étoile pour la cordialité du SAV.