The LitterMaid Really Works!
Written: Oct 23 '02 (Updated Oct 23 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice high walls, Contains odors, Smaller amount of cleaning
Cons: SOMETIMES gets stuck on big clumps, sorta noisy
The Bottom Line: Overall, I think this is a good, easy to use, high quality product. If you have cats (emphasis on the S), you would be doing them good.
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| midknight2k3's Full Review: Black & Decker LM500 Littermaid Self Cleaning Litt... |
MY STORY
I really don’t think you really want me to go into how I came about inheriting this litter box that had been sitting on top of a Free Junk pile on the side of the road. I’ll just outline the most of it.
I saw it on top of a free pile on the side of the road. I looked at it and said to myself, “Is that a littermaid?” It was! I had always run into problems with litter cleaning. I HATE shoveling out the putrid box every day. Especially with my new addition of another cat, making it twice as nasty. I thought, “Hey, what the heck. Maybe it works.” I scooped it up and sped home. Turns out, it did work! And I can happily say that today I use the Littermaid.
PROS
Makes easy work of the messy cat box
Nice, high sides (for the cat’s privacy)
Covers up scooped waste
CONS
The motor is very loud
Doesn’t ALWAYS make the objective to the target
SETUP
Setup is like any other litter box. Except this one involves a cord and a switch. You simply pour in the litter (must be Clumping), plug it in, and flick the switch, activating the rake. At first, the rake will pass 1-2 times until the litter is smoothed out. Then the scooper will move up and out of the way and then turn off. If it keeps going over and over, you need to lower the litter level (See the line on the side of the box). Then it should pass and then stop. It stays like this until it detects movement (from your cat) via the 6 motion detectors along the wall of the litter box. Then it starts a countdown of 10 minutes to ensure your cat isn’t still there or he hasn’t come back to do anything else. Personally, I think this should be shortened to about 3 minutes; it gets pretty smelly.
WELL, HOW DOES IT WORK?
It works great. If you remember to change the waste container often enough and clear jams, it will lower the amount of work you do to keep your cat box clean. However, if you let the cleaning of the dreaded waste receptacle slide for “one more day” then you’re sure to have an overflow of you-know-what. And if it gets clogged, then clean it. It makes you clean it because it keeps trying to dislodge the clog. It probably stops after 20 or so tries, but I don’t ever let it. I just turn it off and clean it. If you don’t clean it, you will be faced with the nastiest job of your life. It’s not fun, trust me. If you use it as I mentioned above, you should usually end up with a weekly schedule of maybe a 10-15 minute cleaning. If you let it overflow, it takes about 45 minutes to clean it up. It's messy, nasty, and hard. It usually scoops the poop to the waste container successfully.
IS IT WORTH 100 BUCKS?
If you have more than 1 cat and hate regular cleaning of the litter box, it is well worth it. If you have only one cat but have some moolah to spend, I'd definitely give the Littermaid a try. Also, make sure you pick up some extra "Waste receptacles". These are where the waste goes. You usually get 12 containers and 12 lids for about 12.99. The nice thing about these in that they fit in the litter box and the tops cover them when they are not in use. The plastic rake opens the lid to store more waste and then closes it again. It also really contains the smell. Once one is full, you simply press the 2 buttons on the top of the container, it snaps shut, you remove it and toss it out. The containers are actually pretty big, almost as wide as the litter box itself, and about 4 inches high and across. They are pretty flimsy, though, so beware! They are sturdy enough to hold the waste but not much more than that. If you bend them, the lid can pop off so just be careful.
CLEANING
Cleaning would be so easy if I could just find out where the supposed "Release Tabs" are. Then I could remove the whole bottom from the unit for cleaning. I disassembled my entire unit, every screw was taken out and I still didn't figure it out. I'm sure you'd have more luck. The plastic rake that scoops the poop is also removable for cleaning; it's especially nasty if your cat did something under the rake, because then the rake come down right on it and spears it on it's little prongs. But it's easy enough to clean.
CONCLUSION
Overall, I think this is a good, easy to use, high quality product. If you have cats (emphasis on the S), you would be doing them good. My cats love the high walls, and even though the layer of litter is less thick and there's not as much room, they still prefer it over the old conventional. I guess the bad (small layer o' litter, not as much room) is outweighed by the good (high walls, always clean :). The littermaid is usually best with either Tidy Cats Scoop (bucket/tub) or Scoop Away (box/bag). I really don't give a hoot. Either one is about the same price, and they work equally as good. If you have a cat/cats, give the Littermaid a shot, you won't be disappointed.
Sorry that this review was late, been having MAJOR computer trouble. Will be fixed soon :)
Sorry that this review wasn't on the COMPAQ 7000US Custom Built (because it wouldn't really matter as its custom built). Please feel free to leave comments on this or any of my reviews. Thank you.
NEXT UP: HP DeskJet 722C
EXPECTED: Next weekend, or Monday
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
midknight2k3
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Member: Zakk
Location: Seattle, WA
Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
When there's new technology, check here for reviews.
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