After fighting with “Littermaids” for several years. (replacing gears, making new more powerful power supplies, making additional waste container). I finally gave up. They required daily attention.
I decided to try the Petsafe, Simple clean. This is without a doubt the best automatic litter box I have ever tried. It is quiet, efficient, seems to be reliable and the cats like it.
I have seen in some other post complaints about some small residue in the litter pan (very small clumps) but I use the cheapest Walmart supper clumping litter and I don’t see this.
Some have complained about litter getting in the gears that turn the litter pan, but the company has redesigned that mechanism and any litter that gets into that area will fall through to the floor, and this is not much.
Some have complained about the motors not lasting, but the company will replace them for at least a year. However, I may have discovered the problem here. The motors are designed to run on 24 volts A/C, however, they run rather hot with 24 volts. I had a power supply I had made for the littermaids which puts out 18-19 volts A/C. With this voltage they run a LOT cooler, only slightly warm to the touch, not hot enough if you had your hand on it all day. You wouldn’t want to do this running them on 24 volts. The lower voltage does NOT make it run slower. This type of motor isn’t very sensitive to lower voltages, but is normally a very reliable type of motor. It is the same kind of motor used in clocks. I don’t know it the lower voltage will make them last longer but since heat is the enemy of electronic devices I suspect it will.
The only drawback is cats who dig a lot will throw litter out. I added 3 inches to the height of the guard which is suppose to prevent that. I use the plastic from the top of plastic bin and 3/8″ flat head wood screws. This did the trick!
Our cats took to the simple clean right away and our 12 pounder has no problem using it.
The 3 suggestions I have told the manufacturer they should do is offer a model with a bigger litterpan, either make the sides 3 inches higher or offer an accessory for this, and lower the voltage of the power supply.
All in all this is the best automatic litterbox I have ever used.
Michael