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LitterMaid Elite Mega Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Box | 
 enlarge | Brand: LitterMaid
Category: Pet Products
List Price: $199.99
Buy New: $139.89
You Save: $60.10 (30%)
New (6) from $139.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 1065
Color: Black
Media: Misc.
Shipping Weight (lbs): 15.4
Dimensions (in): 28.2 x 8.7 x 20.2
MPN: LME9000MB
Model: LME9000MB
UPC: 027043115553
EAN: 0027043115553
ASIN: B001HSMYSK
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | No-touch self-cleaning litter box rakes waste automatically into sealable container | | • | Powerful odor-absorbing carbon filters reduce waste smell by 50 percent | | • | Ideal for households with large cat or more than 1 of any size | | • | Easy to assemble and clean | | • | Includes removable steel rake, ionic air cleaner, waste receptacles, AC power cord, and more |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The LitterMaid Elite Mega Ultimate Edition is an advanced self-cleaning litter box that is ideal for extra-large cats or multiple cat households. Once the cat leaves the unit, sensors are triggered to turn on the ionizer and timer. After 10 minutes, the cleaning cycle starts and rake moves clumps toward the waste receptacle. The rake opens the waste receptacle cover and deposits clumps before closing cover and returning to the home position. Sealed disposable waste receptacle with carbon filter allows for safe, easy disposal of waste.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 Pretty Good, but Not Perfect January 4, 2009
I've used these Littermaid boxes for several years. I have two fairly large cat, one that is older and urinates quite a bit. (Don't worry, she is checked by our vet regularly for kidney problems.) Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the Elite Mega Ultra Super Duper Deluxe model. br /br /It's very large, so almost any cat should fit comfortably. br /br /Compared to past models, it gets "stuck" less often while scooping. One cat makes it her life's work to figure out how to pee in areas that will freeze the scooping mechanism of these boxes. She gets it once in a while, but usually this box prevails. (Word of warning: NEVER EVER scrape the bottom of the box. Use the scoop supplied or take it apart and clean it outside with a hose or something. If you ever scratch the finish, urine clumps will stick like cement. This happened with an older box. It was ruined.)br /br /A lot of folks complained about putting it together. I've done a few, and this one wasn't any harder. Figure 15-20 minutes with one person. br /br /As to the cost of the waste containers, you should shop around. I usually pick up boxes of 18 for about $15 or so. I have never seen them as high as some people claimed. ($20 for 4? That's a scam.)br /br /Volume: Yep. It's pretty loud. Put it far away from your sleeping area.
 Inefficient and Expensive January 3, 2009
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This machine successfully transforms a simple chore into an painstakingly inefficient and time consuming ordeal. The process of cleaning the box is complicated: one must remove the top of the box (which includes the entire motor and rake) in order to change the litter. It is difficult to remove the waste container also. The process is almost impossible to complete without getting cat crap on your hands. The overall design of the "self-cleaning" box is very poor. The waste containers are expensive and you must continue to purchase them. If you own more than one cat, the containers are too small and fill too fast. Do not buy this product you will be sorry.
No more scooping! No more odors! January 2, 2009
No more scooping! No more odors!br /Your cat will never have to pussyfoot through soiled litter again. This appliance makes litter box clean-up fast and easy for my family. The automatic, self-cleaning unit rakes away waste and leaves the litter box clean after each use. The ramp up to the unit also helps to catch litter as the kitty leaves which is a plus. br /br /Once the cat leaves the unit it triggers the cleaning system and the rake clears your cat's clumps depositing them in the waste receptacle where it and odors are sealed away; allowing for a clean litter box each time your cat enters and eliminating the majority of odors for you! When the receptacle is full, just throw it away and replace with a fresh one.br /br /There are a few small draw backs:br /1. The blue light on the unit is very right and unnecessary. Our laundry room glows.br /2. The disposable tray must be snapped under the lip of the unit or the little slips out on the sides -it can results in a real mess if not properly placed in and this is not somewhere you want to spend much time messing around!br /3. This new unit is loader then the original.br /br /All in all it is still the best unit on the market and I feel it is well worth the investment!br /
 Overall average, needs some reengineering. December 23, 2008
Summary:br /br /The littermaid does work but it has a way to go before being a perfected automated way of doing the litter. It handles pee much better than poop, but does so very noisily and messy. In many ways, it's much less effort to just having a traditional manual litter system. Operational costs are high as well.br /br /Unboxing and setup:br /br /The littermaid comes in a large regular box. It is largely unassembled for packaging reasons and so you got to put it together yourself. This is not an easy process as the directions are very confusing and poorly illustrated. A good setup instruction set often has pictograms showing what you should be doing. While the pictograms exist, they look nothing like the actual littermaid that you have in front of you. There is some force needed to snap together a few pieces and this is what worried me, since I didn't want to break anything putting it together. Yet, I had to "chance it" in a few places as sitting there for half an hour pondering the directions got me no where. Fortunately, nothing broke and all went well. Very frustrating experience.br /br /The package comes with the DC electric plug, a few plastic litter trays and covers, charcoal packs, and a scooper. The device does allow the use of AA batteries to be used but this should ONLY be used for power backup purposes. I didn't realize this at first and put the batteries in hoping to avoid the need for a cord -- well needless to say, my fresh set of Energizers were depleted just after one day of use. Therefore, you must have a power outlet readily avaiable to where you wish to place the device.br /br /I use Fresh Step litter in my device as it's the same type I buy in bulk for my home's other manual litter boxes (3 total for 3 cats; they don't necessarily "own" a box -- they share all three). br /br /In use:br /br /My cats had no problem getting adjusted to the new litter box. It was as if they didn't even notice the difference. The box is more than large enough for my 15 pound muscular beast who's an aggresive sand digger (note that although no tent cover comes with the device, you can buy that separately). The motor is VERY NOISY. It's like a loud can opener for the 60s -- you can hear it from far distances. There is no reason why any motor should have to be loud like this. This is a reflection of poor enginering in my opinion. In any event, the motor has a delay before it's activated and so this prevents any issue with a cat being shocked by the movement while still in the box.br /br /I noticed was that pee collection went smoothly and nearly perfectly for the littermaid device. Everything was cleared out consistently. Poop, however, is another story. Sometimes it's cleared out, but often there is smearing at the lip of the litterbox right before it lifts into the collection tray. Small pieces of poop might also escape the motor's rake, and so that would be left in the box. The seal on the collection tray is not that good, so odors do escape. Some of the issue is that the poop acts as a glue to the sand and so bonds to where it should be sealing.br /br /Now that I've used the device for a month I find myself manually picking up the poop whenever I can. I like the device for urine collection though. If only the cats could be trained to only urinate in this box! That would make my day.br /br /The trays need to be dumped daily (or more) to prevent bad odors, which as I mentioned, is a big problem. These trays are expensive! A pack of 18 sells here anywhere from $15 to $20 depending on the time. That's nearly a buck each for a flimsy piece of plastic. I am not happy at the high expense of these trays. To make matters worse, they don't even include the charcoal filters -- you got to buy those seperately. br /br /Conclusion:br /br /I am unsure whether I will be using this littermaid box into the future. I do want to give it a real chance but am finding the expense of the trays and poor poop performance leaving me with a headache (literally at times, due to the screaming motor and stench of the poor seal). This device has potential but seriously needs to be reengineered. I would advise consumers to wait on purchasing this device until a new generation is released.br /
Difficult to set up, but my cat loves it. December 18, 2008
The setup required for this litter box is not for the faint of heart. br /The instructions are confusing and poorly written, and the images are so small that it's difficult to tell what you're supposed to be doing. I can normally set up IKEA furniture quickly without even reading the instructions, but setting this thing up took my fiance and I over 45 minutes. Then when we tried to run it the first time one of the wheels popped out of the track and I had to spend another 20 minutes taking everything apart and unscrewing the track parts so I could put it together correctly. br /br /But despite the initial setup problems it works very well and our cat LOVES it. br /Not only does she enjoy having a cleaner box, but every time the motor fires up she runs over to the box to watch it work it's magic. br /br /CONS:br /- Difficult setup. br /- Loud motor. br /- Expensive replacement poop trays. br /br /PROS:br /- Works perfectly with no maintinence when set up correctly. br /- Significantly reduces unpleasant odors. br /- Cat loves it!br /br /While it's frustrating to have problems with a fairly expensive device like this, I think the pros outweigh the cons and My cat is so happy with the box that I think it's definitely worth it.
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