Customer Reviews:
 Otherwise Good Product with One Major Flaw... June 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have owned these cat feeders for several months, so this review is from a seasoned owner. My two cats, when left to their own devices, will overeat, and put on too much weight. So, I was hoping these pet feeders would provide good portion control without me having to be around all the time.
Setup: Several other reviews say that the setup is difficult and unintuitive; I completely agree. The secondary instruction "cheat sheet" linked to elsewhere was a big help, and once I had that, programming was not too hard.
Operation: The devices run for a long time on their D cell batteries. Operation was as advertised, and the devices dispensed the food reliably. One complaint; when you have to replace the batteries, the unit has to be reprogrammed from scratch. However this happens once every few months, so it's not that big of a deal.
This brings me to the Achilie's heel of these units: within one month, my cats had both learned how to defeat them.
The cats quickly figured out that if they stuck their paw all the way up the chute and poke around, that it would dislodge a pellet of food. Granted, just one pellet, but being cats, they have little else to do all day, and can repeat this as necessary.
Ultimately, the cats ended up getting to eat as much as they wanted anyway. Might as well have just left big bowls of food out for them.
 instructions????? June 28, 2008
Great product.....the programing instructions are AWFUL!!!
Please get word to manufacturing source or distributor....
Sale$ could double with u$eable in$truction$...get it???
Programming Simplified for LeBistro June 28, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Programming the Le Binsro is a pain, and the provided instructions are not good. Below is a set I created. I suggest having one person read the steps, slowly, and a second person push the buttons, deliberately. Legend for the codes is at bottom:
Simplified how-to Le Bistro programming steps - starting from normal display:
Turn on/off Breakfast feeding:
p+,s,p,p,p,p,p,+++,s,ps
Turn on/off Lunch feeding:
p+,s,+,p,p,p,p,p,+++,s,ps
Turn on/off Dinner feeding:
p+,s,+,+,p,p,p,p,p,+++,s,ps
Set Breakfast time:
p+,s,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,s,ps
Set Lunch time:
p+,s,+,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,s,ps
Set Dinner time:
p+,s,+,+,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,s,ps
Change meal size:
p+,+,s,+++,s,ps
Change current time:
p+,+,+,s,+++,s,+++,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,s,ps
Manual feeding:
s+ on, s+ off
To return to normal display from any point:
s until "meal time" shows, then ps
Where ...
p = prog button
+ = plus (+) button
p+ = prog and plus buttons at same time
s = set button
ps = prog and set buttons at same time
s+ = set and plus buttons at same time
+++ = hit plus repeatedly till desired value
This Feeder Can Be Dangerous.... June 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
...if you depend on your cat's meowing to be fed to wake you up in the morning. I've been using this pet feeder for a couple of weeks and I find myself sleeping later and later each day because the cat isn't meowing at the bedroom door at 6:30 am wanting to be fed. The meowing at 6:30 am wasn't a problem during the week when I had to be up anyway, but I was getting tired of having to get up so early on the weekends. I was dreading the early daily summer wake-up calls by the cat (because I wasn't going to have to be up early during the summer) when a friend recommended getting an automatic pet feeder. I did some research online and at the pet store and decided that the Petmate Le Bistro would be the best option for me.
I was a little concerned about the programming because most of the reviews said it was difficult. I'll agree it could be a bit easier, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. Just keep the instructions close at hand if you want to "fiddle" with feeding times and schedules at first as I did. (It appears that they have addressed this programming problem in the new model which I would have purchased had it not been on a long backorder at the time I was ready to buy.) This programming "problem" is the only reason that I didn't give the product 5 stars.
So now the kitty is getting fed when she wants in the morning and I'm getting that extra couple of hours of sleep in the morning that I wanted. I wonder now why I didn't buy this product years ago!
Great product! June 25, 2008
This product lives up to expectations. I was a little worried after having read other reviews, but the manufacturer instructions weren't so bad. I programmed two of these in less than 10 minutes. It is a savior for us too! Our cats don't wake us up for food anymore. The only change I would make to this product is to allow for different portion sizes throughout the day. But it's fine - we give our cats a 1/4 cup twice a day and they are happy. Buy this product with peace of mind!
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